This came out during the RSA Conference last year. I'd certainly like to hear about more collaboration between the two this year.
certicom.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Baltimore And Certicom Deliver Elliptic Curve Certificates
Partnership with Certicom results in support for ECC in Baltimore's Product Line
RSA Conference, San Jose, January 19, 1999 -- Baltimore, the operating name of Zergo Holding plc (London "ZGO"), international leaders in Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) systems, today announced the availability of elliptic curve support in the UniCERT certificate authority. This latest product feature is a result of a partnership with Certicom, a leading provider of next-generation encryption technology. UniCERT is the first of Baltimore's products to ship with elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) support.
Elliptic curve cryptography provides space and performance benefits over other public-key algorithms. When the ECDSA signing algorithm is used within UniCERT, certificates are not only smaller, but are generated in much less time. Many vendors with system constraints are now embracing the standardized ECC algorithms to reap the benefits of the smaller key size and reduced processing time. For example, 3Com is a large vendor who has incorporated ECC technology from Certicom for use in the next generation of the Palm handheld device.
"Support for ECC in public-key infrastructures is critical as vendors begin to deploy ECC. We are excited to see Baltimore providing support for ECC in UniCERT 2.4, their leading certificate authority product and look forward to working together to ECC-enable the entire Baltimore product line," said Rick Dalmazzi, president of Certicom.
Fran Rooney, Chief Operating Officer for Baltimore commented, "The addition of the ECDSA algorithm in UniCERT 2.4 enables Baltimore to offer PKI capability to exciting new secure applications such as embedded e-commerce applications and wireless communications. "
Many embedded systems are now using elliptic curve cryptography to reduce the processing requirements needed to implement public key techniques. The overall systems design is simpler and more secure because the secret keys can be generated on the end device. The ability to manage the elliptic curve certificates using Baltimore's UniCERT product will make it easier to field large systems based on ECC.
UniCERT is one of the leading Certificate Authority (CA) systems world-wide. UniCERT is a modular system offering flexible, scalable deployment for both public and private CAs. Its modular design allows for distributed operation for a wide variety of systems including secure electronic transactions, secure email, secure web, and virtual private networks. UniCERT includes a unique policy enforcement system enabling security policies to be enforced at registration and at application level and with the latest release provides support for ECDSA, DSA and RSA.
About Certicom Certicom is a leading provider of next-generation encryption technology used to build strong, fast, and efficient security solutions. Major computing and communications companies, such as 3Com/Palm Computing, BellSouth Wireless Data, Pitney Bowes and VeriFone, incorporate Certicom's technology into electronic commerce software, wireless messaging applications, and smart cards. With its recent acquisition of Consensus Development Corp. and Uptronics Incorporated, Certicom is a leading source for a complete range of OEM security products and services, including cryptographic toolkits, custom implementations, and security integration services and consulting. Certicom's worldwide sales and marketing operations are based in San Mateo, Calif., with cryptographic research and product development in Toronto, Canada. Certicom shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "CIC". For more information, visit Certicom's Web site at certicom.com.
About Baltimore
Baltimore develops and markets security products and services for a wide range of e-commerce and enterprise applications. Its products include Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) systems, cryptographic toolkits, security applications and hardware cryptographic devices.
Baltimore Certificate Authority systems feature a modular, scalable, policy-driven architecture to issue and manage digital certificates for a wide range of applications including email, browsers and virtual private networks. Baltimore PKI-Plus is a developer toolkit to PKI-enable legacy and new applications by providing support for a wide range of cryptographic, directory, smartcard and CA systems. Baltimore's PKI products are available both directly and via global Trusted World partners. All products are supported by professional services comprising of system integration and consulting.
Baltimore was formed by the merger in January 1999 of Zergo Holdings plc and Baltimore Technologies Ltd. It has customers in over forty countries world-wide including some of the world's leading financial, e-commerce, telecommunication companies and government agencies.
Baltimore is the operating name of Zergo Holdings plc, a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (ZGO). Intel Corporation is a minority shareholder in the company. Baltimore operates from 10 cities worldwide with main offices in London, Dublin, Plano (Texas) and Sydney.
Baltimore made e-commerce history in 1998 when President Clinton and Ireland's Prime Minister Ahern digitally signed an inter-governmental communique using security technology provided by Baltimore.
For further information and press releases on Baltimore, please visit baltimoreinc.com. |
