Intel’s Trusted Execution Technology (TXT, also sometimes abbreviated TET, but not by Intel), was originally known as LeGrande. It’s a hardware implementation designed to protect computers against software-based attacks and enables the creation of separate execution environments called protected partitions. With applications running in separate environments, the memory pools are locked so that they can’t be accessed or written to by other processes. User input is also protected so that users can interact with the applications without risk from other software that may be running. TXT can perform “platform verification,” whereby it confirms at boot-up that a computer has exactly the same configuration it had last time it was booted. It works in conjunction with Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) on Intel vPro platforms.  All of this is part of Intel’s Safer Computing Initiative. If you’re interested, you can read about the technical details of TXT here: http://www.intel.com/technology/security/downloads/arch-overview.pdfhttp://www.intel.com/technology/security/downloads/arch-overview.pdf 

Then what is TPM? A Trusted Platform Module is a hardware chip that can generate and store cryptographic keys and perform authentication of hardware devices. It can be used by TXT and is also used by technologies such as Microsoft’s BitLocker disk encryption. TPM chips are made by a number of different vendors, and many computers now come with a built-in TPM.

You may have heard of TPMs in a less than favorable light. The TPM is the component that caused such controversy several years ago, when privacy advocates voiced concerns about the chip assigning a unique identifier to the computer in which it’s installed. Although this helps to protect against online identity theft and make financial transactions over the ‘Net more secure, many were afraid the chip would be used by the software, music and movie industries to enforce copy protection and to eliminate anonymity on the Internet.

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