American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) and Ancora Technologies Announce Strategic Alliance to Offer BIOS Based Security Products
BIOS pioneer American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) and Ancora Technologies Inc. announce strategic alliance to offer BIOS based security products utilizing Ancora’s Platform Security Anchor ™ (PSA) technology (as described in US Patent 6,411,941). The first offering, Ancora Online™, scheduled to be released in Q2 2005, provides “consumer strong authentication” for online service providers such as online banks, online retailers and ISPs.
Atlanta, GA / Irvine, CA (PRWEB) February 16, 2005 -- The recent “phishing
attacks” on online banking accounts highlight the need for an effective yet
convenient 2nd factor authentication in addition to a password. Ancora Online™
provides “consumer strong authentication” that balances consumer convenience
with effectiveness and cost. Ancora Online™ enables consumers to designate which
computer or computers may access their online account. Stealing passwords
becomes useless as the hacker will not be able to use a stolen password to
access the consumer’s account without physical possession of the consumer’s
computer.
PSA™ is a security technology that embeds encryption keys in
the core of the PC, its motherboard. This approach achieves a higher level of
reliability and security than software-based technologies and a higher level of
convenience than hardware-based ones (i.e. tokens and smart cards).
“The
strategic alliance with Ancora allows us to enter the security field and
leverage our BIOS expertise and knowledge”, said S. Shankar, AMI president. “We
see great value for consumers in BIOS based security products.”
“The BIOS
is the core of the computer and is the only component that enables the highest
level of reliability and convenience. These attributes are critical for
widespread consumer acceptance of security technologies”, said Miki Mullor, CEO
of Ancora. “We are very pleased to have AMI as a strategic ally. AMI’s knowledge
and credibility accelerated our product development efforts and ensures that
Ancora products will always be compatible with the latest PC platform
technologies”
“Our first product, Ancora Online, offers a solution to the
online ID theft problem caused by “phishing attacks”, stated Ancora President Al
Saavedra. “When we designed the product, it was important for us to build a
product that consumers want, making usability, convenience and cost high
priority design goals”
The following key differentiators highlight Ancora
Online’s strong position in the consumer authentication market:
•Convenience
and “ease of use”: Ancora Online is fully transparent to the consumer and
requires no changes to the current user experience and behavior.
•Reliability: Being based in the PC BIOS, Ancora Online is isolated from
usability problems related to user activities, hard drive problems and malicious
viruses and spyware.
•Cost: zero variable cost related to acquisition and
deployment.
•Practical: fits all real world usage scenarios. Allows
consumers to self-manage their designated computers, puts no restrictions on
current usage models of online services.
•Web deployment: deployed
electronically over the web, compatible with all popular browsers.
•Industry
backing: Ancora Online is co-developed with American Megatrends Inc. (AMI),
maker of AMIBIOS™ and a dominant technology company with over 20 years
experience in the BIOS space.
•Instant Compatibility: Ancora Online is
compatible with 100% of the PC market install base.
A demo of the product
is available at the company’s web site: www.AncoraTech.com
About American Megatrends
Inc.
Founded in 1985, American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) has dedicated its
resources to providing OEMs, resellers and systems integrators with leading edge
computer technologies. Privately held, AMI is best known for its BIOS, but it
also supplies state-of-the-art hardware, software and utilities to over 55
percent of today's high-tech manufacturers. AMI offers high-density
motherboards, disk subsystems and innovative storage solutions and is a voting
member of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). Headquartered in
Atlanta, AMI has locations in the U.S. and throughout the world including
Chennai, Munich, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo to better serve its
customers.
For more information on AMI, its products or services, call
1-800-U-BUY-AMI or visit www.ami.com.
About Ancora Technologies Inc.
Founded
in 2004, Ancora Technologies Inc., is focused on development and licensing of
security products based on its patented Platform Security Anchor™ technology.
For more information on Ancora, visit www.AncoraTech.com , contact Ancora at e-mail protected from
spam bots or by calling 1-888-335-0874.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb209497.htm