IBM to built crypto-on-a-chip into all its PCs

[mea culpa <jericho () DIMENSIONAL COM>]

From: Robert Hettinga <rah () shipwright com>

IBM to built crypto-on-a-chip into all its PCs

http://www.theregister.co.uk/990927-000012.html

IBM will tomorrow launch an all-in-one encryption chip designed to protect
documents stored on desktop PCs and servers.

The chip, as yet unnamed, will be initially installed in IBM's 300PL PC,
but will soon be built into the company's full line of desktop systems.
Actually, the 300PL may not feature the new chip since it's based on
Intel's i820 chipset and, as Intel revealed today,
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/990927-000011.html>the i820's release has
been delayed indefinitely.

IBM said users will pay no more for a hardware encryption-enabled PC than
they will for a machine without the chip.

In addition to handling key encryption -- the technology most usually
associated with document protection -- the chip will also generate and
verify digital signaturees.

IBM's plan is clearly to make its machines more appealing to the growing
number of computer users buying desktops solely to surf the Internet at do
a little online shopping. The move should also make its PCs more
attractive to companies performing business-to-business transactions over
the Net.

Of course, Big Blue is keen to be seen as acting in everyone's interest
here, which is why the company's general manager for desktop systems, Anne
Gardner, told Reuters: "We want this to become an industry standard. We
want this on as many desktops as possible."

However, IBM clearly wants to retain a lead, which no doubt explains
Gardner's reluctance to discuss any plans the company may have to licence
the technology to motherboard vendors. All she would say on the subject
was a vague "you may see something along those lines in the future".

Probably IBM will first want to see how attractive the technology is to
punters. At least the approach of using an ancillary encryption chip
should keep IBM safe from the nightmare Intel faced when it attempted to
railroad CPU ID numbers on users.

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