Fujitsu's Mag EraSURE product line are hardware devices that provide for the destruction of any sensitive data on multiple types of magnetic media; including computer hard drives, floppy disks, tape backups, or VHS tapes.

The erasure mechanism relies on the inclusion of a rare earth permanent magnet; when information on magnetic media is passed through the magnetic field that is generated by the magnet, it becomes, according to the vendor, unrecoverable by commercial means. The magnet is powerful enough to destroy not only stored data on the devices, but also servo/calibration data and most read-write heads themselves (thus hard drives themselves are destroyed and cannot be reused after sanitization). The product features a shielded design such that media can be stored near it without being damaged.

Several models are offered in the product line: The ME-P2V, the ME-P3E, the ME-P3M, and the new ME-P3 version 2.

The commercial-grade "desktop model" is the ME-P2V. To use this device, a user places the drive/cartridge to be sanitized into it and pushes a button. Complete sanitization, which includes two-passes of the target media through the magnetic field, takes 60 seconds. The vendor bills the ME-P2V device in their literature as having a "...convenient desktop size," which in actual measurements is about 13.5 x 24 x 8.5 inches with a weight of 60 pounds. Its product life is listed as 10 years.

Supported media for degaussing includes hard drives from 1 to 3.5 inches (up to 1.6 inches in height); SDLT, DLT, LTO, DAT, TRANVAN, AIT, QIC, 8mm tapes; floppy disks; and other removable magnetic disks. Finally, supported media technology includes HDDs utilizing longitudinal recording at up to 5000 Oe, tapes up to 2600 Oe, and removable magnetic disks up to 5000 Oe. Oe (Oersteds) is a measurement of the strength of the magnetic field used to record data on the media.

Other models available in the Mag EraSURE product line are targeted to industrial and government deployments, and include:

- The ME-P3E, which is listed in the NSA's Degausser Evaluated Products List and supports the destruction of drives at up to 5300 Oe (tape at 2600 Oe).

- The ME-P3M, which can be installed on a table top or in a 19" rack and provides full manual operation (no electricity required). The ME-P3M can degauss magnetically recorded data on HDDs at up to 5300 Oe for longitudinal recording and up to 5000 Oe for perpendicular recording; and features cycle times as fast as 10 seconds.

- New to the product family is the ME-P3 version 2, which reduces cycle times to 15 seconds (over the original ME-P3) and adds support for VHS tapes. The ME-P3v2 will be offered by Security Engineered Machinery (Fujitsu's government distributor of Mag EraSURE) and allows for the degaussing of drives without requiring that they first be removed from the canisters, as well as boasts a smaller footprint (30 percent smaller, 22 percent lighter) than its predecessor.

The Mag EraSURE is available now; the new ME-P3v2 is expected to be available in October. MSRP starts at $13,500 (ME-P2V).

Contact Fujitsu for further information.