Tessent Secure Message Infrastructure

The Secure Message Infrastructure (SMI) is a secure, scalable communications fabric that functions independently from the chip’s main interconnect. It carries data from the on-chip monitors and makes that data available (via gateway IPs called communicators) to the outside world. It allows the on-chip monitors to be configured at run time, either via a host or programmatically. This is a key capability in ensuring that the system can “measure what matters.” Just as importantly, the SMI allows the various Embedded Analytics IPs to send messages between themselves.

Advanced security features

As the name suggests, the SMI also includes advanced security features that allow all or part of the Embedded Analytics infrastructure to be locked down. The most obvious scenario when this is required is to prevent customers, end users or malicious actors from capturing information from inside the chip after deployment. But there are more subtle use cases, such as when a chip maker wants to selectively grant access to certain categories of information to a development partner. The SMI is equipped with a simple yet effective set of locks, distributed through the communications fabric, which allows for a broad range of these scenarios.