Via Technologies, a developer of x86 central processing units and supporting chipsets, this week showed that the cryptographic performance of the Via Nano processor is the most power efficient on the market, due to its dedicated VIA PadLock Security Engine, a suite of security tools integrated directly into the processor die.

The benchmarking of the Via Nano 1.30GHz processor using SiSoftware’s newest release of the SiSoftware Sandra 2009 diagnostic utility showed the Via Nano processor performing the cryptographic tests at 765MB/s of bandwidth, over 93% faster than a Intel Core 2 Quad QX9770 processor (5%), yet using a mere 5% of the power. According to Via, Via Nano cryptographic performance results look as follows.

The reason for massive performance lead that Via Nano chip could demonstrate compared to Intel’s chip that costs more than $1000 is Via PadLock Security Engine integrated wholly into the Nano processor. The PadLock engine enables secure computing by adding extra functions (opcodes) to the processor that gives programmers a whole suite of tools which, when implemented, can make data unreadable to unauthorized users (data encryption), and help prevent attacks from hackers and worms.

“Cryptography has become an important part of our digital life: it allows us to conduct safe transactions online, certify programs and services, keep our data secure and much more. The speed at which cryptographic operations (encryption, decryption, hashing, signing) can be performed is thus very much important,” said C. Adrian Silasi, chief technology officer at SiSoftware.

“Fast, power efficient and safe data encryption are quickly becoming a top concern of mobile PC users,” said Richard Brown, vice president of marketing at Via Technologies. “Data protection and identity theft for lost and stolen devices are issues that are compounded by the growth of the mobile computing market, key areas where the VIA Nano processor can significantly help protect users data.”

Tags: Via, Nano