Sign in Subscribe
Telecommunications industry

Atmel Ships Over Five Million Trusted Platform Module ICs for Secure Computing

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Atmel Corporation announced that it has shipped over five million Trusted Platform Module (TPM) ICs for the world's most popular notebook computers, citing the hardware-based encryption and secure storage of encryption keys, passwords, and digital certificates as key benefits. The TPMs provide a secure sub-system that protects the end-user's privacy by providing tamper-proof storage and management of the user's identity, passwords, and encryption keys. This eliminates the need for hardware tokens, reduces administration efforts, and decreases the cost of providing security.

Key Takeaways:

  • Atmel has shipped over five million TPM ICs for notebook computers, with the primary benefit being hardware-based encryption and secure storage of encryption keys, passwords, and digital certificates.
  • TPMs provide a secure sub-system that protects the end-user's privacy by storing and managing identity, passwords, and encryption keys in a tamper-proof manner.
  • The use of TPMs eliminates the need for hardware tokens, reduces administration efforts, and decreases the cost of providing security.
  • Computers without TPMs store passwords, digital certificates, and encryption keys on the system hard drive, making them vulnerable to unauthorized access.
  • TPMs can help prevent identity theft crimes, including email-borne viruses and scams, by authenticating email sources and detecting fraudulent changes to messages or data.
  • The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) standard, which TPMs adhere to, ensures interoperability across multiple platforms, peripherals, and devices.
  • Atmel's AT97SC3201 TPM ICs provide a complete, turnkey, hardware security solution that integrates a high-performance low-power processor, 500ms 2048-bit RSA crypto accelerator, and other security features.
  • The TPM ICs are available now and are priced at $4.00 in volume, with samples conforming to the new TCG standard 1.2 available in Q3, 2004.
  • Atmel supports the TCG standard and provides drivers for Windows 98, 2K, XP, and NT 4.0 operating systems, as well as MAD and MPD BIOS drivers.

Statistics:

  • Atmel has shipped over 5 million TPM ICs for notebook computers.
  • The TPMs provide a secure sub-system that protects the end-user's privacy by storing and managing identity, passwords, and encryption keys in a tamper-proof manner.
  • 500ms 2048-bit RSA crypto accelerator is integrated into the AT97SC3201 TPM IC.
  • Q3, 2004, is the anticipated release date for samples conforming to the new TCG standard 1.2.

Sources:

  • "Atmel Corporation." Atmel Ships Over Five Million Trusted Platform Module ICs for Secure Computing. February 23, 2004.
  • "Trusted Computing Group." About TCG.
  • "Atmel Corporation." About Atmel.

Read more