At the RSA Conference, Covalent, the leader in products and services for the Apache Web server, today announced that it will be porting its widely used Covalent SSL security product to the Intel(R) Itanium(TM) processor platform. Covalent SSL will be optimized to run on Intel's high-performance Itanium-based workstations, delivering increased performance, scalability and higher availability Web-content delivery to enterprise customers.

The availability of Covalent's products on the Itanium Architecture will offer customers a high-end Web server platform based on Apache, the world's most widely used Web server. Covalent SSL provides industrial grade 128-bit encryption for the Apache Web server and is available on a number of operating systems including Windows. Covalent SSL utilizes RSA cryptography, a public-key cryptosystem for both encryption and authentication, and licensed RSA BSAFE SSL-C encryption libraries, which provide the most advanced cryptography available for Apache. Covalent SSL is considered a standard e-commerce solution for companies conducting secure e-commerce transactions.

Designed to address the requirements of high-end servers and workstations, the Itanium processor is the first in a family of IA-64 processors from Intel, and the most significant new development in Intel microprocessor architecture since the 32-bit 386 processor was introduced in 1985.

"We believe that our customers - large enterprises running complex e-business systems - will turn to Intel's Itanium processor platform in great numbers," said John M. Jack, president and chief executive officer of Covalent. "The combination of Covalent and Itanium will produce high performance, high availability Web content delivery systems that can scale. Intel and the Itanium platform is a key piece of our business strategy moving forward. "

"Companies such as Covalent are leading the way in building sophisticated Web server software," said Michael Pope, director of Intel's Solutions Development Group. "The availability of their products on Itanium will offer our customers a world-class, enterprise-ready Web content delivery solution."

Intel's Solutions Enabling Organization is supporting Covalent's efforts in porting and developing the Itanium processor products. Covalent SSL optimized for Itanium is planned to be released concurrently with the shipment of Itanium, slated for mid-2001.

Related Stories:
Apache 2.0.16 released as beta(Apr 09, 2001)
Covalent Technologies Releases Apache Enterprise Products(Apr 06, 2001)
PR: Covalent developers to be featured at ApacheCon(Mar 28, 2001)
Apache-based Secure Web Server With 128-Bit SSL Encryption for Windows and Linux by AbriaSoft (Feb 20, 2001)
LinuxPR: Raven SSL 1.5 for Apache Boasts Added Support for E-Commerce (Jun 22, 2000)