mmb,
I gave you my opinion on what took place regarding Dell/ Wave/TPM/SED and Microsoft's plans for the incorporation into their OS, the management of TPM/SED's.
I cannot comment on the Credant purchase by Dell other than as you point out Dell would have access to a large customer base that was primarily using Credant's Software Encryption Technology.
But in my opinion Dell would be going head to head with Microsoft's BitLocker Software Encryption that came free with the licensing of the Win 7 or higher Enterprise packages. I'm not sure how that purchase by Dell ever worked out and will probably never know.
On another note, I used to think all electronic end points would eventually have some form of a TPM on them. I no longer hold that view. The Industry has developed three primary IT security mechanisms. The TPM is one, the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) is another and the Various Secure Element Chips (credit card chip)is the third.
All three of those technologies bring different feature sets to the table and yet all three have a common capability, they all can store digital PKI certificates and have the capability of generating encryption keys natively on the device. Sometimes the three can be used together while at other times independently. It depends on the Design of the product and what the designer is attempting to do.
There are hundreds of companies in the IT security field and it is very difficult to see who would have a leading edge in those technologies. Microsoft went TCG and TEE, Samsung went TEE/Secure Element, and Hypervisor Containers (KNOX). Apple and RIM developed their own versions of the TEE/Hypervisors. Intel incorporates TPM's/TEE/Secure Elements in their chips. Arm developed TrustZone (it's a basic hypervisor) and Trustonic developed a programmable TEE that ties into Trustzone.
As I said hundreds of companies design products around those security technologies and more are coming. Care to pick a winner:)
