MtekVision and Elliptic Extend Collaboration on Security Solutions for Mobile

September 27, 2007 - Ottawa, Canada and Seoul Korea: Elliptic is pleased to announce that MtekVision and Elliptic have agreed to extend their collaboration on advanced security designs for mobile applications such as handset and media players. Based upon the market leading security solution embedded in current portfolio of MtekVision products, the security model is being significantly enhanced to address advanced features such as secure boot and embedded non-volatile memory keys for root-of-trust making the new generation of solutions capable of addressing m-commerce (mobile commerce), virtual private networking and digital rights management.

Richard Beriault, General Manager of MtekVision Canada said: "Our customers are demanding a much more sophisticated security model in mobile applications ranging from content protection network security such as IPsec and handset authentication. The continued close collaboration with the team at Elliptic allows MtekVision to integrate an advanced security engine at the right cost and performance level to meet our customers ever increasing security requirements."

Hackers increasingly target sophisticated handheld devices searching for vulnerabilities much as they have in personal computers. Manufacturers and network operators have responded by significantly improving the security model for the processors in the handheld devices through secure boot and embedded root-of-trust designs. Secure boot ensures that the embedded processor is initialized only with code which has been cryptographically authenticated before being run. This makes it extremely difficult for a hacker to compromise the system. In order to protect the security credentials embedded in the chip, designers use on-chip non-volatile storage of root-of-trust keys to shield the secret values from hackers. The combination of these capabilities with the hardware security engine offers a robust security perimeter on-chip to defeat all but the most determined hacker from penetrating the design.

"MtekVision continues to work at the forefront of security in mobile applications," indicated Al Hawtin, Vice-President of Marketing for Elliptic. "The Elliptic team has risen to the challenge of extending the security model in the new family of MtekVision Multi-Media Processors while still meeting the cost and manufacturability objectives for this high-volume market."

Founded in 1999, MtekVision is a world leading solution provider in the design and manufacture of innovative imaging device IC solutions for mobile and portable devices. MtekVision has been delivering leading edge performance solutions for the full range of mobile and portable devices including mobile phones, smart phones, PDAs, MP3 players and voice recorders since 1999. MtekVision provides a one-stop solution in meeting customer's needs with ASIC, system, software, and product design. MtekVision has become Korea's representative fabless semiconductor company with its solutions. The company is headquartered in Seoul, Korea and has 5 offices worldwide. MtekVision is a publicly held company with its common share being traded on KOSDAQ (074000).

About Elliptic

Recently ranked as the fastest growing provider of semiconductor IP by Gartner, Elliptic (http://www.ellipticsemi.com/) provides semiconductor intellectual property (IP) cores and middleware for secure communications ranging from low power to multi-gigabit per second implementations. Elliptic SIP cores enable system-on-chip designers to efficiently balance power, performance and silicon area in complex security-based systems. Demanding customers in markets such as implantable devices, wireless, storage, content distribution and high performance communications trust Elliptic IP cores.