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Certicom and Funk Software Team Up to Set New Standard for WLAN Security
Companies Collaborate on Innovative 802.1x Security Protocol EAP-TTLS;
Certicom's Trustpoint(TM) to Provide Strong PKI Foundation for Funk
Software's RADIUS/AAA Solutions
HAYWARD, CA, and CAMBRIDGE, MA, Feb. 7 /CNW/ - Certicom, (Nasdaq: CERT;
TSE: CIC), a leading provider of mobile e-business security, and Funk
Software, the leading commercial developer of RADIUS/AAA solutions, today
announced a technical collaboration on the innovative EAP-TTLS 802.1x security
protocol which provides unsurpassed security for WLAN connectivity, while
permitting easy WLAN deployment across the enterprise. Funk Software's
Odyssey(TM) is the first commercial implementation of EAP-TTLS.
EAP-TTLS is an IETF draft jointly authored by Funk Software and Certicom,
and is a working document of the PPP Extensions group. The purpose of the
protocol is to allow users to be authenticated onto WLANs with their existing
password credentials, and, using strong public/private key cryptography, to
protect those password credentials against eavesdropping and other attacks
that are suddenly made possible by the advent of wireless communications. The
result is a protocol that is equal in security to the 802.1x protocol EAP-TLS
(included in Microsoft's Windows XP), that can easily be utilized by a single
user from any machine, and that is compatible with existing authentication
databases and infrastructure, thus putting secure WLAN authentication within
any organization's reach.
"We are committed to developing and introducing secure WLAN solutions
that network managers will actually be willing to deploy," said Paul Funk,
president of Funk Software and co-inventor of EAP-TTLS. "EAP-TTLS is the basis
of these solutions, and our technical collaboration with Certicom on the
protocol has positioned us well to deliver user-friendly, end-to-end security
in Odyssey, and to advance the state-of-the-art in WLAN security management."
"The greatest challenges for enterprises that want to implement wireless
connectivity are security and manageability," said Simon Blake-Wilson,
business development director for Certicom and co-inventor of EAP-TTLS.
"Certicom and Funk Software developed EAP-TTLS to eliminate these challenges
with secure connections that are easy for both administrators and end users."
In addition, Funk Software selected Certicom's Trustpoint product to
build advanced security and simplified management capability into its leading
RADIUS/AAA solutions. Trustpoint will provide the cryptographic underpinnings
for implementing EAP-TTLS and other security standards in its market-leading
RADIUS/AAA solutions; the first such implementation will be in Steel-Belted
Radius(R)/Service Provider Edition running on the Solaris platform.
Trustpoint is a comprehensive suite of PKI products that allows today's
enterprises to build wireless certificate capabilities to enable secure
communication and digital signatures over cellular, wireless LAN, and other
networks via personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones and pagers.
Certicom's security solutions are tailored to the unique requirements of
mobile environments, which, unlike desktop-only solutions, require a very
compact code size due to bandwidth limitations and memory and processor
requirements of mobile devices.
About Certicom
Certicom is a leading provider of information security software and
services, specializing in solutions for mobile e-business. The company's
products and services are specifically designed to address the challenges
imposed by a wireless data environment. Certicom's solutions incorporate its
efficient encryption technology and are based on industry standards for
information security that utilize public key cryptography. Certicom's products
are currently licensed to more than 200 customers including Cisco Systems,
Inc., Handspring Inc., Motorola, Inc., Nortel Networks, Openwave Systems,
Inc., Palm, Inc., QUALCOMM, Inc., Research In Motion Ltd. and Sony
International (Europe) GmbH. Certicom's headquarters and worldwide sales and
marketing operations are based in the Silicon Valley in Hayward. For more
information, visit Certicom's Web site at certicom.com.
About Funk Software
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Funk Software is the leading provider
of commercial AAA solutions for wireless operator, service provider, and
enterprise networks. In use on thousands of public and private networks
worldwide, the Steel-Belted Radius family of products delivers a AAA solution
on the scale required by the largest carriers and service providers, and
scales easily to meet the centralized remote and WLAN authentication needs of
the enterprise. The Steel-Belted Radius family of RADIUS/AAA solutions
includes Steel-Belted Radius/Enterprise Edition, Steel-Belted Radius/Service
Provider Edition, Steel-Belted Radius Concurrency Server, Steel-Belted Radius
Port Allocation System, and Steel-Belted Radius Mobile IP Module. In February
2002, it introduced Odyssey, the first end-to-end 802.1x security solution
that lets users securely access a WLAN and can be easily and widely deployed
across an enterprise network. For more information, visit
funk.com.
Certicom and Trustpoint are trademarks of Certicom Corp. Odyssey is a
trademark of Funk Software. Steel-Belted Radius is a registered trademark of
Funk Software. All other companies and products listed herein are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Except for historical information contained herein, this press release
contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
Actual results may differ materially. Factors that might cause a difference
include, but are not limited to, those relating to the acceptance of mobile
and wireless devices and the continued growth of e-commerce and m-commerce,
the increase of the demand for mutual authentication in m-commerce
transactions, the acceptance of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) technology
as an industry standard, the market acceptance of our principal products and
sales of our customer's products, the impact of competitive products and
technologies, the possibility of our products infringing patents and other
intellectual property of fourth parties, and costs of product development.
Certicom will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date hereof. More detailed information about potential
factors that could affect Certicom's financial results is included in the
documents Certicom files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange
Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities.
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For further information: Lorraine Kauffman, Certicom Corporation,
(510) 780-5417, lkauffman@certicom.com; Carol Paterson, Lois Paul &
Partners (for Certicom), (415) 262-1908, carol_paterson@lpp.com; Heather
Kelly, S&S Public Relations (for Funk Software), (317) 275-2275, x23,
heather@sspr.com
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