VirtuCrypt cloud HSMs are offered in several different models. Your organization can choose a model depending on your desired level of functionality, level of throughput, redundancy, and high availability.
Functionality
A VirtuCrypt cloud HSM can be customized to include whatever functionality your organization needs. Customize and deploy cloud HSMs to support encryption, increase system redundancy, or easily back up and clone cloud HSMs. Take advantage of automated deployment, user-managed high availability clusters, on-demand HSM provisioning, and rapid cloud migration.
Throughput
VirtuCrypt cloud HSMs offer different levels of throughput which can be scaled according to need, starting at 50 transactions per second (TPS) and scaling to 250 TPS, 1,000 TPS, and beyond. Throughput is measured using 3DES PIN block translations. A higher throughput will allow for increased efficiency, but the desired level will depend on the size and needs of an organization. If additional throughput is desired, more HSMs can be added.
Redundancy
In addition to throughput, organizations can choose from different redundancy options. Having a single HSM at one site offers no redundancy, which is discouraged due to the potential risk of hardware failure and not having a backup. With site redundancy, two HSMs are active at one site, which increases the dependability of the system. A step up from that is full redundancy. With four HSMs at two different sites, the system is completely protected against hardware failures and data loss due to a lack of backup.
High Availability
Similar to adding redundancy to your on-premises HSM infrastructure, your organization might consider building a high availability (HA) architecture for your cloud HSM ecosystem. These architectures prevent downtime due to failures of any kind, whether from hardware or software failures or environmental damage. Having multiple cloud HSMs in different sites creates an ideal environment where system updates and maintenance can be accomplished without taking core systems offline. High availability goes beyond redundancy and can only be achieved through eliminating single points of failure, having reliable crossover or failover points, and reacting to failures in real-time.
VirtuCrypt next-generation cloud HSMs offer service level agreements (SLA) directly tied to the number of cloud HSMs in use in an environment. SLA options are offered up to 99.999%. The option without an SLA is typically used in testing, development, or non-critical environments, and the 99.9% SLA is best-suited for hybrid environments where VirtuCrypt cloud HSMs will stand in for unavailable on-premises HSMs. The 99.99% and 99.999% SLA options are intended for environments where production workloads will be handled primarily within VirtuCrypt.
