Did you find some more information about this in the meanteime? When I follow the links and check the footnotes it seems to be an algorithm that's nowadays in use in newer protocols / encryption techniques . The python code example in the header links to a stanford http site with downloads of openssl 1.0.0 and suport for ftp and telnet ...
Doesn't seem t be something that you want to be aware of nowdays, except for the principles that are behind it for newer protocols.