The TCG launched this week to take over work started in 1999 by the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance. Even though the TCPA released three specifications early in 2001, only IBM Corp has so far brought products to market that support them.

That fact doesn’t reflect inadequacies in the specifications, said TCG chair Jim Ward, who works for IBM. Different companies move at different speeds, he said. It’s a big ball that’s going to take a while to get rolling.

The TCPA came up with three specs – a Trusted Platform Module, a PC implementation of that, and a standard way of measuring compliance. The TPM spec describes a hardware module for the secure storage and processing of cryptographic keys.

Among the changes brought by the formation of the new group are an easier decision-making structure, eased intellectual property restrictions, and a logo branding scheme that could help drive adoption among manufacturers.

The TCPA required a unanimous decision by its steering committee to make decisions. If one or two companies dissented it became impossible to move forward Ward said, adding that this kind of impasse rarely happened.

The TCG instead can make decisions based on supermajority of two-thirds of the membership. There are three levels of membership – the invitation-only Promoter level, Contributor level and Adopter level – and a sliding-scale annual fee system.

The Promoters are Microsoft, HP, IBM, Intel and AMD. Early Contributors include Sony, Phillips, Nokia, VeriSign, National Semiconductor and Wave Systems. No Adopters, from the TCPA’s 200-strong membership have yet signed up.

The new group also has a stricter licensing policy for participants, Ward said. Previously, members were merely obliged to disclose patents relevant to the specs. In the TCG, they must also agree to license their relevant IP on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

TPM 1.1 is expected to be replaced by a 1.2 version later this year. Microsoft Corp told ComputerWire earlier this week that its Palladium project, now called Next Generation Secure Computing Base, will hopefully support the TPM 1.2.

Microsoft and IBM’s Ward both declined comment on why Microsoft likes the look of 1.2 but not 1.1, or whether this may be a reason why adoption has been slow for the last two years. Ward said that pre-standard work in the TCG is kept confidential.

Source: Computerwire