Burt, Re: "To all, why is Intel up 4 on a day when AMD is down a bit? Any news or just the
usual volatility of this market?"
I haven't seen anything too newsworthy today. Quiet here, but over on AMD they're predicting the inevitable demise of Intel, and the meteoric rise of AMD. When will they ever learn?
I did find this article interesting: boxmakers b*tching about Intel designing encryption hardware into flash memory based BIOS, to reside in upcoming chipsets Camino, Carmel and Whitney. I didn't see that they (boxmakers) had any alternative plan, however. Hardware encryption is killer, if done right. In IBM machines, if the blue guy detects any physical tampering, he shuts himself down completely...no data to steal. Also whining, besides the boxmakers, may be the FTC, as Intel may be grabbing off one more PC function to themselves, article says.
techweb.com
Intel's Security Plans Worry
PC Builders
(12/14/98, 3:49 p.m. ET)
By Rick Boyd-Merritt and Mark Carroll, EE
Times
Intel will add new security and software
functions to future chip sets in a move that
will boost the profile of its upcoming
Katmai processors as key silicon for
multimedia and e-commerce. But the plan
is raising concerns among software,
semiconductor and systems companies that
fear the processor giant could wind up
encroaching on their markets, extending its
own reach deeper into the PC architecture.
Intel's plans center around a so-called
firmware hub, essentially a flash memory
with key BIOS functions, which will be
part of its Camino, Carmel, and Whitney
chip sets. Those products will accompany
next year's Katmai processors and are
expected to be used in the Merced line,
too.
"This is an example of Intel taking in one
more piece of the PC architecture," said a
senior R&D manager with a major PC
company who asked not to be named.
Intel would not comment on its
unannounced products. However, the key
features of the chip are beginning to come
to light based on reports from multiple
sources. The firmware hub is "basically a
flash chip with locks on its read and write
capabilities that can be opened using a
cryptographic protocol," said another
source briefed by Intel.
Hardware security functions include a
cryptographic engine to authenticate
digital certificates Intel or a third party
could load in. The chip could hold
multiple certificates, each with permission
to grant specific features, such as to
permit an operating system or an MPEG
player to run. They would also ensure a
software program licensed to one user
was not copied and run on another
machine, a common practice. In addition,
the certificates will act like unique serial
numbers, identifying a given machine in
any Internet or corporate network
transaction, sources said.
The hub may also include a
random-number generator to create public
keys for encryption and help enable
encrypted transmissions between PCs.
That would provide security for
e-commerce and software downloads,
possibly including software modules for
host-based modems, MPEG players, or
audio codecs that are housed in the
firmware hub and run on the CPU.
Another feature sources have mentioned is
physical security, linking sensors to the
hub so it may report problems to a central
network administrator if the case is
tampered with or peripherals are
removed.
Even though the firmware -- and the chip
sets it is part of -- are not due for
production until at least mid-1999,
samples have been available in Taiwan
for some time.
"We have had samples of the firmware
hub for a while," said a project manager at
First International Computer, in Taiwan.
"We really haven't done too much with it
yet. It is still not quite clear when it will
be used and what its full functions will
be."
The hub chip is designed to incorporate
new features into the PC upon start-up, the
manager said, not to replace the standard
BIOS, the key software that controls
system I/O peripherals software.
"After a PC is turned on, the firmware hub
will be accessed and then the regular
BIOS," said a BIOS engineer with another
Taiwanese company. "The hub will affect
the standard BIOS architecture, but it
certainly won't replace it. That's not its
purpose."
Yet the prospect of a possible Intel
incursion into BIOS is giving some
industry observers the willies. Adding to
their concern is the fact that Intel has not
provided technical details about its
implementation yet. One analyst said the
hub will act as a BIOS registry, a place
from which software emulation and
upgrades can be controlled.
Sources close to Intel suggested the Santa
Clara, Calif., company would be leery of
entering a new PC-related market while
under the shadow of a Federal Trade
Commission investigation. The company's
motive is simply to bring new features to
the PC, enhancing sales for corporate and
consumer users, these sources said.
Still, "If Intel controls what and how stuff
gets put in the BIOS, that's really
significant," said one analyst. "That's a
wonderful control choke point."
Tony |
