SAN JOSE and MILPITAS, California, March 4 /PRNewswire/ --
Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) and Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTEC), announced today the integration of Atmel's FingerChip(R) biometric security solutions in Phoenix's FailSafe(TM) and SecureCore Pre-boot Authentication (PBA) products.
This first cooperative design effort between the two industry leaders provides for significantly stronger multifactor authentication and enhanced security and is designed to bring superior security solutions including theft-deterrence and tracking for mobile PCs. Phoenix FailSafe will enable secure, remote tracking of fingerprint sensor data in the event of laptop theft/loss. SecureCore PBA integrated with Atmel's FingerChip Biometric Solutions provides for Biometric User Authentication at the preboot level, providing higher levels of security, since fingerprints demand a user's presence and cannot be shared, stolen or written down.
Atmel offers a very high performance, robust, and competitive range of fingerprint-based biometric solutions for PC platforms, based on Atmel's patented FingerChip Fingerprint sensors. These solutions offer industry leading image quality, biometric performance and security. Phoenix SecureCore PBA requires a user to authenticate identity before the computer boots up. It also enables user authentication from core systems software (also known as BIOS or firmware) to the operating system directly, to achieve single sign-on into the Windows(R) O/S environment.
"Combining FingerChip solutions with the Phoenix products provides an added layer of security which is vital for many enterprise and consumer markets demanding increased security and privacy for stored data and logical access," said Bruno Charrat, Director for Atmel Biometrics Business Unit. "Our collaboration with Phoenix Technologies ensures the highest level of secure authentication -- an increasingly important factor for any PC user. Moving forward, we expect to see other collaborative initiatives by Atmel and Phoenix, dedicated to bringing the best-in-class security solutions to the PC market."
"Our work with Atmel to integrate their fingerprint sensors in our FailSafe theft-deterrence platform enables an additional layer of tracking methodology for mobile PCs. We not only want to provide critical next-generation functionality to our PC OEM customers but also embed certain features that will deter laptop theft," said Surendra Arora, Vice President of Business Development at Phoenix Technologies. "Additionally, our PBA collaboration with Atmel will ensure that our EFI and UEFI-based SecureCore BIOS continues its feature-set dominance."
About Atmel
Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.
About Phoenix Technologies
Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTEC) is the global market leader in system firmware that provides the most secure foundation for today's computing environments. The PC industry's top builders and specifiers trust Phoenix to pioneer open standards and deliver innovative solutions that will help them differentiate their systems, reduce time-to-market and increase their revenues. The Company's flagship products, AwardCore, SecureCore, FailSafe and HyperSpace, are revolutionizing the PC user experience by delivering unprecedented security, reliability and ease-of-use. The Company established industry leadership with its original BIOS product in 1983, has 155 technology patents and 139 pending applications, and has shipped in over one billion systems. Phoenix is headquartered in Milpitas, California with offices worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.phoenix.com.
(C) 2008 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), logo and combinations thereof, FingerChip(R), and others are registered trademarks or trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.
Atmel Press Contacts: Nancy Moore, Marketing Communications Manager Tel: +1-719-540-3262, Email: nmoore@cso.atmel.com Helen Perlegos, Public Relations Tel: +1-408-487-2963, Email: hperlegos@atmel.com Phoenix Technologies Press Contacts: Shauli Chaudhuri, Phoenix Technologies Tel: +1-408-570-1060 E-mail: public_relations@phoenix.com Cedric Vanhaver, GlobalFluency/Neale-May for Phoenix Technologies Tel: +1-650-433-4154 Email: phoneix@globalfluency.com Web site: http://www.atmel.com http://www.phoenix.com
Nancy Moore, Marketing Communications Manager, +1-719-540-3262, nmoore@cso.atmel.com, or Helen Perlegos, Public Relations, +1-408-487-2963, hperlegos@atmel.com, both of Atmel Corporation; or Shauli Chaudhuri of Phoenix Technologies, +1-408-570-1060, public_relations@phoenix.com; or Cedric Vanhaver of GlobalFluency|Neale-May, +1-650-433-4154, phoneix@globalfluency.com, for Phoenix Technologies
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