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Pocket security LOOX possible with faster PDA processors

Security for mobile devices can't be guaranteed without strong encryption - and that takes MIPS - and today's pocket digital assistants don't have the MIPS to spare.

The newest, fastest PocketPC announced so far, the LOOX from Fujitsu Siemens doesn't have much about it which is particularly exciting. Nonetheless, its faster processor is the first of a new generation of PocketPC designs using Intel XScale processors - based on the ARM core - is aimed firmly at the requirements of systems administrators, who need full security.

There are plenty of security scares about wireless mobility today, and Fujitsu Siemens has walked right into the middle of the panic with a device which is trebly wireless. It has Bluetooth as standard, GPRS phone data as an option, and will also do WiFi networking around the office if you plug in a CompactFlash card to do 802.11 standard WLAN.

About the only one of those which is recognised as being really secure is the GPRS link; and that's expensive to use for day-to-day work around the office.

So increasingly, systems admin types are saying: "Only connect to the LAN over a virtual private network." And that works, almost flawlessly, and is not crackable within a reasonable time-frame by anybody without very large-scale computing resources - but it is also a big processor hog.

On a personal computer, the processing overhead is trivial. Data is encrypted and decrypted on the fly, and no user is going to notice it. On some of today's pocket digital assistants, however, the application and the data and the processor load is not just noticeable, but can be disabling.

In the days of the Palm, the question really didn't arise, of course, because the Palm OS doesn't include LAN drivers in its API. Yes, you can have applications (there are dozens!) which access the office network, but those applications have to include their own LAN protocol stacks because there isn't any OS support for it. Essentially, the Palm devices are extensions of the individual's own PC - satellite processors - and if the PC is secure, so is the Palm.

System admin types want to give users something that is a standalone device, however, which connects to the LAN directly, and acts as a LAN client, running cut-down PC applications, accessing corporate databases. And the PocketPC is selling very well into that market - because it has the LAN connectivity built in.

Which makes it vulnerable to security flaws, of course.

Not everybody wants security, but some are obliged to. For example, a doctor roaming around a hospital with a pocket computer is obliged by legislation to keep patient records confidential - and lawyers are equally obliged to keep their data irreprochably secure - as are City financiers involved in forward planning; and so in those (pretty rare) instances where people honestly have to have security, for legal reasons, standard WiFi security simply isn't good enough. And a VPN is the only way forward.

So, although - for the private user - the first priority of a portable IT appliance is battery life, for the corporate budget, processing power is a real issue; and more of these XScale based systems can be expected over the next couple of months.

The Pocket LOOX device will be available from July in the UK for around £399 excluding VAT.