News & Events
Intersil Announces the Industry's Most Cost-Effective, Fixed Secret Hash Engine, Authentication IC for Cell Phone Makers

-- ISL6296 prevents use of counterfeit battery packs~-- Single-chip solution with Intersil's unique Flexihash™ technology~-- Provides same level of effectiveness as other significantly more expensive and higher maintenance solutions

MILPITAS, CA, February 3, 2005 – Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), a world leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog solutions, announced today the industry’s most cost-effective, fixed secret hash engine, authentication IC. Intersil has incorporated its unique Flexihash™ technology in a stand-alone IC solution specifically designed to protect intellectual property and prevent potentially hazardous situations that could be caused by incorrect use of add-on peripheral devices. When used for its intended application, the ISL6296 offers the same level of effectiveness as other significantly more expensive and higher maintenance financial-grade hashing algorithms and authentication schemes.

“Intersil has developed this innovative solution in response to the many requests from cellular handset OEMs to protect against the use of counterfeit battery packs in their products,” said Arman Naghavi, director of Handheld Products at Intersil. “In recent months there have been a number of incidents, which have caused serious harm to users of cell phones with counterfeit battery packs. These incidents have been publicized in the world press and potentially damage the reputation and market perception of these cell phone handset OEMs. The ISL6296 prevents the use of fake battery packs and offers OEMs a very cost-effective solution for authentication with a very high level of security.”

When used with Intersil’s battery authentication firmware, the ISL6296 solution offers a simple yet powerful means of verifying the authenticity of a cell phone battery pack. Device authentication is achieved through a challenge-response authentication scheme customized for low-cost applications where cloning via eavesdropping without knowledge of the device’s secret code word is not economically viable. The ISL6296 has a wide operating voltage range, and is suitable for direct powering from a 1-cell Li-Ion/Li-Poly or a 3-cell series NiMH battery pack. This solution is ideal for battery pack and accessories authentication, including battery charging systems and add-on products. Other potential markets are IP protection of reference designs and authentication of disposable items such as printer cartridges.

The ISL6296 combines an on-chip fixed 32+32-bit secret code with Intersil’s Flexihash programmable hashing algorithm to provide a very secure challenge response authentication scheme. The device uses 1or 3 selectable 32-bit secrets adding an additional level of security. The secrets are programmable by the manufacturer and are read-inhibited by using a single lockout fuse bit. The device uses Intersil’s XSD™ bus, which is a simple single wire serial data bus for communicating with a host system at up to 23Kbps. The XSD bus is a subset of the Intersil ISD™ bus protocol that can be used with any 16550 compatible UART. The host sending a 32-bit challenge word and receiving an 8-bit response initiate the authentication process. Innovative software schemes may also be implemented to add additional levels of security. Please contact Intersil for details.

The ISL6296 is available now in a 5-pin SOT-23 package in standard lead finish or Pb-free. The suggested unit price for 1,000 piece quantities is $1.05. Additional information on these and other high performance power solutions can be obtained online from Intersil’s web site at: http://www.intersil.com/power/ About Intersil
Intersil Corporation, a NASDAQ 100 Index company, is a leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog semiconductors. The company’s products address three of the industry’s fastest growing markets: flat panel displays, optical storage (CD and DVD recordable) and power management. Intersil products include power management devices for battery management, hot-swap and hot-plug controllers, linear regulators, supervisory ICs, switching DC-DC regulators and power MOSFET drivers; optical storage laser diode drivers; DSL line drivers; video and high performance operational amplifiers; data converters; interface ICs; analog switches and multiplexers; crosspoint switches; voice-over-IP devices; and ICs for military, space and rad-hard applications. For more information about Intersil or to find out how to become a member of our winning team, visit the company’s web site and career page at www.intersil.com.

This release may include "forward looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. For information identifying economic, political, climatic, currency, regulatory, technological, competitive and some other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward looking statements, see Intersil’s Safe Harbor Forward Looking Statement disclaimer found at http://www.intersil.com/legal.asp, as well as Intersil’s SEC filings as updated from time to time, found at http://www.sec.gov. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.