TTPCom delivers 802.11i security to complement its 802.11 intellectual property portfolio

May 29, 2003 - TTPCom Ltd (LSE:TTC) announced today that it has delivered the 802.11i security extension to its high performance 802.11 a/b/g core intellectual property (IP) designs.

TTPCom's security extension is compliant with the latest draft of the 802.11i standard, which is expected to be fully ratified by the IEEE standards committee and become part of the full 802.11 standard towards the end of this year. The 802.11 standard introduces a range of advanced, high security features, developed to counter widely publicised weaknesses in the existing WEP security standard.

TTPCom's 802.11i security extension includes the addition of hardware acceleration for AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol). The encryption engine is designed to minimise processor overhead and so reduce power consumption in mobile/portable applications. The 802.11i IP is supplied as an optional overlay to TTPCom's existing core a/b/g designs, enabling customers to selectively include 11i functionality into devices which require robust security. The 802.11i extension also provides a full MAC software release providing many new 11i security features which manage the exchange of security keys and control operation of the encryption engine itself.

TTPCom's encryption engine delivers performance well in excess of that required to meet the base 802.11a/g standard. Its performance complements the excellent data throughput capability of TTPCom's 802.11 a/b/g MAC design which is already capable of sustained data transfer rates of many hundreds of Mbps. TTPCom's 802.11 core IP designs and the 11i extension together form a flexible platform for manufacturers intending to move beyond 802.11a to encompass high throughput wireless LAN systems which are expected to become part of the IEEE standards in future.

Tony Milbourn, Managing Director of TTPCom, stated “Data security is vitally important to users of wireless networks and we are glad to have released an 802.11i solution in advance of full standards ratification. This will allow our customers to be well ahead of the pack in incorporating the very latest security features in their products. We expect to announce early delivery of other enhancements to the 802.11 standard, including quality of service features which are needed for video transmission and voice over IP applications".

Notes to Editors
It has been widely reported that security has been a weakness of the current 802.11 standards. Although many 802.11 wireless LAN installations have failed to enable any security at all, the widely available WEP security standard has proved vulnerable to persistent attack. The availability of 802.11i functionality addresses these concerns.