The A98™ method of establishing a unique key per ATM avoids the management of a large number of key components or specific keys.

Instead of generating a key and then splitting it into components, or generating components and assigning the components to a specific key, the components are not assigned until the point at which they are actually loaded into the ATM and are combined to form a unique key.

A control number identifying each component is communicated to a Tamper Resistant Security Module (TRSM) where the identified components, stored encrypted by the Master Key of the TRSM, are combined within the TRSM to form the same key that was loaded into the ATM.

A98-A™ also fully supports the latest Triple-DES requirements.

The A98-A™ product is a complete hardware-software solution. The A98-A™ hardware comes in a rack-mounted format with built-in access control. In addition to the external lock, the A98-A™ enclosure has tamper-evident switches to prevent intrusion and a dual locking mechanism to prohibit unauthorized use.

The system unit is either a Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional platform or Windows 2003 Server platform and contains two mirrored hard drives.

The A98-A™ includes an SafeNet (Eracom) Cryptographic Adapter, an integrated Dialogic Interactive Voice Response Unit with Intel VRU software,  integrated rack, and one or two network interface cards. The monitor, keyboard, and mouse are supplied in a 1U (1.75")

A dot-matrix printer is supplied with each A98-A™ system. It connects directly to the A98's cryptographic adapter and provides secure printing of locally generated KEK and MFK components.

The A98-A™ also includes three lock boxes and a floor safe for storing clear-text keying materials