Asus TPM 2.0 hardware

[Korth]

I realize this isn't a ROG-specific question, sorry.

But does Asus plan to release a 20-pin TPM 2.0 hardware accessory, or can Asus recommend any which would be compatible with the X99 RVE motherboard?

My existing Asus-branded Infineon TPM 1.2 will not support DRM-protected lockouts on upcoming EFI hypervisor development tools (primarily the tianocore UDK/EDK Service Pack builds anticipated for 2016), nor on the Win10 OS (whatever that's worth, for those who "trust" Microsoft). I'm asking about TPM 2.0 accessories now because it took many months to get my TPM 1.2 accessory shipped through Canada Customs, lol, and 2016 is really not all that far away.

[GhostWorks]

Any news on your request on your end

[Korth]

No news and no response from Asus, lol, although I didn't really expect anything because this isn't really their hardware.

TPM 2.0 is not widely available outside of enterprise platforms, anyhow. And extra cryptosecurity certainly wasn't implemented in Win10, so older TPM hardware tokens will still suffice for BitLocker.

[Skunk]

It took a while to get me TPM 1.2 device here in California, as well. When I was talking with ASUS technical support (this was nearly a year ago) when I was setting up some stuff with the TPM, I asked about availability of more recent revisions of TPM and they were not aware of any. I believe more recent TPM modules get used in some mobile devices, like the Microsoft Surface Pro, perhaps some laptop PCs; you'd have to check product specs.

[Korth]

Asus is not a real contender in the enterprise/server markets. Their few workstation products are really more for enthusiasts and prosumers than for big computing corporations.

I think they just install TPM on their mobos because it's already put in place by the chipsets, easy enough to stamp an SMT TPM or a TPM header when the pinouts are already expected to be put there.

Many people are interested in BitLocker but utterly confused by how it works with a TPM. Some (like me) require hardware TPM to run certain specialized softwares which basically use them as (overkill) hardware dongles for halting potential piracy. The overwhelming majority of TPM focus is in enterprise networks where private data (or controlled access to such data) is a valuable commodity, and there's not much literature available about TPMs outside of confidential insider stuff.

[Skunk]

I use the TPM primarily for data encryption, both on my system drive and with external flash drives, for protection in a powered-down state. While the TPM 1.2 suffices for use with BitLocker, there are still some vulnerabilities with older TPM devices that I would prefer not to have.

ASUS does have more enterprise focused hardware, but you're right in that they are not a market leader there.

[Korth]

It's a shame Asus doesn't aggressively push for the big tech and the big money.

They've already established themselves as a reputable brand. I often overhear noobs saying that omg this thing is Asus so you just know it's going to be nothing but tippy-top-end tech. Complaints about flawed products or insane prices or absolutely dismal customer support get louder and uglier all the time, and yet people keep on eagerly buying into more and more of the very latest in ROG-branded gear as soon as it hits the shelves.

I think Asus could indeed position itself as a major player, they're already a leading technical innovator and they tend to overengineer their stuff to ridiculously robust reliability. They even manufacture all the critical crunching components in house, so they would be one of the few companies able to offer platform-wide warranty and support for almost every single component in the rack. But first they've really got to figure out how to take care of their angry customers better, they really score very poorly in this area. Then sell a few Asus servers at a loss just to get their foot in the door. But once the IT guys begin to like seeing Asus racks it just becomes a matter of scaling production up to meet demand.