VLSI continues data security thrust

Electronic News, March 24, 1997

San Jose, Calif.--Continuing its thrust into the data security chip market, VLSI Technology introduced a single-chip cryptography device it said meets the requirements for the multimedia cable network system (MCNS) reference design standard.

Dubbed the FireGard, the device is VLSI's third single chip data security chip introduced this year, including the GhostRider chip used in Microsoft's satellite broadcast PC/TV platform and NetArmor used in Atalla's on-line commerce server products (EN, Jan. 27). The FireGard chip is expected to be available later this year, priced under $20 each in OEM volume quantities.

MCNS is a joint development effort of seven leading cable service providers to establish standards for next-generation cable-based information services, VLSI said. The seven cable companies include Comcast, Continental Cablevision, Cox Communications, Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI), Rogers Cablesystems Limited, Time-Warner Cable, and CableLabs.

According to Dave Auer, product line manager for secure products at VLSI, there are more than 20 hardware OEMs who have started to build MCNS cable modems for cable companies. The MCNS standard covers all of the requirements needed for cable modems from the decrypted and encrypted technology to the digital signals and data that must be exchanged.

"The MCNS is a response to cable companies seeing that if they don't offer enhanced and better service to the current cable subscribers, the satellite market is going to just eat them up," said Mr. Auer. "VLSI has been doing security chips for a while now and the crypto features are sometimes the hardest to find the proper requirements for. We took an existing security chip, then added the MCNS standard requirements--that happened to be in our VLSI library already--and are offering it as a single-chip solution for cable subscribers."

The FireGard chip enables data cryptography and key exchange services at 27 to 38 million bits per second which VLSI claims is 500 times faster than current telephone line-based modems. The device also features the company's DES/triple DES encryption engine and RSA key exchange/authentication circuitry with an ARM RISC processor core. The device also incorporates on-chip SRAM, on-chip code ROM, interrupt control, power management functions and a MCNS-compliant bus interface block.