Forming the group to license SAFIA Content Protection Technologies for iVDR, the standardized Removable Hard Disk Drive | News Releases | News and Events | About Us

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Pioneer

April 26, 2005
Hitachi, Ltd.
Pioneer Corporation
SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
Sharp Corporation
(Alphabetical Order)

Forming the group to license SAFIA Content Protection Technologies for iVDR, the standardized Removable Hard Disk Drive- Business framework to develop digital consumer electronics with removable HDDs -

Tokyo, Japan, April 26, 2005---Hitachi, Ltd., Pioneer Corporation, SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., and Sharp Corporation (Alphabetical Order) have developed SAFIA(*1) content protection technologies for use with digital recording media utilized by a wide range of devices, from consumer electronics to personal computers. These four companies also form the group to develop, promote and license SAFIA. SAFIA was originally developed to target the iVDR(*2) removable HDD (Hard Disk Drive) Standard, and is expected to widely contribute to developing removable HDD appliances to dramatically enhance the digital entertainment experience.

1 ) Background

As digital broadcasting and broadband are becoming popular, the use of HDDs capable of recording and playing huge amounts of content with high speed is increasing in many AV applications. Furthermore, consumers are requesting for the ability to carry their media with them anytime, anywhere, which will naturally cause demand for removable HDDs. Thus, the iVDR Consortium established in March 2002 continues to develop and promote the iVDR removable HDD standard.
The four companies have developed SAFIA content protection technologies for personal computer and consumer electronic devices using iVDR, and form the group to license SAFIA to contribute business opportunities for removable HDDs.

2 ) Features of SAFIA

SAFIA targeted for protecting content on intelligent media of iVDR has the following features:

AES-128(*3) for encryption of content, PKI(*4) based bi-directional authentication, and secure transfer protocol for strong security
Integration of content encryption key and usage rules for secure content access
Secure content "move and delete" function using high speed HDD
Application specifiable content usage rules
High affinity to e-distribution such as super-distribution, which can deliver content and key through different channels and timing

3 ) Schedule

SAFIA license group plans to finalize the license program in detail, including applicable devices and fees, by July 2005. This program will contribute business opportunities to develop related devices such as iVDR.

*1 SAFIA : Security Architecture For Intelligent Attachment device.

*2 iVDR: information Versatile Disk for Removable usage.
iVDR is a small, light removable HDD that can be carried around. iVDR Consortium promotes and develops the iVDR standard. iVDR provides huge capacity and high speed random access capability utilizing HDD features. The interface is based on serial ATA and supports data transfer rates up to 1.5Gbps.

*3 AES: Advanced Encryption Standard.
AES is a block cipher adopted as an encryption standard by the US government, and is expected to be used worldwide and analyzed extensively, as was the case with its predecessor, the Data Encryption Standard (DES). National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) adopted it as US FIPS PUB 197 in February 2001. AES-128 uses 128 bits for block sizes and 128 bits for key sizes.

*4 PKI : Public Key Infrastructure.
PKI is a method for authenticating a message sender or encrypting a message by use of public key algorithm. It enables users of an insecure public network, such as the Internet, to securely and privately exchange data through the use of a public and a private cryptographic key pair that is obtained and shared through a trusted authority. It provides for a digital certificate that can identify an individual or an organization and directory services that can store and, when necessary, revoke the certificates.

< For Press Contact >

Hitachi, Ltd.
Public Relations Dept. Ubiquitous Platform Systems	Tel : +81-3-3231-5744
Pioneer Corporation
Public Relations	Tel : +81-3-3495-9885
SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
Media Relations Unit	Tel : +81-3-3837-6206
Sharp Corporation
Corporate Public Relations Division	Tel : +81-6-6621-1272