More Secure Start-up press

Microsoft is talking up support for hardware-based security in Windows Vista, though only a sliver of the company's original plan will make it into the operating system.
Three years ago Microsoft unveiled Palladium, renamed Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) after the original name became tainted with controversy over privacy and fair-use issues and because another company claimed rights to the Palladium name. The technology was to be part of the next Windows release.

NGSCB promised to boost PC security by using hardware and software that would allow parts of a computer to be isolated from malicious code such as viruses and worms. It also would foil attacks that use logging devices by encrypting data as it moves between a PC's hardware components. NGSCB required significant changes to hardware and software.

In May 2004, following criticism from software makers, Microsoft said it was retooling NGSCB so some of the benefits would be available without the need to recode applications. The company has been silent on the plan since, though it insists NGSCB is not dead. Instead, its delivery is still to be determined, according to Microsoft's Web site.

Now Microsoft is busy telling hardware and software makers about Secure Startup in Windows Vista, which it says is the "first delivery" on its hardware-based security plan. Vista, previously known by its code name, Longhorn, is the next client release of Windows due on store shelves in time for the next year's holiday shopping season.

Secure Startup is primarily designed to prevent laptop thieves and other unauthorised users with physical access to a computer from getting access to the data on the system. Nearly half of all enterprises had laptops stolen, causing US$4.1 million in damage, according to a January survey by the Computer Security Institute and the FBI.

"The number one goal is to prevent attackers from using software tools to get at information that is at rest on the hard drive," Stephen Heil, a technical evangelist at Microsoft said at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco last week.

Current versions of Windows offer encryption of file folders and PCs include start-up security such as Basic Input/Output System, or BIOS passwords. However, both can be easily circumvented if an attacker has physical access to the PC. "You can get access to the system in less than 15 minutes," Heil said. BIOS lets hardware speak to software in a PC.

Secure Startup uses a chip called the Trusted Platform Module, or TPM, which offers protected storage of encryption keys, passwords and digital certificates. Vista uses this capability to verify that a PC has not been tampered with when it starts up and to protect data through encryption. The TPM is typically affixed to the motherboard of a PC. Because it is stored in hardware, the information is more secure from external software attacks and physical theft.

TPMs are made by a host of chip companies including Atmel, Broadcom, Infineon, Winbond Electronics, Sinosun and STMicroelectronics.

To service a PC, the Secure Startup feature can be temporarily disabled. And if a PC breaks and data on a hard drive needs to be accessed on, say, a different machine, a recovery key can unlock the system, Heil said. This recovery key is generated when a user enables Secure Startup and should be stored away from the computer.

Heil spoke at IDF to encourage hardware makers to adopt the latest TPM specification, version 1.2, released earlier this year. This is the version that Microsoft will support in Vista. Also, Heil called on software makers to build applications that take advantage of Microsoft's implementation of the TPM in Windows Vista.

It is unclear, however, which editions of Vista will support TPM and offer Secure Startup. The feature is aimed at business PC users, Heil said. This could mean that support will be limited to premium versions of Vista. Microsoft declined to discuss packaging of the new operating system.

Microsoft also won't commit to support for TPM in the server release of Longhorn, which is scheduled for 2007. The Trusted Computing Group, which develops the TPM specifications, in July released a blueprint for use of the security chip in server computers.

TPM is not new. Microsoft is even late to the game with its support for the chip. PC vendors such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell already include TPM chips in some of their PCs and allow for features such as encrypted hard-disk drives and e-mail. HP and IBM and other companies provide software that enables those features.

"PCs with the TPM have been shipping for two-and-a-half years," said Brian Berger, head of the marketing working group of the Trusted Computing Group, which promotes open specifications to protect against software-based attacks.

According to IDC, about 25 million PCs will ship this year with TPM chips in them. Next year, the research firm predicts, about 60 million computers will ship with the security chip. By 2010 essentially all portable PCs and the vast majority of desktops will include a TPM chip, according to IDC.

NGSCB was heavily scrutinised by critics who feared it could curtail users' ability to control their own PCs and erode fair-use rights. TPM is also not without controversy. The security chip could be used for digital rights management applications and the presence of unique encryption keys has raised concerns among privacy watchers.

Although the TPM was not specifically designed for digital rights management purposes, third-party software makers could, for example, use the chip to enforce limitations on the number of times a digital media file can be played or copied, according to the Trusted Computing Group.

"There is some concern that (the TPM) could be used in a privacy-impairing way," Microsoft's Heil said. To quell those concerns, Microsoft won't require PC makers to include the security chip in their systems and the feature will be turned off by default in PCs that do ship with it, according to Heil.

Adding TPM support to Windows is "much less ambitious" than the full-blown NGSCB plan, said Rob Helm, director of research at Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Washington-based research firm. "But it also requires a lot less from software developers and makes it more likely to get widely adopted," he said.

Nobody is mourning the fact that NGSCB has not made it into Vista, Helm said. "The initial broad vision was just not accepted by the partners Microsoft had to enlist," he said. "Microsoft is now biting off the pieces that can get people some immediate benefit and can get support from hardware and software vendors."

Subsequent to Secure Startup, Microsoft will build other part of its NGSCB plan, according to the company Web site: "These will complement Secure Startup to enable a broad range of new secure computing solutions. The technical specifications, timing and delivery vehicles are TBD."

awk, great find.

Do you belive this could be a trusted solution provided by Wave?

Pickle

kant,

Thanks, but I can't match your exclamation points.

Wavxmaster,

Sounds like you got permission to dive a little deeper into the Wave pool of everlasting tease.

Pickle

helpful,

They are a coming. From SEC filing:

Diebold North America (DNA) second quarter 2005 net sales of $346,192 increased $10,759 or 3.2 percent over the second quarter 2004 net sales of $335,433. The increase in DNA net sales was due to increased product and service revenue from growth in the market as well as gains in market share with the continued favorable response to the Opteva financial self-service product line.

Vader,

In Texas, we call it the good'ole boy network. It works like a champ if your inside, but is quite the bummer if you are not.

Pickle

hnstabe,

R&D is a disretionary expense so I played it conservative. I like your numbers better though.

Pickle

wavxmaster,

I just found out who is STMicro's largest customer.

From SEC filing:

"In the second quarter of 2005, we had several large customers, with the Nokia Group of companies being the largest and accounting for approximately 22% of our revenues. Total original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) accounted for approximately 82% of our net revenues, of which the top ten OEM customers accounted for approximately 49%."

Pickle

Thanks, Wavxmaster. Nice way to end the week.

Pickle

gowave,

I admit I am a bit of an idealist. I tell only Mrs. Pickle and one friend that I know invest aggressively. I bet if Wave executes successfully, you might feel like shouting from the roof tops again.

Pickle

Assuming a 30% net margin to arrive at $.18/share, or $14,400,000. That would equate to $48,00,000 in revenue, or the equivalent 1,200,000 Wave ETS sold across Dell, Gateway, etc. To me, that appears a bit conservative on Dutton's part. If 60 million TPM computers are sold next year as projected and let's say 40% are "turned on" (pent up demand by enterprise), that would be 24 million. Dell has 30% and Gateway another 5% so that would be 7.2 million computers "turned on" with Wave ETS. Keep in mind, I am not including KTM, or other unknown OEMs.

7.2 million units x average Wave ETS price of $45 with 50% take.

$22.50 x 7.2 million units = $162,000,000 in revenue

35% net margin = $56,700,000, or $.71/share

P/E = 30

Share price = $21.26.

As my wife and I bathed the kids tonight I was overcome with exuburence and described Wave's possible future as only a layperson could. I imagine Doma, Awk and Eamon would have vomitted rigtht there on the spot as I described Wave as the future switchboard of trusted computing in words my third grader is reading with relative ease.

I know I have not been through the war like most of you here. I see ya'll as the "greatest generation" as faith is not faith until it has been tested. Thanks again to the Longs who help me understsand the technology and its place within the market and how the dots connect. This keeps grounded and unemotional as an investor. What I shared with Mrs. Pickle tonight about Wave's possible future, however, was anything but unemotional.

Pickle

1stnflight,

Very bottom in blue once message is opened.

wavxmaster, just membermarked you. Did not know that functional;ity even existed. I have a lot of catching up to do with Doma, awk, eamon, snack, go-kite, etc. Now you can tell me and this wonderful board if you like.

Pickle

wavxmaster,

I knew you had a plan. I agree this is good time to add with this ceiling still over our heads. Look forward to meeting you.

Pickle

wavxmaster,

SKS spent an hour with you one on one? How did you introduce yourself to him? That is a gracious and humble gesture by SKS and I am happy you posted the summary of your conversation. All the best and, yes, momentum does appear to be on our side.

Pickle

Pink Sheets have not kept HISC from being one of the best stocks to own in 2005. Listing is fine, but what drives this company is HUGE growth based on best solution in the industry and tremendous need in the marketplace.

NEWS! http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/050823/84411.html

"Phase II. Results

The Cyber Tracker met and exceeded all data criteria."

Doma, very glad to have you back. EOM

Vista promises tested

By Brier Dudley
Seattle Times technology reporter

Windows Vista will solve many, but not all of the security woes plaguing PC users, according to some experts evaluating the Microsoft operating system going on sale in late 2006.

One analyst said the software — introduced yesterday in a test version — has vastly improved security that may offer a sort of road map for people trying to attack the current Windows XP, which will continue to be used by tens of millions of people for years.

"As they document the shortcomings in Windows XP that Vista fixes, as is always the case, virus writers will take that documentation and use it as a template," said Rob Enderle, a Santa Clara, Calif., analyst who is testing Vista and has advised Microsoft on security issues.

That may be a mixed blessing for Microsoft.

The company will have to continue investing in XP fixes and customer support if Vista reveals new vulnerabilities in XP. But the company will benefit if security concerns push customers to rapidly upgrade to Vista.

Either way security will probably be the focal point as consumers, companies and investors weigh the promises of Vista, which will be Microsoft's biggest product release since Windows XP launched in October 2001.

The software, formerly code-named Longhorn, is also Microsoft's first major new operating system since Chairman Bill Gates ordered the company in 2002 to make security and reliability its top priority. It's also the product of a re-engineering effort to simplify the underlying structure of Windows and unsnarl the tangled set of features added to the system over the past decade.

Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said security updates will continue for XP after Vista ships, and XP users with updated systems won't be less secure than they are now.

"If you buy a brand new car this year, that doesn't mean the car you had last year is not safe, but there are improvements," he said.

Vista is scheduled to go on sale in fall 2006 after a review process that began in earnest yesterday when the company released a "beta" test version to software developers. A second test version with more features could come in September or October, Enderle said.

Vista-based PCs will start at about $499 for a basic desktop or $599 for a machine powerful enough to take advantage of its new features, Enderle said. He said PC makers are already working on prototypes, including small machines similar to the Mac Mini, a computer slightly smaller than a Harry Potter book that Apple released in January.

Research firm IDC expects Microsoft will increase its market share even more after Vista's debut. It predicts the company's share of all operating-system revenues worldwide will grow from 70 percent in 2004 to 77 percent in 2009, said Dan Kusnetzky, vice president of system software research.

Security advances or not, operating systems will be upgraded at the same pace as in the past, he said.

"I suspect that the adoption rate of this software will mirror the adoption rate of other versions of Windows," he said. "It's very likely to take maybe a year, a year and a half, before it's the predominantly shipping product."

Others who have tinkered with Vista aren't so sure about the XP risk that Enderle described. But none thinks Vista's improvements will stifle attacks on PCs altogether.

"Once this is finally released, I envision that within the first 60 days there will be reports of issues," said Eric Schultze, a former Microsoft engineer now chief security architect at security consultant Shavlik Technologies in Minneapolis.

Vista's improvements will make it much harder to attack, however. Among the features he cited are a bidirectional firewall that restricts outbound and inbound traffic, and a built-in monitoring system that watches for abnormal activities and would automatically stop some infections.

"Certainly the low-hanging fruit is no longer available — it's a lot tougher for the average hacker to figure out a way to get in," he said.

Sometimes it's more than a technical challenge for Microsoft to secure its products.

Within the company there can be pressure to add snazzy features or make changes that degrade a product's security, Schultze said. He remembers kvetching with other security engineers when Windows XP was shipped with its firewall turned off. Now, "the security team probably has more clout to say, 'No, you can't do that,' " he said.

Vista is also likely to not work with some older, less-secure software applications. That's a departure for Microsoft.

"Back when I was at Microsoft on the security team, we referred to Longhorn as the 'security OS' that would finally break application compatibility," Schultze said. "Now in Longhorn, or now Vista, they would ensure that if your application doesn't conform to specific requirements it might break, 'but we don't care.' "

Enderle said Vista's biggest security improvement is that it makes it easier to use PCs with administrative privileges turned off. That capability stops some viruses from being able to install and run.

Vista is also designed so that it can be more easily upgraded and responsive to threats, he said.

"This one," he said, "is going to be designed like a tank."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002406259_vista28.html?syndication=rss&...

Strategies for Protecting Laptop Data

August 18, 2005 10:58AM

Any machine that has the potential to hold sensitive data or e-mail should be encrypted. But don't bother with Windows XP's Encrypting File System. "If you know your Windows password, you know the keys to the hard drive. There are a lot of ways to hack that," says Clain Anderson, director of wireless and security at Lenovo.


Lost backup tapes may be the I.T. security issue du jour, but stolen laptops are a bigger and more intractable problem. Critical business data walks out the door every day on notebook computers. Increasingly, those devices are going missing.
Laptops are easy targets because of their portability. That makes restricting physical access all but impossible. Just recently, for example, two laptops stolen from a human resources service provider put the names and Social Security numbers of Motorola employees at risk.

At Wells Fargo last fall, information on thousands of the bank's borrowers was compromised when three laptops were stolen from a subcontractor. In both cases, the data wasn't encrypted.

Therein lies another problem. All too often, logical security controls that could protect data simply aren't used. While encryption provides an obvious remedy for securing backup tapes in transit, there are no easy fixes for securing those very personal mobile computing devices -- only trade-offs.

Encryption slows down performance, which may irritate power users. And employees may view biometric devices, smart cards and other access-control mechanisms as burdensome. Unfortunately, the people whose laptops have the most sensitive data tend to be the ones who have the least patience dealing with layered security.



Yet the consequences of inaction are increasingly public, thanks in part to the law known as California SB 1386, which requires companies to notify customers of data breaches within 48 hours. Had Wells Fargo required its subcontractor to encrypt all data, it wouldn't have had to notify customers of the theft.

Any machine that has the potential to hold sensitive data or e-mail should be encrypted. But don't bother with Windows XP's Encrypting File System. "If you know your Windows password, you know the keys to the hard drive. There are a lot of ways to hack that," says Clain Anderson, director of wireless and security at Lenovo.

Full disk encryption works better because it's transparent: Users don't have to be trained -- and trusted -- to save all their data in an encrypted folder.

Most approaches use the Triple Data Encryption Standard algorithm to encrypt data, which is very secure. But the encryption keys still must reside on the disk. Some laptops, including some of Lenovo's ThinkPads, store this data on a security chip based on the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) standard.

"That gives you a gatekeeper so your passwords and digital certificates can be protected and aren't just laying around on the hard disk somewhere," says Anderson. If employees forget their password, they're locked out, but a separate administrator password can be configured for support purposes.

Seagate Technology has announced another option: hardware-level disk encryption, which is available with its new Momentus drives. The encryption key resides on a restricted area of the disk, so even if the drive is removed, a thief still can't boot the system or read the disk without the password.

Both IBM and Dell are lining up behind the technology. But laptop vendors are unlikely to integrate the drives until a second supplier jumps into the market.

Smart cards are the best bet for additional access controls beyond the system log-in. Major laptop vendors already offer integrated card readers as an option. Biometric devices, in contrast, are more of a convenience feature for password management than a true security mechanism.

For example, the ThinkPad X41 has an embedded fingerprint reader and encrypts the password database using the TPM chip. But while there's only a 1 in 10,000 chance that it will accept a wrong fingerprint, there's a 1 in 20 chance that it will reject a valid fingerprint.

For systems without an integrated reader, add-on devices can cost $70 or more per system. "From a pure hardware-enablement standpoint, the cost is more than double for biometrics over smart cards," says Tim Gee, product marketing manager at Dell.

Among Dell customers, the adoption rate of smart cards is about 20%, compared with less than 5% for TPM and biometrics, Gee says. But lost smart cards can also be an annoyance for both users and the support personnel who manage them.

All of these technologies can add to management complexity and can be expensive to deploy at scale, cautions Gee. For protecting locally stored data, however, disk encryption will suffice. If an encrypted laptop is stolen, the perpetrators can't access the data or they can't use the machine unless they swap out the drive or reformat it.

"The chance of them getting the information is so infinitesimally small that it isn't worth thinking about," says Anderson. Given how much I.T. already has on its plate, one less thing to think about is just what the doctor ordered.

http://www.cio-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=37841

OT: Lenovo plans consumer brand
By Brian Corrigan


Lenovo Group will launch a new brand of desktops and notebooks in an attempt to establish itself in the SMB and consumer markets.


While firm plans are not yet in place, the new products should be available to its Australian resellers early next year.


The new brand will be aimed at consumer and SMB buyers as a way of protecting the enterprise branding of the ThinkCentre and ThinkPad names it acquired with IBM's PC division at the end of last year.


It is one of the most significant announcements made by the new entity since the $1.25 billion buy-out was announced back in December.


IBM pulled out of the consumer computer market back in 2001 to concentrate on commercial sales.


Emerging Chinese PC giant


Vice-president of worldwide channel strategy and sales, Mark Enzweiler, said Lenovo would be significantly expanding its range of products to tackle different segments of the market.


"Lenovo has traditionally sold computers across a broad spectrum from individuals all the way up to enterprise," he said. "But most of its sales have been to large medium enterprise and below.


"There has been some overlap between Lenovo and IBM in the past but now we want to make the portfolio much broader. That's great news for resellers because they will get to play in more sales.


"It will also give them an opportunity to build up the services side because small businesses don't have IT shops. Many of our partners around the world have seen their business model shift toward services during the past few years."


It is not clear at this stage how far downmarket Lenovo will be willing to play but Enzweiler said it would not be drawn into a price war at the very bottom of the consumer space.

OT: HP Tops Views As Its Earnings Jump By 50%

Ken Spencer Brown
Tue Aug 16, 7:00 PM ET



Hewlett-Packard and its new chief executive got a big boost Tuesday when the company posted its strongest quarterly results since 2003.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - News) earned 36 cents a share, minus special costs, in the fiscal third quarter, which ended in July. That was a nickel over analysts' estimates and 50% higher than last year's earnings. Sales grew 10% to $20.8 billion, also beating views.

Its outlook was equally upbeat. For the fourth quarter, HP now expects sales of $22.4 billion to $22.8 billion -- in line with outside forecasts. It expects earnings of 44 to 47 cents a share, 6% over views.

The news, which sent shares up about 7% in after-hours trading, came a year after former CEO Carly Fiorina stunned investors with an earnings warning. She was fired in February.

CEO Mark Hurd, who took over in March, said he was pleased with the latest quarter, which is typically HP's weakest and least predictable. "There's still hard work ahead of us," he said in a conference call. "The good news is that the people at HP know what we have to do."

Sales for the firm's corporate storage and server group, which was largely to blame for last year's breakdown, leaped 20% to $4 billion. The increase was driven by a 28% jump in Intel-compatible server sales.

Sales for HP's all-important printer unit grew 5% to $5.9 billion. But profit fell 8% as the printer market continued to slow.

The personal computer business, meanwhile, grew 8%. Strong laptop sales offset a slight drop in sales of desktop systems. Overall unit sales grew 14%.

Revenue from services rose 10% to $3.8 billion.

HP shares have already climbed about 20% since Hurd's arrival in March. Analysts credit the new chief's cost-cutting efforts. Last month HP said it would slash 14,500 jobs, a 10th of its work force, to save $1.9 billion a year.

The new HP is a tighter ship than it was under Fiorina, analysts say.

"It's important to operate efficiently," said Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff, who praised Hurd's efforts. "Just having grand visions doesn't buy you anything."

Hurd came to HP from the computer maker NCR (NYSE:NCR - News). His successful turnaround strategy at that company earned him a reputation as an operations guru.

Hurd also has reversed some of Fiorina's most visible actions. In June, he split up the printer and personal computer groups, six months after Fiorina merged them.

And this month, HP ended a deal to resell Apple Computer (NasdaqNM:AAPL - News) iPods. Fiorina trumpeted the deal in 2004, saying it was a better option than HP making its own digital music player.

Hurd has made several major hires.

Last month, he lured away Dell's (NasdaqNM:DELL - News) chief information officer, Randy Mott, to take the same job at HP. In June, HP hired former Palm (NasdaqNM:PALM - News) chief Todd Bradley to head its newly separated PC unit.

OT: Broadcom Announces High Definition AVC/VC-1 Consumer

Tue 16 Aug 2005

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 15 -- Broadcom Corporation announced a family of AVC/VC-1 high definition (HD) system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for cable, satellite and Internet Protocol (IP) set-top boxes and gateway/client architectures. Broadcom has implemented advanced video coding (AVC) (the ITU and ISO joint standard) and VC-1 (the Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers or SMPTE standard), which employ the latest generation in video compression technology, in the new family of single-chip solutions.

As a result, the Broadcom AVC/VC-1 chip solutions can reduce the required bandwidth for delivering digital video content over service operator networks by a factor of 2 to 3 when compared to the previous MPEG-2 standard. Broadcom is demonstrating its impressive AVC/VC-1 SoCs this week at the CableLabs Summer Conference in Keystone, Colorado.

Announced today is Broadcom's new BCM740x family of single-chip solutions. The new family is built upon the company's field-proven two-chip HD AVC/VC-1 solution featuring the BCM7038 dual-channel HDTV and digital video recorder (DVR) chip and the BCM7411 AVC video decoder/audio processor chip. This BCM7038/BCM7411 two-chip solution is currently shipping in volume production to leading set-top box manufacturers including EchoStar, LG Electronics, Pace, Thomson and Samsung.

France Telecom recently used Broadcom's two-chip solution to deploy a live high definition TV broadcast with MPEG-4 AVC over an ADSL2+ network from the French Open Tennis Tournament at Roland Garros stadium. By integrating this field-proven, two-chip solution into a new single-chip solution, Broadcom is enabling its customers to more quickly and efficiently migrate to more cost- effective and feature-rich technology. At the same time, the new family of SoCs offers Broadcom's customers new features such as enhanced security, copy protection and digital rights management.

The first single-chip AVC/VC-1 HD SoC products available include the BCM7401 and BCM7402. The BCM7401 is targeted at embedded hard disk drive DVR and home gateway applications while the BCM7402 addresses non-DVR or networked DVR client applications. Both chips support the widely adopted H.264 video compression standard (also known as MPEG-4 part 10/AVC) and are also the world's first AVC/VC-1 HD chips to employ integrated secure video processor (SVP) technology. SVP technology provides an open platform for content protection, which enables secure, digital content related interconnectivity between consumer electronic devices over a home network.

"Our new family of single-chip AVC solutions offers our customers significantly new enhanced video compression capabilities," said Brian Sprague, Senior Director of Marketing for Broadcom's Set-Top Box Products. "Content providers need assurances that their products can be delivered securely and will be used as intended, while equipment manufacturers need powerful, cost-effective solutions, and consumers want the final product to look and sound great in their homes. With built-in AVC/VC-1 technology, the BCM7401 and BCM7402 deliver on all of these requirements."

"We are currently using Broadcom's two-chip AVC/HD solution in our DS810 HDTV set-top box" said Neil Gaydon, Pace Micro Technologies Worldwide Sales and Marketing Director. "This is currently the most advanced AVC silicon available and will enable Pace to be first to market with our MPEG-4 AVC/HD set-top box."

"Content providers and consumers will be well-served with Broadcom's new product line incorporating SVP technology," said Dr. Beth Erez, Chairperson, SVP Alliance. "Device manufacturers deploying these chips will be able to offer content providers with the highest level of security and control over their assets. Consumers will also benefit because SVP technology ensures that high quality content will be available to them easily and securely - at home or on their mobile devices."

Product Information

The BCM7401 and BCM7402 each includes a host of advanced technology such as a data transport processor for improved performance, an HD AVC/MPEG-2/VC-1 video decoder, an advanced multi-format audio decoder, 2D graphics processing, high-quality video scaling and motion adaptive deinterlacing, an integrated HDMI/HDCP six video digital/analog converter (DAC), stereo high-fidelity audio DACs, UHF remote control receive, a 450 DMIPS MIPS32 CPU with MIPS16e, application specific extensions, and a peripheral control unit that provides a variety of set-top box control functions.

Also featured within the BCM7401 and BCM7402 is an integrated Broadcom security processor that manages a variety of on-chip encryption/decryption and copy protection operations, including support for OpenCable and for the new secure video processor technology. The new AVC/VC-1 single-chips also include advanced connectivity features such as dual USB 2.0/1.1 ports, a serial ATA (SATA) port (BCM7401 only), and an Ethernet port. In addition, Broadcom has worked with third-party content protection and encryption providers to offer, with requisite licensing, superior connectivity security.

Pricing and Availability

The BCM7401 and BCM7402 are currently available in sample quantities to early access partners. Each of the chips is packaged in a 676-pin BGA. The BCM7401 and BCM7402 and are priced at $30 and $27, respectively, in quantities of 10,000.

For more information, please visit http://www.broadcom.com/.
http://www.hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=2319&cid=6&src=rss

awk, great summary. Just added to my favorites.

Flyer,

TPMs are gaining momentum. The Apple move to Intel really accelerated the publicity. Wave, as the only interoperable solution, will ride the momentum hopefully as these dots get eventually connected. As you know, thanks to the great longs on this board, we are ahead about one or two PRs already.

Pickle

TPM article! Gateway Boosts Security

By John G. Spooner
August 15, 2005

Gateway Inc. is locking down its business PC line.

The Irvine, Calif., PC maker has fitted TPMs (Trusted Platform Modules), chips that help secure data, to its corporate notebook and desktop product lines. It sells the business machines directly to customers.

The TPMs will be offered in all Gateway's corporate notebooks and in all but one of its E-Series desktops. The company will also offer a service that can track and help recover lost or stolen laptops.

Collectively, the new features are meant to answer the needs of business customers, reassure students who are purchasing laptops for school and help set the company's products apart from its competitors, a Gateway executive said.

Gateway officials declined to offer more details on the company's overall security plan, but they hinted that the vendor wants to facilitate the use of TPMs for such practices as managing passwords and encrypting sensitive data on a computer's hard drive. TPMs can also be used to help secure e-mail and Web access, among other applications.

Gateway began laying the groundwork for its plans last week, when it announced it is adopting a special network card, made by Broadcom Corp., also of Irvine, that incorporates a TPM that complies with the Trusted Computing Group's TPM Specification Version 1.2.

Gateway has added the TPM-equipped card to such machines as the Gateway 460 notebook and the E-Series 4500, a desktop based on Intel Corp.'s Pentium 4 processor. Only the E-Series 2500, a low-cost desktop, will not have the chip.

The company's Mobile Theft Protection Solution, available on all Gateway corporate notebooks, uses Absolute Software Corp.'s Computrace, which can locate laptops that are reported lost or stolen once they connect to the Internet. Information about the online account that the machine is using can be provided to police. The package can also be used to quietly delete sensitive data remotely.

The feature is built into each notebook's hardware, making it more difficult to defeat. But customers must pay extra for the service that supports it. The price of a three-year subscription starts at $99, Gateway officials said.

Enterprise customers say the addition of TPMs is a good start but is by no means a cure-all for security ills.

"I like TPM. I think it's a sound idea, but it's all in the implementation," said Jeff Nigriny, chief security officer at Exostar LLC, the business-to-business portal for the manufacturing, aerospace and defense industries, in Herndon, Va.

Trusted computing chips like the TPM provide a big security advantage over software-based endpoint security schemes such as Cisco Systems Inc.'s NAC (Network Admission Control) architecture. However, few PC makers offer the chips in affordable laptop or desktop models, and companies such as Cisco have yet to use the chip as a preferred method for authenticating user systems, Nigriny said.

"The idea of the TPM, for me, is that this is the last piece of the puzzle. It's not a wholesale replacement for endpoint security systems, but I'd put more trust in [a TPM] than something that just scans my virus definitions," Nigriny said.

John G. Spooner is a senior writer for eWEEK.com. Additional reporting by Paul F. Roberts.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1847847,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594

awk, good stuff. Maybe he talked with Warren about Wave while he was in town.

Helpful, where do you find this stuff. You must have a search engine all your own. Like to see some industry specific opportunities being discussed.

Pickle

Great find, kant! Looks like Dell and Wave are not giving away the store quite like Dig thought.

Pickle

Orda,

I prefer early, way early.

Pickle

OT: Biometric growth.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050815/tc_usatoday/biometricidscouldseemassivegrowth

stack,

Continue your due diligence and make an informed decision. This is tougher given Wave is transitioning from a development company to a revenue producing entity. You will need to wait a couple of quarters to confirm the revenue portion. That will allow you to enter in with less risk, but you pay a higher share price for that level of comfort. If you like speculative investments, Wave defines that at this point in time. I am a long-term speculative investor just so you know the context of which I speak. Your position and intent is merely to establish context for the questions. Nothing personal.

Pickle

Agreed, Snack. EOM

Dig, So you think the recently announced new pricing structure that lines Dell's pockets will automatically be reduced to the original $20 level? Obviously you think someone is not at home at both Wave and Dell. And 10% activation? Come on! I like my view of reality compared to yours.

I left out a lot in my projection simply to give a taste of what we are sitting on. Other longs here will attest that there are several other revenue avenues I did not touch on.

Pickle

weby, exactly. We should be talking about forward splits in 2006.

24601, yes. I am working on the assumption that if a customer buys a TPM machine, they will want to utilize it. If you want to reduce to 50% or 75%, you will still like the numbers.

Pickle

mundo,

In this case, I do not mind being only half-right.

Pickle

stack, you need to go to TCG & Wave's website, read Tony's TPM matrix & past news releases, and do some Google research. ETS pricing is in place for $60 at Dell. Services come after TPM deployment which will take a couple years. By that time, if Wave has not internally developed a services business, they will be able to buy one IMHO. With the detail of your questions, I believe you know more about thsi company that you let on. All I ask is to be honest with your intent and position. This board cannot be fooled.

Pickle

stack, 2006 Projection

Let's say TPM market is 60 million units in 2006 which has been forecasted by reputable oroganizations. Also, let's say Wave gets 40% market share which would be Dell (30%) plus Gateway. ETS is priced at $60 with a roughly 50% gross margin.

2006 Projection
60 million TPM units
x 40%
24 million TPM units
x $60
$1,440,000,000 - Revenues(yes, that is a billion)
50% gross margin
$720,000,000 Gross Profit
- $150,000,000 R&D, G&A, taxes etc.
= $570,000,000 NET INCOME

$7.12 per share with P/E of 30

Share Price = $213

Does that tempt your tummty for the taste of nuts and honey?

This does not include KTM, etc. JUST ETS!!!!

Pickle