Verayo News
Verayo Launches Next Generation of Unclonable RFID Chips
New RFIDs deliver authentication and security to broad range of consumer-based applications such as mass transit tickets, secure IDs, access cards and product anti-counterfeiting
San Jose, Calif. March 2, 2010.Verayo, a security and authentication solutions provider, today launched its next generation of RFID ICs based on the company’s innovative Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) technology. The first chip of the new product family, the Vera M4H, delivers authentication and security to broader markets such as mass transit tickets, secure IDs and access cards and consumer product anti-counterfeiting, where cost has been an impediment for adoption.
"Enhanced security and authentication for RFID solutions will reduce end user uncertainty and facilitate adoption in a diversity of applications,´ said Drew Nathanson, Director of Research Operations at VDC Research. ´Innovative firms focused on improving these critical components, such as Verayo, are expected to play a significant role in the evolution and continued commercialization of the technology."
The Vera M4H provides an unlimited number of local (offline) authentication events. Verayo´s first unclonable RFID IC, the Vera X512H, provided low-cost authentication, and required a network to access a back-end for authentication with a pre-provisioned number of authentication events. The Vera M4H´s non-networked, unlimited authentication feature extends the reach of Verayo´s PUF-based RFIDs to broader markets while preserving the technology´s significant cost benefits.
"The Vera M4H is an outcome of significant research and innovation at Verayo. The M4H, and the other ICs of this product family, will add to our portfolio of innovative, inexpensive alternatives to traditional cryptography-based RFIDs," said Anant Agrawal, CEO of Verayo. "There are many applications in various industries, where pricing pressures work against the cost of adding authentication and security, yet these features are extremely important. With our new chip, we remain committed to utilizing the strengths of our innovative PUF technology to lower the cost of authentication in RFIDs and ultimately open RFIDs to a broader market."
Providing RFID chips with silicon "fingerprints," Verayo´s PUF technology exploits the unavoidable variations in the IC fabrication process to uniquely characterize each chip. Since these manufacturing process variations are impossible to control, model or replicate, each PUF-based IC is rendered effectively unclonable, ultimately improving security and reducing counterfeiting concerns.
Verayo works with various RFID tag vendors such as Sirit, SMARTRAC, UPM Raflatac and others to build RFID tags for various applications. Verayo’s RFID ICs work with standard HF RFID readers. The Verayo M4H is available immediately for mass production while the other RFID ICs in the new product family will be available later this year.
On March 16, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. EDT, Verayo will be presenting in an RFID Journal webinar: Introducing a Novel Approach to Authentication & Security – the Vera M4H Unclonable RFID IC.
To learn more about Verayo´s innovative PUF technology, visit the company´s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/verayovideo.
About Verayo
Verayo was founded in Silicon Valley in 2005. The company is focused on building security and authentication solutions based on Silicon Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) technology, which was invented and first implemented at MIT by Prof. Srini Devadas and his team. Since its founding, the Verayo team has designed, built, and tested ICs using PUFs and built-up a growing body of additional IP and substantive know-how beyond the initial IP that Verayo licensed exclusively from MIT. Verayo is funded by Khosla Ventures and has assembled an experienced Advisory Board drawn from the semiconductor and security industries. In addition to developing commercial products, the company is working on projects for various U.S. Defense Agencies.
Press Contact:
Fran Bosecker
Vantage Communications for Verayo
845-536-4196
fbosecker@pr-vantage.com
Verayo Appoints VCWT as its Exclusive Distributor in China
San Jose, California, December 12, 2009. Verayo hereby appoints VCWT as its exclusive distributor in China (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) for - Tobacco Products, Liquor Products, Pharmaceuticals, Tickets and IDs, Food Products and Art Objects. The duration of this agreement is 5 years, starting December 12th, 2009.
Verayo Honoured with Wall Street Journal 2009 Technology Innovation Award
San Jose, Calif. September 17, 2009. Verayo, a security and authentication technology provider, has been recognized by the prestigious Wall Street Journal 2009 Technology Innovation Awards. Verayo earned runner-up honors in the semiconductor category for its unclonable silicon chip, the Vera X512H RFID IC, designed to deliver low-cost authentication for the anti-counterfeiting, secure identification and access markets.
"This year we received nearly 500 entries, with only about seven percent receiving an award," said John Leger, News Editor of The Wall Street Journal. "Needless to say, the competition was extremely intense, and Verayo should be very proud of its achievement."
Verayo´s unclonable RFID chips are based on a silicon biometric technology called Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF). A breakthrough in semiconductor security, PUF technology provides each RFID chip with its own unique and unclonable silicon fingerprint, offering a strong and robust, yet low cost authentication solution for numerous applications in various industries such as consumer and luxury goods anti-counterfeiting, transit ticketing and passes, bank cards, government and defense ID cards.
"We are excited to be honored as a runner-up by The Wall Street Journal´s prestigious Technology Innovation Awards," said Anant Agrawal, CEO of Verayo. "PUF technology makes RFID a very secure and cost-effective authentication technology. We believe our PUF based RFID products will bring security and authentication to multiple industries, where costs have been an inhibitor."
Verayo will be recognized at an awards ceremony and dinner on October 13 in Redwood City, California. To learn more about Verayo´s innovative PUF technology, visit the company´s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/verayovideo.
About Verayo
Verayo was founded in Silicon Valley in 2005. The company is focused on building security and authentication solutions based on Silicon Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) technology, which was invented and first implemented at MIT by Prof. Srini Devadas and his team. Since its founding, the Verayo team has designed, built, and tested ICs using PUFs and built-up a growing body of additional IP and substantive know-how beyond the initial IP that Verayo licensed exclusively from MIT. Verayo is funded by Khosla Ventures and has assembled an experienced Advisory Board drawn from the semiconductor and security industries. In addition to developing commercial products, the company is working on projects for various U.S. Defense Agencies.
Press Contact:
Fran Bosecker
Vantage Communications for Verayo
845-536-4196
fbosecker@pr-vantage.com
Verayo Named "Cool Vendor" by Leading Analyst Firm
San Jose, Calif. March 25, 2009. Verayo, a security and authentication technology provider, today announced that Gartner Research, the industry´s leading technology research and analyst firm, has named Verayo in this year´s "Cool Vendor in Supply Chain Management, 2009" report by analysts Dwight Klappich and Tim Payne.
In the supply chain arena, when the right RFID technology is tied to the right business process, it can deliver good value to the business. One of the ongoing issues is the cost and technology gap between what RFID can deliver and what is needed to support use cases like product authentication and brand protection. Verayo recently introduced a new class of RFID chips ideally suited for such use cases. This RFID solution is based on a breakthrough "silicon biometric" technology called Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF). This technology enables a very strong and robust, yet low cost authentication of each individual RFID chip based on its unique "silicon fingerprint." As a consequence of the manufacturing process, every silicon chip is unique, with very slight variations in its structure. It is effectively impossible to control, model or clone these variations. Verayo adds a tiny PUF circuit to existing RFID chip designs to examine these variations and use them for authentication.
"We would like to thank Gartner for including us in this year´s Cool Vendor Report, which we believe is recognition of our technology and our efforts in advancing the RFID industry," said Anant Agrawal, CEO of Verayo. "PUF technology makes RFID a very secure and cost-effective product authentication technology in many industries, such as consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, supply chain management, secure IDs and transportation. We take pride in continuing to help our customers address their needs by offering a cost-effective and innovative technology."
The Vera X512H RFID chip is commercially available. Verayo is targeting various industries with this unique anti-counterfeiting solution, including luxury brand goods, pharmaceuticals, secure IDs and access cards. For more information about Verayo and its product, visit http://www.verayo.com/.
About Gartner´s Cool Vendors Selection Process
Gartner´s listing does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors in any given technology area, but rather is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness of a particular purpose.
Gartner defines a cool vendor as a company that offers technologies or solutions that are: Innovative, enable users to do things they couldn´t do before; Impactful, have, or will have, business impact (not just technology for the sake of technology); Intriguing, have caught Gartner´s interest or curiosity in approximately the past six months.
About Verayo
Verayo was founded in Silicon Valley in 2005. The company is focused on building security and authentication solutions based on Silicon Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) technology, which was invented and first implemented at MIT by Prof. Srini Devadas and his team. Since its founding, the Verayo team has designed, built, and tested ICs using PUFs and built-up a growing body of additional IP and substantive know-how beyond the initial IP that Verayo licensed exclusively from MIT. Verayo is funded by Khosla Ventures and has assembled an experienced Advisory Board drawn from the semiconductor and security industries. In addition to developing commercial products, the company is working on projects for various U.S. Defense Agencies.
Press Contact:
Tory Klaubo
Vantage Communications for Verayo
202-558-9826
tklaubo@pr-vantage.com
Verayo Launches, Introduces Security Solutions Based on "Unclonable" Silicon Chips
New Security Technology Exploits Uniqueness of Individual Silicon Chips for Authentication and Secret Key Generation
Palo Alto CA - September 3, 2008 - Verayo, a security and authentication technology provider, today introduced security solutions based on "unclonable" silicon chips. The core technology that makes these silicon chips unclonable is called Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF). PUF is like a biometrics technology for silicon chips. It extracts a type of "electronic DNA or fingerprint" that is unique to each silicon chip, and uses it for authentication and security applications. It is effectively impossible to model or copy the electronic DNA in another chip, which makes PUF-based solutions more secure and robust. PUF technology was invented at MIT and Verayo has the worldwide exclusive license to develop and market PUF-based silicon chips.
Verayo is bringing to market two broad categories of security solutions based on PUF technology - authentication and secret key generation.
Verayo´s authentication solutions exploit the electronic DNA of silicon chips to authenticate them, and can be easily integrated into many kinds of silicon chips, as complex as microprocessors, FPGAs, ASICs, smart cards, as well as simple passive RFID. These solutions provide strong and robust authentication of electronic equipment, luxury brand products, pharmaceuticals, secure IDs, passports and documents.
Conventional security solutions require storing of keys on the silicon. The security of the entire system depends on the integrity of these stored keys. Verayo's key generation solution eliminates the need for stored keys. Using unique electronic DNA or fingerprint of the silicon chips it dynamically generates a virtually unlimited number of secret keys. This significantly enhances the security and flexibility of secure systems, such as smart cards, NFC cards, SIM cards, trusted processors commonly used for financial transactions, service provisioning and trusted computing.
"PUF technology exploits the physical characteristics of the silicon and IC manufacturing process variations to uniquely characterize each and every silicon chip, this provides a secure, low-cost mechanism to authenticate silicon chips," said Professor Srini Devadas, co-founder and CTO of Verayo.
"By bringing this one-of-a-kind technology to the market, we are confident that we will change the landscape for authentication and security," said Anant Agrawal, CEO of Verayo. Our RFID products will define the new barriers for counterfeiters, and the key generation products will bring unprecedented security, trust and flexibility in the world of trusted computing.
Verayo is introducing the world´s first ever "unclonable" RFID chip at the RFID World conference in Las Vegas on September 9, 2008. Verayo´s unclonable RFID provide a strong, robust and cost-effective solution to fight this counterfeiting menace. Verayo CEO Anant Agrawal will deliver the Industry Address at the RFID World conference.
About Verayo
Verayo was founded in Silicon Valley in 2005. The company is focused on building security and authentication solutions based on Silicon Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) technology, which was invented and first implemented at MIT by Prof. Srini Devadas and his team. Since its founding, the Verayo team has designed, built, and tested ICs using PUFs and built-up a growing body of additional IP and substantive know-how beyond the initial IP that Verayo licensed exclusively from MIT. Verayo is funded by Khosla Ventures and has assembled an experienced Advisory Board drawn from the semiconductor and security industries. In addition to developing commercial products, the company is working on projects for various U.S. Defense Agencies.
Press Contact:
Tory Klaubo
Vantage Communications for Verayo
202-558-9826
tklaubo@pr-vantage.com
Verayo Introduces World´s First Unclonable RFID Chip
New class of RFID chips provides next generation of brand protection and anti-counterfeiting solutions
Palo Alto CA - September 9, 2008 - Verayo, a security and authentication solutions provider, today launched the world´s first unclonable silicon chip - the Vera X512H RFID chip. This new RFID chip is based on breakthrough technology called Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF). PUF technology is a type of electronic DNA or fingerprinting technology for silicon chips that makes each chip unclonable. Verayo´s PUF-based RFID technology offers strong and cost-effective brand protection and anti-counterfeiting solutions.
Basic passive RFID chips can be easily cloned by copying the data residing on one chip to another. Verayo´s PUF-based RFID chips cannot be cloned, and provide a very strong and robust authentication mechanism. No other chip or device can be disguised as the original chip, even if the data is copied from one Verayo RFID chip to another.
"Counterfeiting is a major issue today. It cuts across geographies and industries, it is prevalent in both online and brick-n-mortar supply chains. The Verayo RFIDs provide a simple and effective way to end this growing problem," said Anant Agrawal, CEO of Verayo. "Verayo´s RFID chips hit the sweet spot with respect to price and security. This is a technology that will allow RFID to address the huge counterfeiting problem, which as per some industry analysts has a $600+ billion economic impact."
"Verayo is bringing to market a practical, more secure means of uniquely identifying and authenticating individual items," said Roy Wildeman, industry analyst at Forrester Research. "RFID is expanding beyond identification to authentication, and Verayo´s silicon biometrics technology provides industries with a cost-effective authentication solution relative to other technologies currently on the market."
Verayo is targeting various industries with this unique anti-counterfeiting solution, including luxury brand goods, pharmaceuticals, secure IDs and access cards.
Verayo is introducing the world´s first "unclonable" RFID chip at the RFID World conference in Las Vegas on September 9, 2008. This is an ISO 14443-A compatible chip, in addition to PUF technology, it includes a 64 bit unique tag ID and 512 bit one time programmable memory. Verayo CEO Anant Agrawal will deliver the Industry Address at the conference.
About Verayo
Verayo was founded in Silicon Valley in 2005. The company is focused on building security and authentication solutions based on Silicon Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) technology, which was invented and first implemented at MIT by Prof. Srini Devadas and his team. Since its founding, the Verayo team has designed, built, and tested ICs using PUFs and built-up a growing body of additional IP and substantive know-how beyond the initial IP that Verayo licensed exclusively from MIT. Verayo is funded by Khosla Ventures and has assembled an experienced Advisory Board drawn from the semiconductor and security industries. In addition to developing commercial products, the company is working on projects for various U.S. Defense Agencies.
Press Contact:
Catriona Harris
Vantage Communications for Verayo
202-558-9826
charris@pr-vantage.com