Intel to Build Security Features Into Its Chips for First Time<br />By DON CLARK Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL<br /><br />SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Intel Corp. next year plans to build special <br />security features into its microprocessor chips for the first <br />time, a move designed to address problems such as computer <br />viruses and tampering by malicious hackers.<br /><br />The technology, dubbed LaGrande, could become a factor in a <br />widening debate over how to prevent personal-computer users from <br />unauthorized copying of digital information, such as movies or <br />music. Intel has generally been critical of attempts by <br />Hollywood to mandate content-protection technology, though <br />longtime partner Microsoft Corp. has been adding such features <br />to its software.<br /><br />Paul Otellini, Intel's president and chief operating officer, <br />said the company doesn't plan to offer any copy protection as <br />part of LaGrande. But he acknowledged that the technology could <br />be a foundation for other companies to do so, possibly working <br />with Microsoft.<br />Included in Prescott<br /><br />The LaGrande technology will be first included in Prescott, <br />Intel's code name for a member of its Pentium chip line that is <br />due out in the second half of next year. It was one of a series <br />of technical advances outlined by Mr. Otellini at a conference <br />here for software and hardware developers.<br /><br />Other announcements include a move, about a year ahead of <br />schedule, to add a technology called Hyper-Threading to desktop <br />PCs. The technique allows a single microprocessor to act like <br />two in some circumstances, bringing a performance boost of 25% <br />to 30%. The feature will be added in the fourth quarter with the <br />next member of Intel's Pentium 4 family, which also will operate <br />at three gigahertz, up<br />from the prior top speed of 2.8 gigahertz.<br /><br />Intel also demonstrated a prototype chip operating at a <br />frequency of 4.7 gigahertz, which the company believes is an <br />industry record, and initiatives to help programmers adapt <br />products that were developed for Intel-based PCs to other kinds <br />of devices that use its chips.<br /><br />The idea of using chips, as well as software, to protect <br />security isn't new got wider attention this summer with the <br />announcement by Microsoft of a security initiative called <br />Palladium, which the software company said it would seek to <br />develop with help from Intel as well as rival chip maker <br />Advanced Micro Devices Inc.<br /><br />Key Functions Are Protected<br /><br />Mr. Otellini said Intel had been working on the concept for <br />several years. Where Internet security technologies already <br />protect information in transit between a user's PC and Web <br />sites, LaGrande and Palladium attempt to safeguard information <br />and software once it is on a PC. The idea is to partition off <br />parts of a computer into protected sections dubbed "vaults," and <br />protect the pathways between those areas and keyboards, monitors <br />and other accessories.<br /><br />One benefit is what Intel calls a "secure boot," which means <br />that the basic instructions used when starting a computer can't <br />be modified for improper purposes. Unlike Palladium, LaGrande <br />also is expected to work with operating systems other than <br />Microsoft Windows, a choice likely to please Microsoft rivals <br />concerned about the company having too much influence over PC <br />security.<br /><br />"LaGrande looks like a general technology that could protect the <br />whole machine from the beginning," said Martin Reynolds, an <br />analyst with Gartner Inc. "It has some broader capabilities than <br />Palladium."<br />Mr. Otellini acknowledged that the company is a bit gun-shy <br />about building in security features. In 1999, Intel was met with <br />a firestorm of negative publicity when it decided to introduce <br />an identifying serial number with its Pentium III chip. After <br />the uproar, the company decided to switch off the identifier but <br />allow it to be activated later by users.<br /><br />Similarly with LaGrande, Mr. Otellini stressed that users can <br />switch on or off the security features. He added that the <br />company has had talks with Hollywood firms about the technology <br />and antipiracy techniques, a field sometimes called DRM, for <br />digital rights management.<br /><br />"We have this philosophy on content, that Hollywood ought to <br />protect it at its source," Mr. Otellini said.<br />Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com