Microcosm Ltd is a UK company established in 1979. Its early claims to fame included

Silicon Disk System file:Review of Silicon Disk System and MicroCache.gif, Article in ''Practical Computing'' magazine from 1982 reviewing Silicon Disk System and MicroCache. The Silicon Disk System was the first commercially available RAM disk for microcomputers. I ...

in 1981 and Microcache (the world's first disk cache for microcomputers) in 1982. Since 1989, it has concentrated on computer security, firstly with CopyControl (a software-based copy protection system), then Dinkey

Dongle A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality. In computing, the term was initially synonym ...

(small hardware copy protection keys that connect to

parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IBM ...

USB port Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...

s). In 2005, it produced CopyMinder (software-based copy protection that uses the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

where possible to provide an 'intelligent' copy protection system). More recently, it has expanded its security products by producing SmartSign, a multi-factor authentication system that supports using mobile devices to control access to web pages.

History

* 1979 – Microcosm Limited was established in London (UK) * 1981 – Silicon Disk System (the world's first

RAM disk Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * Ra ...

for microcomputers) released * 1982 – Microcache (the world's first disk cache for microcomputers) released * 1989 – CopyControl

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...

protection released * 1989 – Microcosm moved to Bristol (UK) * 1994 – CopyControl UnLock-It software based protection released * 1995 – Microcosm receives

Ziff-Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, and ...

Europe award (finalist, best UK product) for CopyControl 1.65 * 1995 –

Parallel port In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers (personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once ( parallel ...

Dinkey

released * 2000 –

Dinkey

released * 2004 – CopyMinder internet-based

software protection Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media. Copy protection is most commonly found on ...

released * 2008 – The world's first driverless combined

Flash Drive A flash drive is a portable computer drive that uses flash memory. Flash drives are the larger memory modules consisting of a number of flash chips. A flash chip is used to read the contents of a single cell, but it can write entire block of cell ...

and

software protection dongle A software protection dongle (commonly known as a dongle or key) is an electronic copy protection and content protection device. When connected to a computer or other electronics, they unlock software functionality or decode content. The hardware ...

released * 2014 – SmartSign released, providing multi-factor authentication{{cite web, title=SmartSign Version History, url=https://smartsignsecurity.com/versions.php, publisher=SmartSign, access-date=16 April 2015, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416164452/https://smartsignsecurity.com/versions.php, archive-date=16 April 2015, url-status=dead

References

External links

Microcosm Ltd official websiteSmartSign official website
Computer companies established in 1979 Computer companies of the United Kingdom Computer hardware companies 1979 establishments in England British brands