Galois introduces new spin-out, Niobium Microsystems

We’re pleased to announce the creation of our newest spin-out:  Niobium Microsystems, devoted to the creation of trusted microelectronic systems. Galois is well-known for its focus on formal methods and high assurance for software validation. Some of the company’s most cutting-edge research involves System-on-Chip design. 

Niobium Microsystems builds on this body of work, advancing into applied research and custom system design toward building high-performance and trustworthy systems. “Galois is deeply committed to the transition of our R&D work, on behalf of our current clients and in the interest of advancing the impact of new technologies in practice. Launching Niobium as a stand-alone organization enables the team to significantly accelerate the speed and consistency of their work, specific to the domain and needs of each customer’s particular SWaP, security, and application requirements,” said Robert Wiltbank, Ph.D., CEO of Galois.  

Niobium leverages 20 years of computer science research and development (R&D) in the commercial and federal markets. Niobium team members have worked on many complex System-on-Chip designs to create trusted microelectronics systems for clients with complex Security and SWaP constraints. “The spin-out of Niobium from Galois is very timely, with respect to Trusted Microelectronics currently being a DoD priority and the opportunities for Custom Chip Design in the commercial marketplace,” said Colin Morrow, President of Niobium.

Niobium’s roots are in Galois hardware projects involving Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), and cyber-physical systems (CPS). The Niobium team’s work with silicon design originated with Galois’s  GULPHAAC (Galois Ultra-Low-Power High-Assurance Asynchronous Cryptography) project.

For GULPHAAC, the challenge was designing silicon that was both formally verified for correctness and capable of running at extremely low power. The team developed the specification for the cryptography, formally verified its key properties, and generated the hardware description using Galois’s domain-specific language Cryptol. The Niobium team has also driven the Galois projects 21st Century Cryptography, GLASS-CV, and BESSPIN. 

 You can read more about Niobium Microsystems at niobiummicrosystems.com