| |
Wonder what Nadgy would think
Entrust gets set to make mobile phones secure
By Susan Taylor
OTTAWA, (Reuters) - Internet security software developer Entrust Technologies Inc. said Monday it is developing software and services to help protect from hackers mobile phone users who make electronic commerce transactions.
Entrust, which is headquartered in Plano, Texas, but has the bulk of its operations in Ottawa, develops software called public-key infrastructure that can be used to identify and authenticate that computer users are who they purport to be. That is considered an essential step in any electronic commerce transactions.
The strategy announced Monday aims at the so-called Internet appliance market, equipment such as cell phones and pagers that can be hooked up to the Internet. Technology may allow those devices to be used for electronic commerce transactions by as early as January 2000.
Entrust is developing software and hopes to launch its first product in the first quarter of next year, said Michel Ranger, Entrust director of strategic planning.
The company is working with such partners as Nokia Corp., Nortel Networks Corp. , Bank of Nova Scotia, and Sonera Corp. to develop tools.
The technology is designed to protect consumers, for example, who use their mobile phones to connect with a brokerage to buy stocks, or with a bank to pay for a transaction.
''To my knowledge they're the first out with support for wireless,'' said Mark Bouchard, senior research analyst at META Group, which conducts technology research and analysis.
Entrust will support the Wireless Application Protocol, an emerging international standard for connecting Internet communications and advanced phone services with wireless phones.
It is expected there will be one billion wireless phones worldwide by 2003 and high-tech research group International Data Corp. has predicted Internet appliances will outsell personal computers by 2005.
''When you've got a billion people connected on their phones that's just marketing for a consumer space you want to go after,'' said Ranger. ''We've already got lead customers, lead partners. Everything's in place.'' |
|
