TAIPEI, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AuthenTec (NASDAQ:AUTH), the world’s leading provider of smart fingerprint sensors and solutions, and Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:PTEC), the leader in PC 3.0™ products, services and embedded technologies, announced today that they have developed a pre-boot authentication (PBA) solution for next generation Calpella-equipped PCs which will be demonstrated by Phoenix Technology at Computex 2009 in Taipei.

AuthenTec and Phoenix’s new PBA solution for Intel’s next generation PC platform, codenamed Calpella, combines AuthenTec’s smart fingerprint sensor technology with Phoenix Technologies’ SecureCore PBA software. Phoenix will demonstrate this new solution, which is compatible with both legacy BIOS and new UEFI-based PBA platforms, at booth #M630 from June 2-6 at Computex 2009 in Tapei.

“The AuthenTec-Phoenix solution reduces time to market for PC OEMs looking for a flexible, fingerprint-enabled PBA solution for integration into their next-generation Calpella-based PCs,” said John Correia, Executive VP and GM for BIOS at Phoenix Technologies. “We’re pleased to collaborate with market leader AuthenTec on this winning solution, and we look forward to demonstrating the solution on a Compal-built Calpella PC with key customers attending Computex this week.”

“Our close work with industry leader Phoenix Technologies has resulted in a flexible pre-boot authorization solution that supports the long-awaited mass market deployment of the EFI architecture,” said Tom Aebli, AuthenTec Vice President of PC Products. “The AuthenTec-Phoenix demo at Computex is a great opportunity to show some of the world’s leading laptop manufacturers how well this one-touch PBA solution works for their next-generation Calpella platforms.”

Millions of today’s PCs include AuthenTec smart fingerprint sensors to enable security, convenience, personalization, and navigation. Based on the Company’s patented TruePrint® technology to deliver extremely accurate and reliable fingerprint imaging, AuthenTec sensors read below the surface of the skin to the live layer, where a person’s true fingerprint resides. This subsurface approach enables AuthenTec sensors to overcome common skin surface conditions to read virtually every fingerprint, every time. TruePrint allows AuthenTec to offer the smallest sensors on the market, yet provide all the security, privacy and convenience afforded in its larger form factor devices.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a community effort by several companies in the PC industry to modernize the booting process. UEFI is part of an industry initiative to define next generation computing platforms and ensure an efficient interface between a device’s operating system and the platform firmware. Desktop and mobile PC users needed a safe and gradual transition path to this new standard – a firmware solution that implements full UEFI functionality, and at the same time provides backward compatibility with both Intel's proprietary Framework drivers and legacy BIOS drivers.

Phoenix Technologies provides a compelling technology advantage when it comes to bridging the gap between legacy BIOS and new EFI and UEFI-based systems. Phoenix SecureCore is the most advanced core systems firmware available today to support UEFI 2.0 while also supporting legacy BIOS implementations and drivers. With SecureCore, Phoenix Technologies is providing a safe and efficient bridge for OEMs and ODMs to move from traditional BIOS to UEFI core firmware. SecureCore supports traditional BIOS code developed by customers and at the same time, enables modular UEFI standard drivers and plug-ins, thus providing for long-term ROI.

About Phoenix Technologies Ltd.

Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTEC), the leader in PC 3.0™ products, services and embedded technologies, pioneers open standards and delivers innovative solutions that enable the PC industry's top system builders and specifiers to differentiate their systems, reduce time-to-market and increase their revenues. The Company's flagship products and services - Phoenix SecureCore, MicroCore, Embedded BIOS, FailSafe, Freeze, HyperSpace and eSupport.com - are revolutionizing the PC user experience by delivering unprecedented performance, security, reliability, continuity, and ease-of-use. The Company established industry leadership and created the PC clone industry with its original BIOS product in 1983. Phoenix has 159 technology patents and 136 pending applications, and has shipped in over one billion systems. Phoenix is headquartered in Milpitas, California with offices worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.phoenix.com.

About AuthenTec

With more than 45 million sensors sold worldwide, AuthenTec is the world leader in providing smart fingerprint authentication sensors and solutions to the high-volume PC, wireless device, and access control markets. AuthenTec's award-winning sensors take full advantage of The Power of Touch® by utilizing the company's patented TruePrint® technology to deliver the most convenient, reliable and cost-effective means available for enabling touch-powered features that extend beyond user authentication.