AES-256 Encryption Key technology pillar used in the ASE product. - Refers to the ability of the ASE to bulk encrypt all ingress traffic using AES256 bit encryption. - As part of the processing within the ASE, ingress traffic (either Ethernet or Fibre Channel) is encapsulated using Generic Framing Procedure normalizing to Ethernet. Hence the term "Ether". - As an optional operation, all traffic can be bulk encrypted, hence the term "Secure" - This encryption provides scrambling of bits of information preventing it from being deciphered if unintentionally intercepted by an unapproved third party