Fujitsu, (I mean Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc) is announcing today the MHZ2 CJ series, a new line of 2.5 drives with FDE (full disk encryption) capabilities, joining rivals Hitachi GST (Global Storage Technologies) and Seagate who have been shipping similar hardware based encryption on some of their models. The additional twist that Fujitsu puts on their MHZ2 CJ drives is 256 bit A Fujitsu, (I mean Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc) is announcing today the MHZ2 CJ series, a new line of 2.5 drives with FDE (full disk encryption) capabilities, joining rivals Hitachi GST (Global Storage Technologies) and Seagate who have been shipping similar hardware based encryption on some of their models. The additional twist that Fujitsu puts on their MHZ2 CJ drives is 256 bit AES encryption, which should ensure an even stronger protection than what rival solutions provide, Fujitsu suggests. During a briefing, David James, vice president of advanced product engineering for Fujitsu suggested that without the right key it’s virtually impossible to disclose the drive’s data content and that the automatic encryption has no impact on the performance of the drive. The new drives will offer up to 320 GB capacity, SATA connectivity and will spin at 7200 RPM which makes them likely candidates for deployment in high-end laptop models. Fujitsu is not disclosing pricing at the moment, but it’s reasonable to expect that adding a new provider of drives with hardware based encryption will, in time, make those device more affordable and widely deployed. James referred to some (unspecified) industry reports estimating that 700,000 laptops are stolen every year, which creates significant costs and embarrassment that can be easily avoided if companies deploy FDE on machines expected to carry sensitive data.Waiting for quantity shipment to begin in July, I look forward to reviewing the new drives and comparing them with Hitachi’s and Seagate’s models.Technorati Tags: Fujitsu,Hitachi,Seagate,FDE,full disk encryption,2.5″ drives,SFF,encryption,mobile,security,AES 256 Technology Industry