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JULY 13th, 2005
PCs Become Market for Security Chips; STMicroelectronics
Ships 1 Millionth Trusted Platform
Security concerns with PCs are now being addressed in hardware.
STMicroelectronics, a company noted for its smart card technology, (NYSE:STM) is filling the need. It reports it has delivered
over one million of its Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 devices to PC motherboard companies in the second quarter of 2005.
The module offers a preinstalled hardware solution to PC security, which allows the computer to lock general access and provide
secure storage areas. STMicroelectronics reports that Intel uses the module in its Desktop Boards, which are part of its Executive
Series.
Offering a history of STMicroelectronics TCG (Trusted Computing
Group) experience and market position was Alain Jarre, Director of the Consumer & IT Business Unit at STMicroelectronics'
Smartcard ICs Division "ST was the first company to release an integrated TCG 1.2 solution, implementing this latest and most
advanced TCG 1.2 specification. ST has more than 20 years experience in the design of highly secure silicon products; we are
a major supplier of secure microcontrollers to multiple smart card markets and other applications. We are happy that with
these first deliveries to major companies like Intel, ST's leading position in the trusted computing market is confirmed."
ST’s new solution, the ST19WP18, is a compatible with the
earlier TCG 1.1b specification, offers new functions such as Delegation, Transport Protection and Locality. The chip is based
on software stack licensed from NTRU Cryptosystems Inc., and TPM management and cryptographic support utilities from Wave
Systems Corp. Hardware inside the ST19WP18 includes an 8-bit microcomputer with an advanced 1088-bit cryptographic co-processor
with Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) support functions.
JULY 1st, 2005
StreamShield Networks has selected Seaway Networks’ SW5000
Network Content Processor chip as the basis for its Content Security Gateway (CSG). In the gateway application, The SW5000
performs 5 Gbps TCP processing and packet-to-stream conversion, enabling the CSG to check for and ward off multiple security
threats in real-time. CSG, which permits the user to program in specific security features, can be programmed to scan and
block data streams for viruses, worms, phishing scams, malware, spam and other selectable content, all under user control.
StreamShield has the power to monitor over 250,000 web page requests per second and with the help of the SW5000 manage up
to 2 million simultaneous TCP connections.
The CTO for StreamShield Networks, Jon Curnyn, pointed out the
hard to find features found in Seaway’s processor, "Seaway's SW5000 Network Content Processor has enabled us to fulfill
our vision of building a new breed of content security product that stops Internet threats - even today's increasingly common
blended threats - before they can cause damage to the end user's computer or the enterprise network. It is the only processing
solution we found with the features that were critical to delivering our Content Security Gateway in its current form."
JUNE 14th, 2005
austriamicrosystems, a company that has delivered over 50 million
audio and power management chips in the last three years, has made available yet another chip. This time it is an analog front
end, the AS3517 for portable audio applications, such as MP3. The chip is available in a chipscale package that measures just
9x9 mm. Inside the small package are 11 voltage converters and regulators, a Lithium battery charger, CD quality audio codec
and 12 programmable amplifiers.
John Heugle, CEO of austriamicrosystems, emphasized that the product
reduced the size and bill of materials of current day portable music players, "The AS3517 is the most highly integrated solution
available today. It provides all of the audio and power management functionality that is required in products like music-enabled
mobile phones, MP3 music players, digital audio and video broadcast receivers, PDAs and other portable music devices while
simultaneously reducing the costs involved in manufacturing."
The new chip also includes Digital Rights Management circuitry according
to Alexander Harrer, Sr. VP and General Manager of the Communications Business Unit of austriamicrosystems, "The AS3517 includes
advanced functionalities designed to support the legitimate desire of rights holders to protect their intellectual property.
We have built-in hardware provisions for music Digital Rights Management, and numerous other functional blocks that can be
used to safeguard copyrighted material without compromising the listening experience of the end-user. "
The company has scheduled volume production for the summer, so that
the chip can be designed into presents for the Christmas season.
JUNE 7th, 2005
Philips and Infineon to Supply Chips for Electronic Passport
Programs in Germany
Both Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX) and Royal Philips
Electronics (NYSE:PHG)(AEX:PHI) have reported that they will supply chips to be used in the German governments electronic
passport program. Philips reported that it s contactless smart card chip was selected through the German Ministry of Interior
by the German passport printing authority, the Bundesdruckerei GmbH, for use in Germany's smart passports. Infineon also reported
that Bundesdruckerei would use its chips, as well as special package and inlay antenna to manufacture the electronic passports.
Infineon, with its announcement, estimated that there are about 24 million German passports, of which, 10 percent are renewed
each year. Both Infineon and Philips are considered two of the world's leaders in the supply of smart automatic identification
chips.
The new passports contain multiple electronic biometric identification
keys for the passport holders. The inconspicuous new passports are expected to reduce port of entry delays for travelers,
and meet new United States government standards that are planned to be enforced relatively soon.
JUNE 2nd, 2005
Validity Sensors Receives Patent for Durable RF Fingerprint Technology
Validity Sensors Inc. has reported the European Patent Office has notified the company of its
intent to grant all 55 claims for its radio frequency based biometric technology. The technology, because it uses RF sensing
, isolates the finger from the silicon, providing a touchless silicon solution. According to Brett Minifie, VP of Marketing,
"Validity has managed to achieve what the rest of the industry has been struggling with for over 7 years. We have separated
the fragile active silicon from the sensing elements. This has tremendous benefits for our customers, as we have just solved
their reliability and performance issues in one swoop, all using standard, proven, Chip-on-Flex Packaging." The company noted
that National Semiconductor was one of its manufacturing and solutions partners.
MAY 26th, 2005
Elliptic Semiconductor Launches Security Portfolio for Digital
Rights Management
Elliptic Semiconductor has put on the market a portfolio of products targeted towards the digital
rights management (DRM) market, a market that serves to protect copyrighted material such as movies and music from infringement.
The company’s new products are a result of a close working relationship with MIPS Technologies Inc. and a number of
consumer oriented System on Chip designers. The IP core based product solutions support the Microsoft Windows DRM, IPTC and
Open Mobile Alliance 2.0 DRM standards. With encrypted throughput rates of 1000 Mbps the product family has been designed
for use in cellular phones, which are expected to soon offer on a mass scale a wide range of copyrighted music and videos.
Cell phones are not the only market Elliptic’s products address. The company also has placed a significant product development
effort in the products to address the needs of the settop market.
MAY 12th, 2005
Wave Reports Two Contracts with Silicon Chip Suppliers for its Trusted Computing
Software
With Wave Systems Corp.
(NASDAQ: WAVX) announcement of $78,000 of revenue for its first quarter ended March 31, 2005, the company reports that it
has obtained two contracts with silicon chip suppliers for to bundle its products. The contracts complement the company's
shipments it makes to PC motherboard companies and through PC companies of its Wave EMBASSY Trust Suite (ETS). That software
is fundamental to the implementation of Trusted Platform Modules used to implement the recommendations of the Trusted Computing
Group. Steven Sprague, Wave's CEO detailed the company's customers and market outlets, "Into 2005, Wave continues to make
progress. Wave's EMBASSY Trust Suite secure software ships with certain products of one of the global leaders in PC motherboard
sales; our software is available for sale on the web site of one of the global leaders in PC sales; we have contracts to have
our products bundled with certain products of two other leading silicon chip suppliers, and our solutions are now available
from additional reseller partners."
In April, Wave announced
that its ETS 4.3 would be available in the summer to support the next generation of security chip software. This is in addition
to an agreement it entered into with Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) to offer a security solution for the trusted computing
marketplace. Andreas Raeschmeier, Head of Business Development at G&D explained that the use of smart cards into the trusted
platform offered a number of advantages, "The combination of trusted computing with smart card technology shows a lot of complementary
advantages. As an integrated part of the motherboard, trusted platform modules provide an early integrity control from software
and hardware as well as identity control of the entire PC system. The addition of chip card technology, e.g. as smart card
or smart USB token, enables portable user identification to achieve a reliable and flexible security solution.
MAY 12th, 2005
HiFn Powers GTGI's PowerCrypt Accelerator
Global Technologies Group
has reported that it’s new PowerCrypt 5x-PMC card is based on Hifn's 7956 security processor. The PowerCrypt 5x-PMC,
an encryption accelerator card, off-loads tasks from the CPU with its hardware-assisted encryption and decryption capabilities.
The HiFn 7956 security processor features 3DES and AES encryption at rates up to 632 megabits per second. Other security processor
features include public key processing and true random number generation.
The 7956 comes in 144-pin
TQPF package and is priced at $24.50 - quantities of 10,000.
MAY 5th, 2005
Tarari and Mail-Filters See Future in Silicon Based Anti-SPAM
Technology
Tarari, a fabless content processor company, and Mail-Filters.com
Inc. have entered into an agreement to develop silicon based chip technology for anti-spam and phishing. Mail-Filter's technology
is already used to filter billions of messages a day for illegal content. Combined with Tarari's content processor silicon
technology, the two companies will provide accelerated anti-spam solutions.
Daniel Ashby, Senior Vice President of Mail-Filters.com spoke about
his company's solution and the new solution, "Mail-Filters proprietary next-generation anti-spam solutions was designed from
the ground-up to offer the industry's most accurate spam protection in over 30 languages. Our technology has always been recognized
for accuracy and performance. Our joint Mail-Filters/Tarari solutions will further build upon this success to enable enterprises
and data centers to deploy anti-spam technology and new levels of processing performance."
Randy Smerik, CEO of Tarari, Inc. indicated that their was indeed
demand for the two companies' solution, "There is a big demand for high-speed spam processing. Our partnership with Mail-Filters
creates the opportunity for network security OEMs to address this demand with the integrated combination of Mail-Filters proven
software stack and our Content Processor silicon."
MAY 4th, 2005
SafeNet (NASDAQ:SFNT), a provider of security toolkits, semiconductor security
IP and security-based hardware appliances, reported revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2005 of $59.8 million, up 149
percent from $24.0 million for the year ago quarter.
Anthony Caputo, Chairman and CEO of SafeNet referred to the acquisition
of Rainbow in his discussion, "This first quarter of 2005 completes the first full year of our acquisition with Rainbow. We
are pleased that this is working very well for us--our revenue is up 149% from the first quarter last year, adjusted net income
is up by 200%, and adjusted EPS up by 88% from the first quarter last year. Our management and staff delivered a strong quarter
highlighted by positive cash generation and GAAP income as well as declining receivables and days sales outstanding. Another
indication of the strong execution by our team is the fact that our outside auditors have completed the audit of management's
assessment pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that the company maintained effective internal control over financial
reporting and issued an unqualified opinion. This week, SafeNet was named as the fastest growing networking company in America
by Network World--this is especially significant since our growth topped other fast growing companies such as Research in
Motion and Juniper Networks. Last year we were named as the third fastest growing company in the same issue, and our goal
is to continue growing over the next five years. We feel this recognition as well as our strong financial results demonstrate
that focused execution of our business plan continues to fuel our growth and ranking in the security space."
For the year, Safenet projects that it will have revenues in the range
of $255 to $275 million.
APRIL 19th, 2005
SenSage, a broad based data analysis company, whose product is used
to monitor and store security and performance of real time data collected on a mass scale, has secured $10 million in Series
C finanicing. The company lists its end markets as financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology.
Jim Pflaging, CEO at SenSage elaborated on the company's product,
"We have customers that generate over 200 gigabytes of security data daily. Using SenSage, they generate alerts and take immediate
action while retaining the complete history online for later investigations. In addition to having the most scalable and robust
product in the industry, SenSage has an exceptional management team, proven customer results, and blue chip distribution partners.
This funding will enable us to further develop our team and our market-leading technology."
The investors involved in the round included Battery Ventures, Canaan
Partners, Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners and Sierra Ventures.
APRIL 18th, 2005
Trusted Platform Market Takes Hold with Encrypted Card Technology
Cards are expected to be the new key to PCs and other electronic access services.
Many today consider the safest way to transfer information over the Internet is via insertable cards. With such cards, access
to email would not be done with a typed in password, but with an encrypted card, which plugs into the PC. Such slots, would
give users a considerable amount of flexibility on any type of computer.
In this line Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) and Wave Systems Corp. (NASDAQ:WAVX)
have entered into a joint agreement to offer a security solution or Trusted Platform Modules for the trusted computing marketplace.
Both companies are part of the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), which was founded in 2003.
Andreas Raeschmeier, Head of Business Development at G&D commented on the evolving
technology and agreement, “The combination of trusted computing with smart card technology shows a lot of complementary
advantages. As an integrated part of the motherboard, trusted platform modules provide an early integrity control from software
and hardware as well as identity control of the entire PC system. The addition of chip card technology, e.g. as smart card
or smart USB token, enables portable user identification to achieve a reliable and flexible security solution.”
APRIL 14th, 2005
ROOT6 Technology Selects Tarari's Encoder Accelerator for Windows Media
Tarari, Inc., which offers board and ASIC based Content Processors to the network equipment, appliance and server
markets, was selected by ROOT6 Technology for its award-winning acceleration product, the Tarari Encoder Accelerator for Windows
Media, for its digital video encoding based system.
Marcus Hume-Humphreys, Managing Director of ROOT6 Technology commented
about the importance of Tarari's technology, "Tarari's acceleration technology adds far greater speed and efficiency to our
solutions, enabling our customers to improve margins on deliverables and deliver materials faster."
Jim Wilson, CTO Microsoft Technologies at Tarari, Inc. added, "ROOT6
Technology has leveraged Tarari's encoder accelerator to offer breakthrough speed in the video process flow, The strong relationship
between Tarari's developers and ROOT6 engineering has forged a technology platform enabling VC-1 and SD encoding as fast as
possible built upon the Windows Media SDK."
Tarari Content Processors offload compute-intensive tasks for applications
that involve XML/Web Services and Network Security.
Tarari lists its investors as Crosspoint Venture Partners, Intel
Capital, Miramar Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners and XMLFund.
APRIL 11th, 2005
SafeNet, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFNT) has made available the National Institute of
Standards & Technology (NIST) SHA-256 Secure Hashing Algorithm to its semiconductor OEM customers as part of its
line of SafeXcel silicon Intellectual Property (IP) Core offerings.
Henk Pruim, Vice President and General Manager at SafeNet's OEM/Networking
Business Unit, indicated the cores will add significantly to the development of more advanced integrated circuits, "As companies
assess recent concerns with the security of SHA-1, SafeNet has already implemented the stronger SHA-256 algorithms into many
of our products. Companies wishing to upgrade their security for digital signatures, password verification, online transactions
and VPN systems can now do so with our networking solutions."
SafeNet, an information security company, founded over 20 years ago, offers
hardware, software and chips for security applications. Its semiconductor customers include ARM and Texas Instruments.
APRIL 11th, 2005
Fortinet, ASIC Based Firewall Security Company, Builds Its
Executive Sales Staff
Fortinet, a company that has based a line of network products on
its ASIC content processor chip, has added three members to its executive staff. These include Chris Andrews as Vice President
of Americas Sales, Dave DeValk as Vice President Worldwide Customer Service and Yoshimitsu Okamoto as Vice President of Japan
Sales. Combined, the three professionals have over thirty years experience in the technology industry at well-know network
companies.
Fortinet offers products for the Unified Threat Management market.
The FortiGate series of ASIC-accelerated antivirus firewalls has won several awards. These include the 2004 Security Product
of the Year Award from Network Computing Magazine and the 2003 Networking Industry Awards Firewall Product of the Year.
MARCH 30th, 2005
Britestream Networks has selected EL-GEV Electronics to distribute and
market its BN1010 SSL security NIC and the BN2010 SSL ASIC devices in Israel. The SSL/TLS security NIC devices process data
in the network stream, in real time and in a transparent manner. Britestream reports that its patented in-stream TCP/IP processing
engines eliminates the need for network integration and provides 100% CPU offload. Yoel Yogev, CEO of El-GEV commented about
the market, "Britestream's security solution is revolutionary and will be a good fit for the growing Internet access market.
As the network security market continues to grow, we are seeing increasing demand for this type of product."
MARCH 29th, 2005
MagiQ Develops Quantum Encryption Platform Based on Cavium's
Security Processors
MagiQ Technologies, Inc. has introduced its quantum encryption solution.
Based on Cavium’s Network’s security processor chips, the technology relies on physics as opposed to computational
intensity as a means of encryption. SafeNet CTO George Heron explained, "Quantum encryption breaks the cycle of relying on
computational difficulty for encryption strength. Rather than endless engagement in the 'arms race' of classical crypto, quantum
encryption solutions such as MagiQ's QPN 7505 offer truly unbreakable security grounded in the immutable laws of physics.
This brings a welcome change to those for whom a compromised encryption key is simply not an option."
MARCH 22nd, 2005
Ihlas Holdings, a news agency based in Turkey, has ordered Veridicom's
VLI, the company's personal identity key, which is based on the company's fingerprint sensor chip technology. According to
Mr. Ahmet M. Oren, CEO of Ihlas Holdings, "Securing information and corporate data is critical in our line of business. Data
and information assets can be time sensitive, and it is imperative that they be protected from theft and unauthorized access.
We believe Veridicom's VKI device and its software are the ideal solution for us. "
Veridicom International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VRDI) was originally
spun out from Lucent Technologies. The company employs a number of specialist originally from Lucent, who have extensive experience
in biometric based integrated circuit technology.
MARCH 17th, 2005
Permalight Uses
Osram’s Infrared Power LED Technology to Stop Movie Pirates
Permlight Products Inc.
announced at the opening of ShoWest, one of the largest trade shows for Motion Picture Professionals, that it along with OSRAM
Opto Semiconductors have introduced a new LED system for stopping movie piracy. The technology apparently prevents pirates
from filming movies in the theatre with CCD based digital camcorders. The Permlight Products Enbryten Piracy line of Anti-Piracy
is based on OSRAM's thin film infrared power LED technology. The LED transmits an invisible signal into movie audiences to
what the company terms, as washing out any silicon CCD based digital camcorders.
According to Manuel Lynch,
President and CEO of Permlight Products, "Technologies from digital projectors to watermarking have been pursued to track
down the origins of pirated films. None of these systems renders video cameras useless nor can they compete with the cost
effectiveness and simplicity of the Enbryten Piracy system. Permlight's patented thermal management technology coupled together
with the superior performance of OSRAM's thin film technology makes for a compelling proposition to cinema operators."
MARCH 8th, 2005
Fingerprint Sensor Market Pulses with Activity
With
more and more companies concerned with the security of their computer networks and the ability to easily access secure systems,
fingerprint sensors are one logical alternative. Signifying this trend towards biometric based security solutions, several
companies in the fingerprint biometric chip market have recently reported sales activity Fujitsu's MBF310 capacitive Sweep
Sensor and MBF 200 capacitive touch sensor was selected by ODI for its embedded fingerprint matching modules. As well, Shimon
Systems also selected the same products for use in its fingerprint-verification reference design module. That system, the
Fingerscan BIO-EM, which was developed with Texas Instruments and includes DSP technology from Texas Instruments (the TMS320VC5507
digital signal processor), has been designed for OEMs, and s used to acquire, convert, store and match fingerprints. The multi-user
module permits one system to be securely used by one or many approved users. The module has a USB port for easy interface
to PC systems.
Finally AuthenTec, which bills itself as the largest semiconductor provider of fingerprint sensors to
the PC, wireless and access control markets, with over 4 million sensors shipped has been in the process of expanding its
operations. The expansion, which is indicative of a 50 percent company growth rate, includes more technical and marketing
staff, new offices in the United States, Europe and Asia as well as biometric research and development centers in China. The AuthenTec-Shanghai
Development Center in Shanghai will serve as both a regional headquarters and a R&D center. Also in Asia, AuthenTec
plans to open marketing and customer support centers in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. In Europe, AuthenTec already opened a regional European office in Germany and plans to further expand its operations with offices
in other countries. This 50 percent expansion is on top of a 20 percent expansion announced by the company in late 2004.
AuthenTec's
customers and partners include a wide variety of semiconductor and system companies. These include Analog Devices, APC, Bioscrypt,
Compal, Computer Associates, Fujitsu Computer, IBM, KYE, LGE, Microsoft, Motion Computing, Precise Biometrics, Samsung, Saflink,
SCM Microsystems, Targus, Tatung and Texas Instruments.
FEBRUARY 17th, 2005
SYPRUS, a developer of encryption security technology, has licensed
its Suite B level, advanced crypto algorithms to Infineon Technologies. Infineon plans to integrate the encryption technology
into its microcontrollers. Infineon has significant operations in the smart card chip market, which requires a high level
of identity security to prevent unauthorized access to credit cards, bank accounts and personal records.
According to the announcement, the two companies believe that Eliptic
curve technology will become the standard encryption technology for business and governments for the foreseeable future. Joerg
Borchert, VP for Chip Card and Security ICs, at Infineon Technologies North America indicated that the technology will shorten
its customer's product development time and ensure its customers the best security solutions. SYPRUS has been involved with
Infineon's security development efforts since the mid 1990s.
JANUARY 26th, 2005
National's Security Device in IBM Thinkpad
National Semiconductor revealed that its Safekeeper security device is used in the IBM ThinkPad T43.
JANUARY 21st, 2005
Safenet to Appear At Security
Conference
Safenet, a provider of security chips, is scheduled to appear in Cannes, France at "The Mobile
Content Security Forum." The forum is to be held at the 3GSM World Congress 2005 on Wednesday, February 16, 2005 at
1:00 pm.
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