Addition of Board Support Package increases portability of Certicom Security Architecture
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario – (March 14, 2005)– To deliver on its strategy to provide a standards-based security architecture that is portable across multiple chipsets, Certicom Corp. (TSX: CIC), the authority for strong, efficient cryptography, today announced a Board Support Package, Security Builder® BSP™ for Texas Instruments Incorporated's (TI's) OMAP™ platform. This collaboration enables device manufacturers to quickly and cost-effectively embed security across multiple families and generations of devices.
Certicom will support TI's OMAP2420 processors through an optimized hardware abstraction layer to allow cryptographic acceleration of symmetric and public key algorithms and key storage. This functionality is part of the overall Certicom Security Architecture, a comprehensive solution that makes it easier for mobile handset developers and device manufacturers to realize the benefits of hardware-optimized security. This work is an extension of the existing relationship that began in 2002.
In September 2004, Certicom launched the Certicom Security Architecture, a modular set of security services, software cryptographic providers (including a FIPS 140-2 Validated cryptographic module), and board support packages that bind applications to any hardware cryptographic provider that may be available. All components of the Architecture are unified by a common, intuitive application programming interface (API) between the applications, services and the cryptographic providers. The API accesses the fastest and/or strongest security available on the device, and enables developers to quickly migrate their applications to whichever cryptographic module is required.
"Embedding security directly into the device offers many advantages, specifically, to help mobile handset manufacturers meet functionality requirements such as secure messaging, secure voice over IP (VoIP), and digital rights management (DRM)," said Jim Alfred, director of product management at Certicom. "By working with the leading processor vendors, Certicom offers a solution that is highly portable, and ultimately saves device manufacturers time and money."
"For many years the Certicom team has focused on optimizing strong security and understanding the complexities of integrating encryption, digital signatures, key management and other security mechanisms into constrained devices," said Paul Werp worldwide director of marketing for TI's OMAP Platform. "Through our relationship with Certicom, mobile device manufacturers benefit from integrated hardware and software elements that offer strong security, size benefits and performance advantages."
The Certicom Security Architecture will be demonstrated at the Texas Instruments booth #4651 during the CTIA Wireless show in New Orleans, March 14-16.
Certicom is a member of TI's OMAP™ Developer Network, a group of leading software developers porting advanced applications to TI's high performance, power-efficient OMAP processors. Handset manufacturers adopting OMAP devices enjoy the rapid deployment of compelling wireless applications - including streaming audio and video, multimedia messaging, gaming, security, speech recognition, location based services and mobile commerce - across all leading operating systems. Systems level integration services are also provided worldwide by independent OMAP Technology Centers. The OMAP platform has been selected by leading manufacturers, such as Nokia, Palm, NEC, Fujitsu, LG Electronics, Hewlett-Packard, Sendo, HTC and many more, for their 2.5 and 3G wireless devices. For more information, please visit www.ti.com/omap.
About Certicom
Certicom Corp. (TSX: CIC) is the authority for strong, efficient cryptography required by software vendors and device manufacturers to embed security in their products. Adopted by the US government's National Security Agency (NSA), Certicom technologies for Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) provide the most security per bit of any known public key scheme, making it ideal for constrained environments. Certicom products and services are currently licensed to more than 300 customers including Motorola, Oracle, Research In Motion, Terayon, Texas Instruments and Unisys. Founded in 1985, Certicom is headquartered in Mississauga, ON, Canada, with offices in Ottawa, ON; Reston, VA; San Mateo, CA; and London, England. Visit www.certicom.com.
For further information, please contact:
For Certicom | ||
Tim Cox | Brendan Ziolo | |
ZingPR | Certicom Corp. | |
(650) 369-7784 | (613) 254-9267 | |
tim@zingpr.com | bziolo@certicom.com |