A new Wave of trusted computing for Intel motherboards?

 

Gallery

By Alun Williams

Posted on 1 Aug 2003 at 12:21

Following an agreement between Intel and Wave Systems, security software and services could in future be bundled with an Intel desktop motherboard. Specifically, Wave's Embassy Trust Suite will be deployed.

Embassy - standing for an EMBedded Application Security System - is a device designed to meter information and enables secure transaction processing, typically living in end-user devices such as PCs and set-top boxes. With its ability to support secure content delivery, VPNs, and the configuration of privacy options, Wave sells the technology as means of enabling a 'Trusted Client' in e-commerce.

'Wave helps fill a critical requirement for trusted computing services,' said Michelle Johnston, director of marketing for Intel Desktop Board Operations. 'We believe the Embassy Trust Suite software will provide good value for our customers looking for trusted computing applications.'

Wave is more than happy to have signed up the chip giant, following on from deals with National Semiconductor to also license the Embassy Trust Suite. The company, obviously, is keen for security issues to become more central to everyday computing.

'Wave believes that a portfolio of services will make trusted computing an important part of the personal computing market going forward,' said Brian Berger, senior VP, Global Business Development, Wave Systems. 'It is our job, to work with industry leaders like Intel, to help identify and develop those services that will bring the most value to the enterprise - as trusted hardware is deployed and a more secure computing environment becomes a reality.' Berger said.

More information about Embassy services can be found on the Wave website.

The hardware of Embassy is derived from so-called Trusted Platform Modules (TPM). These are semiconductor devices defined by The Trusted Computing Group (TCG), an industry organisation focusing on embedding trust and security features into computers.