Infineon: FIDO-Certified Bluetooth Solution For More Security

Premium German semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies AG (OTC:IFNNY) recently pioneered the development of Fast IDentity Online (“FIDO”)-certified Bluetooth low energy (BLE) reference solution that can be used as wireless authentication tokens. This will likely help the company bolster security and efficiency of Internet of Things (IoT) applications which currently forms the backbone of the contemporary digitized society.

FIDO is an industry consortium that develops security standards for authentication, thereby eliminating the risk of frauds. Infineon’s latest offering will allow users to avail these tokens together with their password, thereby securing and authenticating their online actions. To connect an authentication token to mobile and wireless applications that does not have USB support necessitates the use of BLE as a communication protocol.

Infineon’s FIDO BLE reference design is powered by an “Infineon Secure Element” chip that can execute fast cryptographic operations. A FIDO certification will allow manufacturers of connected security devices to assimilate FIDO Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) standard with any BLE transceiver seamlessly. Given that over 60% of all online breaches stems from weak passwords, a certified reference solution for FIDO BLE is the need of the hour for clients who value security. FIDO standards have already been implemented by major companies like Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), DropBox and GitHub.

Infineon is keen on capitalizing on the dominating market trends to stay ahead of its peers. Presently, the company is focusing on creation of sustainable IoT by leveraging on its state-of-the-art semiconductor technologies. During the fiscal second quarter of 2016, the company’s IoT security solutions were chosen by multiple premium device manufacturers which in turn supplemented top-line growth.

The company believes that its dominant position in automotive, energy and security markets coupled with a surge of use in sensors, controllers, power components and security solutions for all major IoT applications bode well for future growth. Going forward, Infineon’s BLE reference solution is expected to accelerate adoption of FIDO with reference designs that can support a wide range of standards including U2F USB, U2F NFC, and U2F BLE which in turn is expected to bolster sales.

Infineon currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the sector include Alpha & Omega Semiconductor, Ltd. (NASDAQ:AOSL) , Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIMX) and On Track Innovations Ltd. (NASDAQ:OTIV) . All the three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).