Five go mad on standards

Industry behemoths join forces to push for tighter computer security

Five industry behemoths have joined forces to champion tighter security across computing platforms and devices.

AMD, Hewlett Packard (HP), IBM, Intel and Microsoft have teamed up to form the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) and create open standards that can be used across the computing spectrum, including PCs, PDAs, servers and digital phones.

Members of the group must agree to license patents on their products to other members to promote open standards.

Atmel, Infineon, National Semiconductor, Nokia, Philips, Phoenix Technologies, Sony and VeriSign are already members.

The TCG has evolved from the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance set up in May 2001. Its aim is to develop secure computing that can protect data, privacy and individual rights.

Jim Ward, chairman of the TCG, said: "The creators of the organisation are very committed to trusted computing and believe the channel will be absolutely critical in promoting their work.

"Open standards, widely supported, will accelerate the design and adoption of trusted systems and solutions that are urgently needed to meet the challenges of an interconnected world."

Christopher O'Connor, director of IBM's corporate security strategy, said Big Blue was "proud" to be involved.

"The TCG organisation and its open standards pave the way for larger, industry-wide security initiatives that create further privacy, trust and confidence in computing processes," he said.

Bob Tarzey, service director at analyst Quocirca, said he would watch the evolution of the TCG with interest.

"This is a potentially useful initiative in a fragmented part of the industry. It is good that the big names are all there, such as IBM, HP and Microsoft.

"But some important players in the security space are missing, such as Computer Associates and Network Associates," he said.

"Also none of the big network vendors are there, such as Cisco, Nortel, Avaya and 3Com. It looks like it needs to grow a bit more to serve the industry properly."