Originally scheduled to be launched at Mobile World Congress 2020, the new Optiga Connect OC1110 embedded SIM offers a total solution for OEMs targeting the consumer market.
This is the second part of our interview with Lars Wemme, Senior Director IoT, Embedded, and Digital Security solutions at Infineon. To read the first part, please click here.
In this second part of our interview with Lars Wemme, he tells us about the GSMA IoT SAFE, how Infineon is implementing the program, the Aurix family of security modules for automotive, and the new OPTIGA Connect OC1110 embedded SIM (eSIM) for consumer devices.
IoT Times
Talking about IoT and SIMs in general, the GSMA is promoting IoT SAFE. Is Infineon working on the platform, or a similar solution?
Lars Wemme
This is a topic that we are facing in many areas. We get questions from our customers saying: If I put an embedded SIM on my system, what else could I maybe do with it? So in this arena, that’s the push that IoT SAFE promotes.
Because, at the end of the day, you have a security controller in the system, and you could combine the communication security and application security into one device.
Again, it has certain advantages and disadvantages to do this. To utilize a security controller on your system, that’s what you could do. And this is what IoT SAFE was looking at.
From Infineon’s perspective, we would like to go beyond what IoT SAFE promoted because we would like to run independent applications in the future, such as a security controller. Here is where we think it could benefit the industry. The current specifications do not allow that.
IoT Times
Last year, at the Mobile World Congress 2019, you told us about how the industry would need something like a security label IoT. Do you still think it is a good idea?
Lars Wemme
IoT SAFE was initially positioned as a technical specification, providing additional features. It can help in that direction. But at the end of the day, it is one way to do this, but having released something visible for consumers, for you and me when we go into the shop, to see what security is provided by a product still holds.
I would repeat everything that I said last year. It is still an important thing.
Other discussions are happening, for instance, under the umbrella of the European Cybersecurity Act, going in that direction. But they are not yet there to provide something really visible for the end consumer.
IoT Times
What more can you do with an embedded sim? Would it be possible to use it for something else as well?
Lars Wemme
Technically, yes. Well, technically, today, the answer is yes. You can add additional applications, such as Java applets, to it. You could, for instance, use the eSIM to authenticate to a cloud service. Again, this is what IoT SAFE did. In the context of a [Mobile Network Operator] MNO profile. It is what you could use the eSIM for, providing authentication on the application level, to the cloud servers and back establishing a secure communication channel between the cloud and the device out there.
IoT Times
Going back to my previous question about integration. You mentioned you don’t have a communications division in the company, but you do have microcontrollers. Are you planning to integrate eSIMs within a microprocessor? Or, is it not in your roadmap yet?
Lars Wemme
It is not on the roadmap. Because it doesn’t make sense from an application architecture or a system architecture perspective. It only makes sense when you have a cellular [modem] that goes with it.
What you find in the Infineon portfolio is the Aurix family.
The Aurix family comes with quite a comprehensive lineup of different microcontrollers for different use cases for automotive. And the vast majority of those microcontrollers come with a [high secure module] HSM. Dedicated security controllers should be at the entry point to the car for the safety of the rest of the car.
IoT Times
Talking about Aurix. Is that completely independent of the communications system in the car?
Lars Wemme
Yes, completely separate systems. It works in the context of the respective application side of the car. It has nothing to do with the SIM. It’s a microcontroller with security accelerators, independent memories, as an independent subsystem part of a larger SOC. It follows the same principles in the integrated SIM solution. So it’s the same architectural approach.
IoT Times
Are you talking about something similar to the secure elements on NFC?
Lars Wemme
Maybe not as powerful. But it’s used to provide application security, and authentication to secure communications within the car.
IoT Times
What about the products you were about to announce at MWC, especially for the consumer space?
Lars Wemme
Today, we are announcing a total solution offering, based on eSIM, for consumer devices, the OPTIGA Connect OC1110.
It is an expansion of our eSIM portfolio. When you look into eSIM today, the products we have are hardware-based, and somebody else is adding software, and then providing it to end customers.
With this product, we are providing a total solution for OEMs targeting the consumer market, smartphones, wearables, tablets, and PCs. We are providing a complete solution that enables the OEMs to integrate an eSIM, and get the system up and running. And, it’s qualified by or interoperable with a large number of MNOs around the world; it’s 5g ready, and it comes in a chip-scale package form factor. Very small to meet space requirements, especially in wearables and smartphones.
IoT Times
Lars, thank you so much for your time and all the information about your products and solutions. Hopefully, we can meet again in Barcelona for the IoT Solutions World Congress later this year.
