Chips: Power Technology Announces Pentium ID Technology That Maintains Users' Privacy - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Feb 8, 1999

Power Technology, a manufacturer of DSP based PC software and hardware products, has announce the immediate availability of a proprietary Pentium chip ID technology called IP-Safe that provides the ID capability planned in Intel Corporation's Pentium III processors while avoiding unnecessary intrusions on users' privacy.

IP-Safe functions with all current Pentium and Pentium type processors, and will also function with the new Pentium III processor even if the user has turned off their serial number. Power Technology president Dr. Paul Titchener comments, "We've developed a proprietary technology that allows us to create a unique machine ID for each particular user's Pentium type processor and motherboard combination without requiring the new technology Intel corporation has developed. We specifically designed the system so that it is sufficiently unique to support software and content copy protection, but not so unique that it fully identifies a particular user, thus eliminating concerns over loss of privacy. This system, called IP-Safe, is available now and will work on the new Pentium III, even if the user has turned off that part's serial number feature." Power Technology vice president Mark Kaplan adds, "IP-Safe was developed to allow us to distribute our software products over the Internet without worrying about income loss through unlicensed copies. It applies equally well to the protected Internet distribution of audio and video content. The system has been field-tested with our current products, and has virtually eliminated the unlicensed use of our software. Customers have been fully comfortable with IP-Safe, since it provides only enough unique information to support copy protection, but not enough to individually target a particular user." To make IP-Safe easy to integrate into a company's sales and distribution processes, Power Technology has developed a complete set of back-end tools, including a flexible Internet based registration server. The company also provides a full range of services that enables licensees' to integrate IP-Safe into their products in a fast and risk-free manner. Dr. Titchener adds, "This technology has broad application to software and media sales and distribution, particularly over the Internet. As we did with our software products, our licensees' will see an immediate increase to their bottom line by capturing customers that were previously using unlicensed copies." Power Technology manufactures signal processing systems using cutting edge DSP and PC hardware and software technology. The principals in Power Technology have a 15-year history in the DSP industry, and were founding members of the team that created the world's top-selling DSP design tool, with $100M sales to date.