Densitron Commences Shipping of Single Board Computer Which Is First Embedded Application To Include Atmel's Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

Embedded Systems Conference, Boston, MA, September 13, 2004… Densitron, a leader in embedded PC products, has chosen Atmel Corporation’s (Nasdaq: ATML) Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for increased hardware security in their new line of products. Like the PC market, embedded computing applications, including gaming, require higher levels of security. For this reason, the new DPX-114 and DPX-115 products will use the Atmel AT97SC3201 TPM chip. This security module provides a hardware solution for such functions as RSA encryption/decryption, secure key storage, and SHA (secure hash algorithm). These functions can be used for a variety of security related tasks, including locking down the software to the hardware platform, combating software tampering and piracy, managing digital copyright and licensing, and safeguarding data transactions both internally or over networks.

Although the DPX-114 and DPX-115 are the first embedded single board computers to come with an integrated TPM, the TPM and associated security architecture are fast becoming a standard in the mainstream PC and embedded markets. The Trusted Computing Group (TCG), whose members include most of the major companies in the PC and electronics industries, has established the security architecture as an industry standard for application across four broad areas: risk management, e-commerce, asset management, and security monitoring and emergency response.

Densitron’s products are used in a wide variety of embedded computing applications but the company’s main success and focus have been in gaming, particularly in video slot machines. The casino gaming industry, a fast growing industry in excess of $200 billion worldwide, has always been a security conscious industry, and has employed many methods to ensure the security and random outcome of the games.

The gaming industry uses standard encryption and hashing methods in software to ensure the integrity of the game code and to safeguard against tampering, hacking or duplication of the games. With the TPM, these methods can be greatly strengthened and enhanced, and some of the software overhead reduced by using the TPM hardware solution. In addition, TPMs provide system developers access to an affordable hardware module delivering a level of security that has been audited to international standards by independent and government laboratories. This level of security is impractical to achieve with proprietary solutions whether they be implemented in hardware or software. The TPM’s random number generator is also very useful in gaming applications. The high quality random number generator in the TPM incorporates several sophisticated hardware circuits along with internal firmware to ensure that random numbers can never be guessed; a significant improvement over the software pseudo-random number generators typically used in the past.

According to Craig Stapleton, Densitron’s Product Manager for computer products, “The enhanced performance and security capabilities available with Atmel’s TPM on our new boards give embedded developers the features they need to help keep control of their intellectual property and safeguard operation and data. For the gaming industry we see huge benefits in using the TPM architecture both for standalone games and also for the growing markets for networked gambling, downloadable games and client-server based games for Class II tribal gaming. Atmel has provided us with excellent support including software drivers and API to make integration of the TPM into our customers’ applications straightforward.”

Atmel’s Product Manager for secure products, Kevin Schutz comments, “It’s exciting to work with innovative companies such as Densitron who are willing to embrace industry standards like TCG. Extensive engineering has gone into making the TPM easy to use while still offering world-class data and communications protection. Incorporating this turnkey chip into a wide variety of embedded systems is a natural answer for embedded systems designers.“

About Atmel

Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, California with manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets worldwide, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system-level integration semiconductor solutions using CMOS, BiCMOS, SiGe, and high-voltage BCDMOS process technologies.

About Densitron Corporation

Densitron Corporation is a leader in flat-panel display technologies and embedded PC products. Densitron designs, manufactures and sells industrial computers, flat-panel industrial monitors, graphic and alphanumeric LCDs, touch screen display assemblies, and public information display systems. Densitron specializes in engineering the most cost-effective solution to meet its customers needs, and has the ability to design and manufacture turnkey solutions for the handheld, medical, instrumentation, and industrial OEM markets in America, Asia and Europe. Visit us at http://www.densitron.com and http://www.gamingboards.com for more information on our products and services. Densitron Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Densitron Technologies PLC (LSE: DSN), which is a publicly held company, traded on the London Stock Exchange.

About Trusted Computing Group

The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) is an open, industry standards organization formed to develop, define, and promote open standards for hardware-enabled trusted computing and security technologies, including hardware building blocks and software interfaces, across multiple platforms, peripherals, and devices. TCG specifications enable more secure computing environments without compromising functional integrity, privacy, or individual rights. The primary goal is to help users protect their information assets (data, passwords, keys, etc.) from compromise due to external software attack and physical theft. For more information, go to www.trustedcomputinggroup.org.

Information

Densitron’s product information may be retrieved at: http://www.densitron.com/computer. Atmel's product information may be retrieved at: http://www.atmel.com/products/Embedded/.

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