Salt Lake City, Utah — (press release excerpt) — SnapGear announced that the company is collaborating with Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc. to develop [Embedded Linux based] gateway appliances that will enable network security and services for anyone connecting to the Internet, from home users to Fortune 500 companies.

The appliances will solve a major security problem currently found in most existing wireless products – the ability for third parties to eavesdrop on wireless LANs. SnapGear's VPN (Virtual Private Networking) and firewall technology will make the appliances more secure than most products currently found in even Fortune 500 companies, which are presently at risk. Most existing gateway products lack the processing power to address next generation network services. Built upon Hitachi's powerful microprocessors, the new SnapGear products will provide significantly greater processing power for advanced audio and video applications over broadband and wireless interfaces.

At the core of the units lies the Hitachi 32-bit SuperH RISC engine, which optimizes the balance between speed, power and cost. The advantage of the Hitachi SuperH family of microprocessors is a rich mix of peripherals and sophisticated integration of hardware, middleware and software tailored for individual applications. For example, the SH-3 and SH-4 series microprocessors combine a robust RISC CPU with built-in peripheral functions and external operating system support to enable digital multimedia applications for network communications such as streaming audio and video, MP3 audio, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and 3D graphics processing. Their connectivity and multimedia functionality also make the devices ideal for portable communications products, hand-held PCs, set-top boxes and Car Infotainment Systems (CIS).

Further product availability announcements are expected shortly.

 
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