Hi Fritz, sorry about the delay in replying to your question...

Hi Fritz, sorry about the delay in replying to your question earlier this week.

Re the thales gb encryptor, it is still an ipsec based encryptor, so while its throughput is up to 1.8gb, it still adds the ipsec overheads to the traffic (note that the specification quotes - 'up to 8,000 ipsec tunnels'). So isnt really layer 2 as such (although can be used at layer 2).

Re US / Vs Australian customer acceptance trials - I think the announcement re Australian acceptance relates to testing by the defence signals directorate, which does the testing for all aus governments. This testing is expected to be completed in q2 07. Senetas has a whole range of new encryptors up for testing - including the new layer2/3 untis, while thales just has an ipsec unit in for testing.

Oh, and to add some food for thought - the quantum stuff is very very important in the future - and seemingly earlier than expected. The new quantum computers due within 5 years will easily and quickly be able to crack existing ipsec and pure layer 2 encryption. hence the need for quantum based encryption methods. Many companies are anxiosuly waiting for this encryption technology.

I wouldnt put it past a government or two already having some quantum style code breaking in place - but thats just me being suspicious of the spooks.