Trustonic is the latest Full Member of GlobalPlatform, the organization which standardizes the management of applications on secure chip technology.
The recently formed company will share its specialist security expertise for connected devices with GlobalPlatform, helping the industry body to build a trusted and scalable end-to-end framework for secure mobile services.
Trustonic - established as a joint venture involving GlobalPlatform members ARM, Gemalto and Giesecke & Devrient - will participate in GlobalPlatform's work to standardize the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE); a secure area that resides in the main processor of a smartphone (or any smart connected device) and ensures that sensitive data is stored, processed and protected in a trusted environment. Christophe Colas, VP Product Marketing at Trustonic and former employee of Gemalto, will continue his role to lead GlobalPlatform activity in this area as the association's Device Committee Chair.
Through its Full Member status, Trustonic is eligible to participate in GlobalPlatform's Card and System Committees, engage in its market-led task forces, as well as enjoy organizational and technical voting rights and an opportunity to compete for a seat on GlobalPlatform's Board of Directors.
"We are delighted to have Trustonic on board," comments Kevin Gillick, Executive Director at GlobalPlatform. "While the company is new, its team boasts a wealth of experience and specialist TEE knowledge. The heritage of Trustonic means that many of its employees have been engaged in GlobalPlatform previously and their ongoing support and commitment to our efforts - particularly to the advancement of the TEE - is extremely valuable."
Jon Geater, CTO at Trustonic, adds: "Standards are important to drive the acceptance of new technologies. This is particularly true when dealing with secure services, as standards provide stakeholders with confidence that a product will perform as intended. Trustonic will focus on open standards and adherence to GlobalPlatform Specifications to ensure that our technology will not only protect smart connected devices and their services to the highest industry requirements, but also be secure, sustainable and scalable to future market needs."
Jon highlights that Trustonic brings together teams from three of the many active participants in GlobalPlatform's TEE activity and is committed to continued investment in standardizing this technology. He concludes: "We look forward to contributing to GlobalPlatform's initiatives to promote a common set of application programming interfaces for service providers to be able to realize the potential of TEE technology. In addition to this, Trustonic will be supporting the educational efforts of GlobalPlatform to help audiences understand the security model this technology offers and how this will significantly benefit the evolving mobile services landscape."