Crocus announced that Morpho plans to develop smartcards based on Crocus' Magnetic-Logic-Unit (MLU) technology. The two companies signed an agreement under which Crocus will develop an MLU-based secure microcontroller which Morpho will integrate into its smart card products. The secure microcontroller product will be compliant with the latest quality and security standards.
According to Crocus, MLU technology (which is an adaption of thermally-assisted magnetic switching, or TAS, for use in memory access in addition to storage) offers the advantage of much higher read-write cycle endurance, compared with leading-edge flash memory, while also offering inherent non-volatility and low power operation. The use of MLU should also provide match-in-place capability, which can be used for secure authentication.
Crocus recently signed a joint technology development agreement and a mutual patent license agreement with IBM, and the two companies will also develop a technology that combines Crocus' MLU with IBM's MRAM technology and processing capabilities. Crocus plans to deploy MLU products at its manufacturing venture in Russia, Crocus Nano Electronics (CNE).