SafeNet, Inc. has announced the release of Sentinel Hardware Keys for Linux platforms, allowing software developers in the Linux community to protect 32-bit software applications from piracy and implement flexible licensing models. Sentinel Hardware Keys are the most widely-deployed rights management tokens for protecting software vendors from unauthorized use or distribution of their products, thereby increasing revenue.

The Sentinel Hardware Keys Software Development Kit ( SDK ) is supported on various Linux platforms, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora Core and SuSe. The robust SDK consists of many components including; a device driver to access keys, a network server daemon to manage licenses, a Web browser-based monitoring tool to track licenses on site and a set of Business Layer APIs for high-level licensing implementation.

Using the Java-based Sentinel SDK, developers can protect their applications with the world's most secure hardware tokens. Sentinel Hardware Keys support the latest version of GCC and Java development platforms. Sentinel has been a leading brand in anti-piracy and licensing solutions since 1984 and has more than 35 million deployments worldwide.

"The open-source community is now able to protect their applications from unauthorized use with Sentinel Hardware Keys, preventing revenue loss," said Ken Chow, general manager, SafeNet Software Protection Business Unit. "Sentinel Keys, with military-grade security, will greatly benefit Linux software developers."