Furaxa - Dongle Vault Press Release

Dongle Vault ^TM Press Release

The Dongle Vault^TM
Protects Expensive Software Assets
And Increases Workgroup Productivity

The Dongle Vault^TM protects valuable dongles from theft, loss or misplacing,
While legally sharing dongles between users

Orinda, CA
December 1, 2003. The Dongle Vault^TM Data Sheet (PDF)

Furaxa, Inc. has developed a new class of hardware product, which protects expensive software license locks (“dongles”) from loss or theft, while actually increasing their accessibility. The Dongle Vault^TM provides a secure, lockable, central live-repository for valuable software license dongles, and yet optimizes workgroup productivity by providing dynamic access to needed dongles at the touch of a button.

The Dongle Vault^TM‘s lockable steel enclosure holds up to eight software dongles (up to two stacked in each of four bays), preventing theft and loss, while its dual 4x4 crossbar switches still allow up to four computers in a workgroup to access any four of these locked dongle stacks. With dongles now protecting software licenses costing tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, the need for a secure dongle safe, with live accessibility, has become compelling. A company can now save tens of thousands of dollars in losses annually while sharing software dongles among workgroups in the same laboratory or office. Sharing dongles from a common repository can eliminate the time spent finding the dongle in the first place, thereby increasing productivity.

“This product was born of necessity in our company. We use expensive dongle-protected CAD/CAE tools to design ultra-fast circuits licensed as IP Cores”, said Ellis Goldberg, Vice President of Marketing. “We realized that if dongles were to be stolen, such as by being attached to the parallel port of a stolen computer, the expensive software packages would be lost, and the software vendors may refuse to replace them or at the least time will be lost replacing the dongle. Rather than taking this risk, each small workgroup keeps their dongles locked in a Dongle-Vault bolted to a wall or desk, and a user accesses a dongle-protected package by merely pressing a button, dynamically connecting the corresponding dongle to his/her computer, without disturbing the connection of other three dongle stacks to their respective computers. In this way, users can always find a dongle and easily switch it over to their computer. Control circuitry in the Dongle Vault also allows computers-to-printer connections to be undisturbed despite the exchanging of dongle-computer connections.”

“My real life experience was that I could not find a $10,000 dongle assigned to me, and after weeks of searching it was found on someone else’s computer. They forgot it was there. If we kept our dongles in a Dongle Vault weeks of anxiety could have been avoided.”

The Dongle Vault^TM can be mounted to a wall or desk with the included mounting hardware to secure its software assets. A hasp, integral to the steel case, allows locking with a standard user-supplied padlock.

Optimizes Workforce Productivity

Pushbutton-controlled circuitry and a real-time, front panel display allow up to four users to dynamically select any number of computer-dongle-parallel port device combinations as they are needed without disrupting existing connections. . Users can easily access devices connected to the Dongle Vault’s four parallel ports including printers, scanners, and other parallel port devices. The Dongle Vault^TM requires no software installation and is compatible with all IEEE 1284 parallel port communication modes.

While any four computers can access any of the four dongle stacks concurrently, each dongle is only accessible by one computer at a time, thereby complying with most software license agreements. Any dongle can be used by only one user at a time, so all activities are legal.

Pricing and Availability

The Dongle Vault^TM is immediately available in North America priced at $495 (US list). For additional information on the Dongle Vault^TM contact Barbara Sacks at (925) 253-2969 or bsacks@furaxa.com.

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