Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology 
Mon, February 14, 2011
NXP Brings Smart Card Security to Device Authentication
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - February 14, 2011) - NXP Semiconductors N.V. (
"Counterfeit electronic devices present a very real challenge to businesses, particularly as smartphones, tablets, e-book readers and other mobile computing devices become ubiquitous. In medical and industrial equipment, the presence of counterfeit devices could mean the difference between life and death," said Chris Feige, senior director and general manager, tagging and authentication product lines, NXP Semiconductors. "With au10tic, we're bringing a new level of security to device authentication. It's an entirely new portfolio of authentication chips built on our proven security technology."
Protecting brands, protecting consumers
The NXP au10tic family of secure ICs can be used for counterfeit protection; for authentication of devices and users accessing secure content and services; and for device identification to enable secure machine-to-machine communication. The authentication chips can be easily integrated into a wide range of consumer products, ranging from smartphones, laptops and tablets to game consoles and electronic accessories. Other end applications that can benefit from au10tic include ICT infrastructure, industrial equipment, medical devices, and appliances and devices in the Smart Grid.
Using au10tic, brand owners can prevent revenue loss from counterfeiting; enhance their customers' brand experience as they use genuine products; and protect software content and services against unauthorized use and distribution. Consumers can be confident in the authenticity and safety of au10tic-protected products they purchase, as well as the privacy of sensitive data transmitted from and shared between devices.
Enhanced security and ease of integration
Using state-of-the-art Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) algorithms such as RSA and ECC, the au10tic A7001 enables key management schemes where the secret key never leaves the security IC and is not part of the host software, and also supports symmetric algorithms such as 3DES and AES. In addition, the NXP au10tic A7001 security IC has built-in hardware tamper resistance to protect the secret key from physical attacks.
The au10tic A7001 is a secure microcontroller running the JavaOS, along with an industry standard X.509 certificate-based security application for convenient and easy integration into end devices. For design engineers, the JavaOS also allows rapid application development and customization. The au10tic A7001 solution features a standard I2C interface enabling integration into virtually all electronic devices, as well as 80KB EEPROM for secure storage.
Availability
Engineering samples of the NXP au10tic A7001 are available immediately. Volume ordering will be available from NXP.com starting at the end of March.
Links
- [ Authentication solutions from NXP ] for anti-counterfeiting and brand protection
- [ NXP au10tic A7001 ] product information
About NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (
Forward-looking Statements
This document includes forward-looking statements which include statements regarding our business strategy, financial condition, results of operations, and market data, as well as any other statements which are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected. These factors, risks and uncertainties include the following: market demand and semiconductor industry conditions, our ability to successfully introduce new technologies and products, the demand for the goods into which our products are incorporated, our ability to generate sufficient cash, raise sufficient capital or refinance our debt at or before maturity to meet both our debt service and research and development and capital investment requirements, our ability to accurately estimate demand and match our production capacity accordingly or obtain supplies from third-party producers, our access to production from third-party outsourcing partners, and any events that might affect their business or our relationship with them, our ability to secure adequate and timely supply of equipment and materials from suppliers, our ability to avoid operational problems and product defects and, if such issues were to arise, to rectify them quickly, our ability to form strategic partnerships and joint ventures and successfully cooperate with our alliance partners, our ability to win competitive bid selection processes to develop products for use in our customers' equipment and products, our ability to successfully establish a brand identity, our ability to successfully hire and retain key management and senior product architects; and, our ability to maintain good relationships with our suppliers. In addition, this document contains information concerning the semiconductor industry and our business segments generally, which is forward-looking in nature and is based on a variety of assumptions regarding the ways in which the semiconductor industry, our market segments and product areas will develop. We have based these assumptions on information currently available to us, if any one or more of these assumptions turn out to be incorrect, actual market results may differ from those predicted. While we do not know what impact any such differences may have on our business, if there are such differences, our future results of operations and financial condition, and the market price of the notes, could be materially adversely affected. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak to results only as of the date the statements were made; and, except for any ongoing obligation to disclose material information as required by the United States federal securities laws, we do not have any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after we distribute this document, whether to reflect any future events or circumstances or otherwise. For a discussion of potential risks and uncertainties, please refer to the risk factors listed in our SEC filings. Copies of our filings are available from our Investor Relations department or from the SEC website, [ www.sec.gov ].