Ensilica And Kili Technology Collaboration Delivers FIPS-Compliant Secure Processor IC

Drawing on the IP portfolios of both companies, the joint development has been extensively underpinned by EnSilica’s design services. “The development of the Kili 3.1 secure processor IC is another prime example of how a highly focused fabless semiconductor company can collaborate with us to help bring their ideas to silicon,” said Ian Lankshear, CEO of EnSilica. “As the Internet of Things starts to broaden and really take off, the Kili 3.1 secure processor IC provides a much needed, highly-integrated solution that delivers excellent security and connectivity features with significant potential savings on the bill of materials (BOM).”

The Kili 3.1 secure processor IC utilizes EnSilica’s high-performance, low-power 32-bit eSi-3250 soft processor core with cryptographic acceleration instructions in Kili Corporation’s patented, dual processor architecture that splits secure functionality between the processors. In addition to supplying the eSi-3250 processors complete with 1MB of embedded Flash, standard interconnect and key peripherals required for the application such as USB, I2C, UART, SPI, Smart Card reader, SWP and TRNG, EnSilica incorporated an additional APB peripheral bus to enable the easy connection of Kili’s own silicon-proven, easily portable security IP including NFC radio and controller.

Kili 3.1 enables the implementation of the principal cryptography protocols, including RSA, AES and DES, outside the host environment, such as a PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. It features advanced security functions including mesh sensor; active shield protection; voltage, temperature clock and physical tamper detection; and protected battery backup of key memory with auto erase as well as encryption acceleration and EMV L1/L2 firmware for both contact and contactless applications. Software stacks for capacitive touch and Bluetooth LE are also available, greatly reducing the time to market.

“Licensing the eSi-3250 has provided us with real technical advantages compared to other CPU cores and outsourcing the processor sub-system development to EnSilica has helped reduce our IC development time,” said Afshin Rezayee, Founder and Co-President of Kili Technology Corporation. “This has allowed us to focus on our product differentiation and the development of the IP specific to our end applications. The flexible multi-processor architecture has helped us develop novel security features to meet the all-important FIPS security certification. We will continue to use EnSilica’s eSi-RISC cores along with its front-end and physical design services to support our ongoing chip development activities.”