January 17, 2005 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — According to reports released Monday, Sun Microsystems (sun.com) has developed an SSL quarter the size and shape of a quarter, designed as a proof-of-concept project for embedded applicatons.
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The wireless Web server, nicknamed “sizzle” (slim SSL), will reportedly be presented at the Pervasive Computing and Communications show in March. The machine is based on an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Crossbow Technology, and includes 8Kb of main memory used to run a simple operating system, Web server and SSL server.
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Sun is reportedly adding 128Kb of flash memory to the remote server, and installing a version of SSL based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography that the company says makes public key cryptography suitable to a tiny machine with limited capabilities.
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According to reports, Sizzle can perform an SSL handshake in less than four seconds ? under two if reusing a session. The Web server is said to be capable of transferring about 450 bytes per second, making it suitable for the typical remote server uses.
