USB Flash Drive Standardization Efforts John Loveall Group

USB Flash Drive Standardization Efforts John Loveall Group Program Manager WDEG, Storage Devices jloveall @ microsoft. com Microsoft Corporation

Session Outline Overview: USB Flash Drives and the Windows Platform Industry Standardization Efforts USB Flash Drive Alliance (UFDA) U 3 IEEE P 1667 Closing summary and call to action

Session Goals Understand the synergy of USB flash drives and the Windows platform Become familiar with key standardization efforts in the USB flash drive space Take away contact information to enable innovative ideas for your products and market

Storage Devices: Key Windows Strategies Storage Fabrics Server/Enterprise Personal Storage Client/Consumer Leading platform supporting storage fabrics Optimized platform features enabling new customer scenarios in Personal Storage Optical Platform Timely, comprehensive, quality platform support for optical devices Preferred Storage Platform Preferred platform for developing, integrating, and deploying storage devices Client/Consumer Partner/Customer

Overview: USB Flash Drives and the Windows Platform New customer scenarios are emerging Beyond portable data, towards portable experiences Microsoft is actively working with partners Defining new customer scenarios Enabling these scenarios with the platform Standardization efforts are gaining momentum Covering broad categories of the technology Can help enable innovation and quality

USB Flash Drive Market Growth IDC, Preliminary forecast, 12 -Apr-04 Gartner, Semiconductor Database, 18 -May-04 Web-Feet Research, Flash Cards and Removable Storage Fcast 2004 -09, Mar-04 Source: Web-Feet Research, March 2005

Larger Scope of Technology: Personal Storage Devices defined by usage vs. technology, e. g. : Organizing Listening to music Communicating Mobile experiences The platform and standards need to follow Common support across multiple devices Common support across multiple buses There is much opportunity for improvement in customer experiences

Industry Standardization Efforts Presentations USB Flash Drive Alliance (UFDA) U 3 IEEE P 1667 WG Note: These presentations do not imply endorsement or feature support by Microsoft. These are efforts in progress of note in the industry.

USB Flash Drive Alliance (UFDA) Unleashing the Full Potential of USB Flash Drives Through Standards Steffen Hellmold President Shellmold @ lexar. com USB Flash Drive Alliance

Section Outline The USB flash drive alliance: overview Why a UFD device specification NOW The near term focus of the UFDA Mechanical Considerations for UFDs A Plug Form Factor Guideline Application Specific Interfaces for UFDs Mass Storage Class Lock – An idea Environmental Considerations for UFDs

USB Flash Drive Alliance – Overview Founded as non-profit organization end of 2003 Initial focus to establish category name ‘USB flash drive’ and educate consumer about UFD End of 2004 UFDA added focus on UFD standard UFDA targets to establish a UFD device spec UFDA is an open industry organization UFDA represents companies across the industry UFDA believes in open royalty-free industry standards as best suited to maximize market growth UFDA works to complement existing standards bodies, not to compete with them

USB Flash Drive Alliance - Members Sponsor Members Lexar PNY Technologies Samsung Associate Members Add On Technology Alcor Micro Corsair Crucial Technology Edge Tech Corp Genesys Logic Globalware Solutions Infineon Technologies International Microsystems Incorporated Kingston Technology Memory Experts International Microsoft Simple. Tech Viking Interworks

Why a UFD Device Specification NOW For a category less than three years old, USB flash drives have enjoyed phenomenal growth despite the lack of a USB flash drive device specification Initial predominant application was simple, external portable storage but USB flash drives grown beyond, various proprietary solutions are available in the market Standards are required to enable the ubiquitous use of UFDs in new applications & markets as multiple sourcing is desired and standards facilitate adoption A portable storage solution that can be used in various market segments such as computing, consumer and mobile is desirable to optimize consumer experience

The Near Term Focus of the UFDA Standardize as little as needed to create a common specification enabling multiple sourcing whereby the work from existing standards bodies should be leveraged Standardization Requests should first be pursued through USB-IF, T 10, IEEE P 1667 and JEDEC. If outside the scope of these committe then UFDA. Initial focus areas for standardization efforts: Mechanical Application Specific Interfaces Environmental Note: The UFDA is not associated with any of the above standards bodies nor is it endorsed by these standards bodies.

Mechanical Considerations for UFDs USB flash drives come in many different industrial design with different material and colors Host devices are typically created with the USB cable and connector specification in mind Therefore it makes sense to leverage this specification to define a form factor guideline for UFDs to enable their use as a flash card USB-IF has approved a Plug Form Factor Guideline 1. 0 based on the USB Type A connector http: //www. usb. org/developers/devclass_docs/CCWG__A__Plug_Form_Factor_ Guideline__Revision_1. 0_. pdf Further form factors need to be defined to offer suitable solutions for all applications

A Plug Form Factor Guideline Based on type A connector per USB V 2. 0 spec W: 12 mm, H: 4. 5 mm, L: 31. 75 mm Label recess and finger grip Top View: Bottom View:

Application Specific Interfaces for UFDs USB flash drives typically use MSC drivers This enables their use as simple storage devices on systems with modern operating systems without the use of proprietary drivers In order to use USB flash drives in conjunction with sophisticated applications standards for application specific interfaces is needed Security is a major focus and standards need to be established to secure: The storage The channel The network

Mass Storage Class Lock – an Idea (A) Legacy compatible when password clear (B) One familiar unlocked drive letter, no unusable locked drive letters (C) Windows Update triggered by drive traveling w/ password (D) No false reports of malfunctioning mass storage.

Environmental Considerations for UFDs Consumers need to have means to determine if the environmental specification of the product they intend to buy is suitable for their intended use USB flash drives are based on various silicon, assembly and material technologies. This has implications to their environmental behavior. Therefore there is a need to establish an environmental specification so users know that a USB flash drive has certain temperature, shock, vibration, drop, humidity and other ratings

The U 3 Opportunity U 3: The next generation platform for USB Flash Drives Nathan Gold Sr. Director, U 3 Developer Forum ngold @ u 3. com U 3 LLC

Section Outline About U 3 The U 3 Platform U 3 Architecture and SDK Demo

About U 3 Founded December 2004 Founders San. Disk Corporation (Sunnyvale, CA) M-Systems (Kfar Saba, Israel) Staff: 25 Headquarters in Redwood Shores, CA Key Milestones Company Launch: January 2005 at CES U 3 Global Developer Summit on June 7 -8 First U 3 products to hit the market in mid-2005

Arrival of USB 3 rd Generation 3 G: Smart Drives • Mobilizes personal workspace • Wide range of applications, data and preferences • Multi-vendor compatibility • Extends PC to a new user experience called “USB computing” • More advanced device features 2 G: Single-Purpose Drives • Proprietary, limited solutions • Vendor-specific, no standards • Only one application/drive • Advanced device features App 1 G: “Dumb” Drives • Data files only • Security problems U 3 envisions a world in which people carry their “personal workspace” with them – not just files, but software applications, preferences and the means to interact with them – enabling a private, protected and portable computing experience on any computer.

U 3 Platform Components Provided by: • Applications • Launch. Pad Interface • SDK Microsoft ISV IHV USB Interface • Compliant HW • Compliant Firmware USB Flash Drive

U 3 Architecture

What do you build? U 3 Applications travel with the U 3 compliant device All configurations and data stored on the device. U 3 Deployment Guide and SDK = Fast track to mobilizing your applications! These applications are run from the U 3 Launch. Pad. U 3 -Aware Applications Classic Windows applications that know about the U 3 device Leverage the power of the U 3 device features Unique serial numbers, secure cookies, and lock/unlock device U 3 SDK Device API is the way for both U 3 Applications and U 3 Aware Applications to leverage device features

SDK Components Building Applications U 3 tools for preparing U 3 Applications Tools to increase mobility of applications (registry help) Configuration Set device configuration (formatting, partitioning, sizing and securing partitions, setting security on partitions) Displays device information: Firmware version, vendor strings, hardware serial number, U 3 unique id, device parameters CD Manager Burn a CD image Autorun Write Protect Allows protecting or releasing write protection on device

Device Operations Basic Device Services Extended Device Services Basic device information: Extended device services: Device Capabilities Serial number Version Vendor/product strings Drive letters Capacity Basic device services: Eject Insert / Remove events Configuration change events Cookies Protected Cookies Login/Logout to secure zone Change and reset password

Demo U 3 Launch. Pad

IEEE P 1667 WG Standard Protocol for Authentication in Host Attachments of Transient Storage Devices Ariel Sobelman Chairman, IEEE P 1667 WG Ariel. Sobelman @ m-systems. com IEEE P 1667 WG

Root of Problem Today is No Root-of-Trust Corporate IT departments blocking USB ports External threats – attacking systems Internal threats – information theft Threat perception is at all-time high May threaten the continued growth of USB storage devices. IEEE P 1667 targeting corporate security level Compliments other standards working on access control and trusted computing infrastructure P 1667 targeting corporate level Critical for continued trust of the major corporate IT departments in the system and storage solutions used by their employees Goal: Wide-spread adoption by major security IT vendors P 1667 adopted by top security vendors Compatibility with and support for P 1667 in: Security and authentication products System products

Areas Covered by P 1667 Secure enterprise Authenticate the identity of the device and its ownership Only allow authenticated devices to mount – authentication requires positive identification of the device Access control is supplied by the host – device only needs a trusted ID Secure device Device will only mount according to access control rules Device requires positive identification of the host it is attaching to before allowing the host to access it

Areas Covered by P 1667 (con't) Secure content Device and host may not trust each other in the context of some secure data or licensed software DRM system around data (for example) needs to authenticate the host, device, and a relationship between them P 1667 only focuses on the authentication of the components, not the access control mechanism

IEEE P 1667 Area of Responsibility • Management Services • Content Filtering • DRM • Authorization Additional Services Authentication Data Storage Transient Storage Device Host PC IEEE P 1667 Security Services Hardware

Summary and Call to Action

Summary and Call to Action New customer scenarios are emerging combining the Windows platform, USB flash drives, and other personal storage Industry standards efforts are working to enable innovation and product development Understand the support and efforts in place today Communicate your needs for enabling your product ideas Windows platform support Industry standards support

Community Resources Windows Hardware & Driver Central (WHDC) www. microsoft. com/whdc/default. mspx Technical Communities www. microsoft. com/communities/products/default. mspx Non-Microsoft Community Sites www. microsoft. com/communities/related/default. mspx Microsoft Public Newsgroups www. microsoft. com/communities/newsgroups Technical Chats and Webcasts www. microsoft. com/communities/chats/default. mspx www. microsoft. com/webcasts Microsoft Blogs www. microsoft. com/communities/blogs

Additional Resources Email Microsoft inquiries: hec 5 stor @ microsoft. com Web Resources: UFDA: http: //www. usbflashdrive. org A Plug Form Factor Guidline 1. 0 http: //www. usb. org/developers/devclass_docs#approved U 3: http: //www. u 3. com IEEE P 1667: http: //standards. ieee. org/board/nes/projects/1667. pdf