Linux boost expected for Trusted Computing scheme

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Linux-based APIs are on the roadmap of various vendors in support of the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance's (TCPA'S) security initiative, an Infineon Technologies official said at the Platform Conference here on Tuesday.

The TCPA's plan features a hardware-based scheme to provide for secure communications and e-commerce applications. Founders of TCPA include Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft.

Although TCPA's security initiative is operating system agnostic, the Linux APIs will be created for the group's Trusted Platform Module (TPM), according to Infineon's Mark Stafford, a group manager in the secure mobile solutions division at the company.

According to the TCPA Web site, TPM can store measurements of components of a system and provides protection of information and authentication for individual platforms.

Stafford preached the benefits of the TCPA plan, saying it provides a foundation and infrastructure for other security applications through strong authentication. Furthermore, TCPA holds the potential to bring hardware-based security to the mass market, he said.

"The need for security, I think especially after the last couple of days with the Slammer [worm], is quite prevalent," he said. "There's a lot of malicious code out there."

Also at the conference, Anil Godbole, strategic marketing manager for Rambus, said Rambus will make announcements related to its FlexPhase circuit technology in the second or third week of February. FlexPhase is intended to alleviate data skewing problems in parallel I/O systems in high-speed, next-generation PCs, according to Godbole.

Rambus is betting on both parallel and serial technologies continuing to thrive, Godbole said. "At Rambus we really [believe] both types are going to prevail," he said.