VeriSign to expand trust services to wireless world
Source: South China Morning Post
Publication date: 2001-01-09
VeriSign, a provider of Internet trust services, plans new payment and authentication engines for wireless communications devices this year.
VeriSign president and chief executive Stratton Sclavos said the company would offer to users of advanced mobile communications networks similar transaction capabilities it helped foster in the wired world.
"Providing mobile customers with trusted commerce is essential for the advancement of wireless transactions such as e-banking," Mr Sclavos said
VeriSign's new trust engines are expected to be embedded on wireless communications devices of NTT DoCoMo's iMode third- generation (3G) services that will be introduced in Japan in May.
Mr Sclavos said VeriSign was working closely with NTT DoCoMo and its communications equipment suppliers over several months.
NTT DoCoMo is expecting strong business-to-consumer Internet transactions over its 3G network as almost half of its Japan content providers are involved in banking and finance.
"Security has increased confidence in Internet commerce," Mr Sclavos said.
VeriSign's domain name, digital certificate and payment services provide the Web identity, authentication and transaction infrastructure needed to conduct secure e-commerce and communications.
"The wireless Internet is poised for explosive growth and, like the wired world, requires a [non-stop] global trust infrastructure to make it safe for e-commerce," Mr Sclavos said.
"As online banks, brokerages, media companies and telecommunications providers look to deploy the next generation of e- commerce applications over wireless networks, they must deliver the same levels of trust and security as they do over the wired Internet."
Analysts have predicted explosive growth worldwide for the mobile- device market, with most predicting one billion mobile phones in use by 2005.
According to research firm Gartner, mobile phones are expected to be the most common client communication device worldwide by 2005.
Given their portability, mobile devices are believed to provide the ideal platform for delivering high-value services such as e- banking, stock trading, instant messaging, and health-care applications in 3G networks.
Mr Sclavos said VeriSign was working with smart-card maker Gemplus to integrate its Internet payment and authentication services on the 3G-enabled subscriber identity modules Gemplus offers for mobile phones.
"We are also working with mobile-phone makers like Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia to enable consumers to conduct secure mobile transactions," he said.
VeriSign's digital identification facilities are used in much the same way as conventional identification, such as a driver's licence or passport, to provide irrefutable evidence of the owner's identity and, in some cases, authority in a given transaction.
"As an example, consumers will be able to purchase items using their Internet-enabled wireless phone with the confidence that the merchants are who they say they are and their purchase information is private and secure. Merchants will likewise be confident that consumers' identities are valid," Mr Sclavos said.
Publication date: 2001-01-09
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