SUNNYVALE, CA—July 23, 2012—Maxim Integrated Products (NASDAQ: MXIM) has released the MAX36025, a tamper-reactive cryptographic node controller that provides simple yet more secure encryption with two built-in hardware AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) engines.

Power companies worldwide are adopting smart grids to manage energy usage more efficiently. By providing communication to multiple points on the grid, power companies can measure instantaneous electricity consumption, rapidly isolate faults, control demand, and provide consumers with information on prices and consumption. Meanwhile, the continuous flow of communication exposes this critical infrastructure to cyber attacks. The MAX36025 is a security manager that can be installed on access points or data concentrators in smart grid networks to add security to these key points of data aggregation.

The two hardware AES engines embedded in the MAX36025 implement encryption in hardware, significantly reducing design time and enhancing security levels. Ultimately, system designers can be freed from the task of writing encryption code, which is time-consuming to write, debug, and implement. Furthermore, cryptographic software can have security vulnerabilities as it can be attacked by viruses through undetected bugs. The MAX36025's two AES engines can be used on independent channels to protect different networks or used simultaneously on the same channel to provide dual encryption.

MAX36025 Physical Security Layer
 Security key storage embedded in non-imprinted memory
 Built-in non-engraved memory with quick tamper-reactive erase function
 A temperature sensor equipped with a built-in unique rate of change detector that detects extreme temperature changes serving as a signal of a physical attack
 An 81-ball CSBGA package that does not expose leads for attackers to penetrate

Temperature range and product supply
 Operates in a temperature range of -55°C to +95°C
 Due to security characteristics, MAX36025 requires a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) before disclosing data sheets or other product information.

About Maxim
Maxim produces highly integrated analog and mixed-signal semiconductors. Maxim recorded sales of approximately $2.5 billion in fiscal year 2011. Website: www.Maxim-ic.com .

###

DATA SHEET: A Data Sheet for this product is available on the web.
http://www.maxim-ic.com/MAX36025

GRAPHIC: The graphic for this product is available on the web in three formats:

PREVIEW image (smaller image to view in Navigator or Explorer):
http://www.maxim-ic.com/company/newsroom/graphics/img/36025.jpg

JPEG (300 dpi, high quality, RGB color)
http://www.maxim-ic.com/company/newsroom/graphics/img/36025rgb.jpg

TIFF (300 dpi uncompressed CMYK TIF, in a .ZIP archive*)
http://www.maxim-ic.com/company/newsroom/graphics/img/36025cmyk-tif.zip