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Gold/Mining/Energy : Certicom Corporation (TSE:CIC, NASD:CERT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ron Nairn who wrote (3653)	7/24/2000 8:16:17 AM
From: caly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4913

Monday July 24, 8:00 am Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Certicom Corp. Research In Motion and Certicom to Enable Trusted Mobile Commerce Over Wireless Networks Agreement Allows For Large Scale Deployment of Certicom's ECC Technology Across RIM's Full Line of Wireless Handhelds HAYWARD, CA., and WATERLOO, ON, July 24 /CNW/ - Certicom (Nasdaq: CERT - news; TSE: CIC - news), a leading provider of mobile e-commerce security, and Research In Motion Limited (TSE: RIM - news; NASDAQ: RIMM - news), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today announced an alliance which will enable RIM to utilize Certicom's elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) technology throughout its wireless product offerings, including the new RIM 957 Wireless Handheld(TM). The agreement provides for large-scale deployment of Certicom's high performance, efficient ECC within RIM's leading wireless products enabling mobile commerce applications that require the ability to conduct trusted and secure transactions and communications over the wireless Internet. The agreement enables RIM to use Certicom's high performance security products, such as WTLS Plus(TM), SSL Plus(TM) and the Security Builder® cryptographic toolkit for a broad range of RIM products. Using Certicom's security technology, RIM's development community can provide secure, end-to- end mobile commerce solutions for a broad range of customers, including carriers, financial institutions, and application service providers. As part of the alliance, RIM will use Certicom's ECC technology and include support for Certicom's MobileTrust digital certificates in RIM's handheld security architecture. Supporting Certicom's MobileTrust root key in RIM's handheld security architecture will provide for high-speed digital signature generation on RIM handhelds, which allows both parties in a transaction to identify one another. Digital signature verification (customer authentication) is the Internet equivalent of traditional hand-written signatures. Unique to Certicom's MobileTrust security offering will be the ability to provide digital signature capability to the mobile device itself, not only to the server. "This agreement with Certicom, a leader in ECC wireless security technology, will enable RIM to provide the market with the secure mobile devices they require for m-commerce transactions," said David Yach, Vice President, Software at Research In Motion. "Certicom has established products that deliver efficient, easy-to-implement solutions that will complement and enhance RIM's market leading wireless solutions." RIM Wireless Handhelds(TM) are widely deployed and distributed through leading solution providers including Aether Systems, BellSouth Wireless Data, Compaq Computer, Dell Computer, GoAmerica, Motient, PageNet, Rogers AT&T Wireless, SkyTel as well as various leading Internet Service Providers. In addition to wireless email, personal organizer, paging, intranet and Internet applications, RIM Wireless Handhelds support a broad range of mobile commerce applications, including authenticated transactions for wireless banking, stock trading and consumer purchases "Research in Motion is a clear leader in the wireless communications world and we are excited to expand our relationship in order to deploy our trusted ECC security technology within their highly acclaimed products," said Richard Depew, Certicom vice president, field operations. "We believe the adoption of Certicom's ECC within the RIM product line is yet another strong endorsement of the technology and the significant performance and efficiency advantages it can offer leading m-commerce OEMs." About Elliptic Curve Cryptography Developed for a broad range of computing platforms and maximum interoperability, Certicom's Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) technology enables strong, high performance security for many pieces of the computing infrastructure, including the new generation of small form-factor products such as handheld computers, pagers, cell phones and smart cards. Certicom's patented implementation of ECC technology provides a more efficient alternative to conventional public key cryptographic algorithms in many mobile and wireless environments, allowing for faster processing speed, reduced bandwidth usage and decreased battery requirements. These advantages make Certicom's ECC-based security technology particularly well suited to mobile devices that incorporate less powerful processors, such as handheld computing devices, Internet-enabled phones and two-way pagers. About Research in Motion Research In Motion Limited is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the mobile communications market. Through development and integration of hardware, software and services, RIM provides solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers around the world to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity. RIM's portfolio of award-winning products includes the RIM Wireless Handheld(TM) product line, the BlackBerry(TM) wireless email solution, wireless personal computer card adapters, embedded radio-modems and software development tools. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in Canada, the United States and England. RIM is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq: RIMM - news) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE: RIM - news). Investors may contact investor_relations(at)rim.net. Customers may contact info(at)rim.net. Web site: www.rim.net. About Certicom Certicom is an encryption technology company specializing in security solutions for mobile computing and wireless data markets, including m- commerce. Major computing and communications companies such as Palm, Inc., BellSouth Wireless Data, RIM, Pitney Bowes, and QUALCOMM incorporate Certicom's technology into electronic commerce software, wireless messaging applications, and smart cards. 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 Hayward, California, with cryptographic research and product development in Toronto, Canada. For more information, visit Certicom's Web site at certicom.com. Certicom, Security Builder, SSL Plus and WTLS Plus are registered trademarks of Certicom Corp. Research In Motion, RIM, RIM Wireless Handheld, RIM 957 and BlackBerry are trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. Research In Motion and RIM are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 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 (mobile e-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 principle 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 third 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 including Certicom's Registration Statement on Form F-10. Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks relating to possible product defects and product liability, risks related to international sales and potential foreign currency exchange fluctuations, risks related to the year 2000 issue, continued acceptance of RIM's products, increased levels of competition, technological changes, dependence on intellectual property rights and other risks detailed from time to time in RIM's periodic reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities. For further information please contact: for Certicom, Lorraine Kauffman, Public Relations Manager, Certicom Corp., (510) 780-5417, lkauffman@certicom.com Jessica Johannes, Lutchansky Communications for Certicom, (408) 938-9050, x 15, jessica@lcomm.com Pamela Rigler, Lippert / Heilshorn & Associates, Inc., (212) 838-3777 for Research In Motion, Rebecca Winter, Public Relations for RIM, Brodeur Worldwide (203) 399-8241, rwinter@brodeur.com

To: Ron Nairn who wrote (3653)	7/31/2000 8:14:13 AM
From: Tom Drolet	Respond to of 4913

Ron: The following is the long waited for Seybold Wireless Report on WAP (Seybold--wireless Guru). Not too encouraging. The strength of the USA economy re 'innovation' is its focus on competition to produce the desired innovations. The screaming weakness of the self-same US economy is the inability to get "Standards" accepted by industries (ie infrastructure) so that innovation has a structure to nurture within! One of these days the benifits of 'self serving collectivisim' in adopting common infrastructure will be recognized as a common good for all competitors. This is one area that Scott Vanstone et al and CIC/CERT has been a leader in over the years. Lets hope they can help bring this 'gaggle of geese' together. Lets also hope the San Francisco WAP meeting gets serious and that there is some progress on working together. Tom D. Mobitorial Forbes and Andrew Seybold Forbes and Andrew Seybold’s Outlook are proud to announce the "birth" of Forbes/Andrew Seybold’s Wireless Outlook with the delivery of the first issue on July 20, 2000. To say that we are excited about this new joint venture is an understatement. We have been working with the folks at Forbes for more than six months developing this project, nailing down the style and content, and getting the marketing pieces mailed. The response to the marketing campaign has been phenomenal. While this is great for the newsletter, it also indicates that wireless, as a topic for investors, is hot. This is good for all of us. If investors believe that wireless-related stocks and start-ups are going to be big, the wireless industry will certainly benefit from their willingness to put cash into this sector. It will be challenging, especially in these volatile times, to provide the investment community with ongoing insight into our industry. To this end, Barney Dewey and I will continue to look at companies from the same perspective we have always had -- Is the technology sound? Is the new product/service, etc. easy to use? What is the marketing plan? What is the distribution channel? And will the end users of the world find this product, service, etc. compelling and friendly? With our new Forbes relationship, we are taking our analyses one step further, evaluating the entire package from an investment point of view. This new endeavor will be fun and challenging. It will also bring several additional benefits to us that will enable us to provide more information to our subscribers and to our consulting clients. We will have feedback from investors, many of whom are interested in pre-IPO investing as well as in buying stock in a company that has gone public. Finally, with the new exposure that the joint venture with Forbes brings, we will have opportunities to learn about many more companies -- companies that we don’t yet know about, or that don’t yet know about us. We expect to find that more companies like Union Pacific (which I wrote about in the first issue) have taken a fork in the road and embraced some form of wireless activity that will increase their bottom lines. This Mobiltorial item was not intended to be a commercial for the new newsletter -- just can’t help expressing my delight with this joint venture with Forbes. Forbes is also partnering with us for our second Summit 4Mobility that will be held in February. And we have a few other items simmering on the burner as well. As one of our "duties" for Forbes, Linda and I will be taking part in a ten-day cruise in February and I will be giving a series of seminars about the wireless industry. This will be a fun experience and, of course, I will get to indulge myself in all of the cruise amenities when I am not hosting a session. Tough job? Well, someone has to do it! Moving On Okay, enough of that. Let’s get back to the important industry matters such as what is really happening with WAP -- the Wireless Application Protocol. Last month I wrote an article that was basically positive about WAP and the folks who are promoting it. I tried to present a realistic picture while hoping that content folks would begin to understand how important it is to develop a wireless web that is designed for wireless and is different from the wired web. Things seem to be going from bad to worse for the WAP folks. Over the last month, word out of Europe is that WAP is falling on its face, and in a conversation I had with the CTO of a wireless network in Australia, my contact bemoaned the fact that WAP browsers are being turned off faster than they are being turned on in that part of the world. None of the U.S. wireless networks have large numbers of WAP users. I have been labeled as anti-WAP, but this simply isn’t so. he over-the-air element of the protocol is good, and the HDML/WML language is good. However, the approach misses the mark. WAP folks believe that web content should be presented on a wireless phone in the same manner as it is presented on a wired computer. "Click and Wait" Step 1: Click on a menu selection and wait for a response. Step 2: Click on another menu selection and wait for a response. Step 3: Repeat until you finally get to the information you want. While several companies claim they can "fix" this problem and provide Active Content -- or at least the ability to move around the Internet in a logical manner -- thus far all we have is promises. My concern is that WAP will self-destruct before the good stuff has a chance to get to market. We don’t have a lot of time here, folks. Sprint PCS has been promoting the "Wireless Web" for several months with its TV ad campaign, and other vendors have launched services that are not ready for prime time. In the meantime, the buying public is growing tired of the "click and wait" method of driving down through seven or more menu levels before they can access any useful information. If we don’t get this fixed soon, the wireless data industry will suffer yet another major setback, and this one may be difficult to recover from. I could say here that is doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the differences between the wired and wireless web. But maybe it does. Folks who are bringing us the "wireless web" are simply bringing us the web wirelessly. They are formatting the wired web into a series of menus to be viewed on a wireless phone with a tiny display and lousy keypad input capabilities. Why is it that there isn’t a single example of purposeful reformatting of web content specifically for WAP phones? At the Outlook, we are quite concerned about the next year or so. WAP could damage the entire wireless industry, yet the WAP folks are all in San Francisco this week pounding each other on the back and celebrating the "success of WAP." According to Phone.com, there are more than four million WAP phones and 77 networks that are WAP enabled. Of the four million WAP phones, two million are on a single network: DDI/IDO in Japan. This means that there are two million WAP phones spread across 76 other networks for an average of 26,000 phones per network! Compare this "success" to NTT DoCoMo's C-HTML protocol, which has more than eight million subscribers on a single network! Money Spent It would be interesting for member companies to run numbers indicating what their involvement in the WAP Forum has cost them. They would have to factor in all the time and effort their engineers have spent on WAP, add in expenses for their travel to some of the most expensive meeting places in the world, and then add in the costs of implementing WAP in handsets. Such tallies would be interesting, but I’m certain that the companies wouldn’t want their stockholders to see them! Let me make this clear once again: It is not the technical aspects of WAP that I have a problem with, although having to write in a special language can be a pain. What I do have a problem with is what is being done with the technical specs, amounting to nothing more than delivering what is already on the web in a menu-driven format. And in most cases, even this is not being done very well. We have only a short period of time in which to turn the hype into reality. As an industry, we are either going to blow it or we are going to start getting it right. Internet access must to be easier than this. We need to be able to make surgical strikes into the Internet to retrieve specific pieces of information, not browse as we do on a desktop. Barney Dewey and I have championed Active Content and we believe that Active content will be the "killer" application for wireless. It’s frustrating when the industry just doesn’t get it! Threat to CDMA and Qualcomm? Lucent Technologies, which is making a lot of money selling TDMA, CDMA, and GSM infrastructure, has decided that it wants to play in the third-generation world with its own standard. To this end, Lucent has spun off a company called Flarion Technologies. (It’s getting tougher and tougher to find a good company name these days!) Flarion will commercialize a new wireless data access technology called flash-OFDM (Orthogonal frequency Division Multiplexing). This new approach is supposed to be better, faster, and cheaper than any other 3G technology. Lucent claims that the prototype RadioRouter network will be ready in the fourth quarter of this year. If I sound a little cynical, I guess I am. I don’t doubt that Lucent has a cool new technology, and maybe it is better, faster, and cheaper than other 3G technologies. What I am reacting to is all of the hype. From what I have heard, it seems that we are all expected to wait around until we can see the prototype. We shouldn’t proceed with plans for CDMA1X upgrades, and we shouldn’t work so hard on EDGE. We should simply sit back, relax, and wait. Why shouldn't Lucent be the one to wait? When its technology is real, release it! What a novel idea! But one of my bosses once told me that paper does not refuse ink, and we learned from McCaw Cellular that making premature announcements about new technologies is a good way to slow down the incumbents. In reality, wireless service operators will tear out their systems and rebuild them if you can show that your technology is better and they can make more money by switching. I wonder how Lucent stockholders will react if this announcement causes CDMA1X purchase orders that Lucent is counting on to make its numbers this year to be put on hold? NeverLost The following is taken from a letter that I sent to Hertz after my last experience with its NeverLost system. I thought I'd share my frustration with you. By way of background, I own a car with a built-in navigation system that uses the Navtek database and turn-by-turn direction algorithms, so I am familiar with both the concept and the actual practice of GPS-based turn-by-turn directions. Because I have found this tool to be of such value, and I travel extensively, I request the NeverLost system in every car I rent from Hertz - and I am a loyal Hertz customer. Over the last year, I have rented thirty or more Hertz cars with the NeverLost system, in as many cities. My experience shows that there are some serious flaws in the system as implemented by the three companies involved in this project. First, and of most concern, is that the NeverLost database is not as accurate as the database used at the Hertz counters. · In Dallas, the Intercontinental Hotel, which has carried that name for more than three years, appears in the Hertz counter-based system but not in the NeverLost system. I had to find it by entering the exact street address. · In Connecticut, the Hertz counter system knows where the Mystic Hilton Hotel is, but it does not appear in the NeverLost database. · Also in Connecticut, the NeverLost system thinks that Foxwood's Hotel and Casino is eight miles further east than it actually is. I found this out late on a dark and rainy night. Where Foxwood's was supposed to have been I was on a dark stretch of road in the middle of nowhere. I had been to Foxwood's before, so I followed a hunch and drove west an additional eight miles where I did find it. · The NeverLost system in Dallas thinks that the Hertz rental return facility at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport is still at the north end of the airport! · IBM Somers is not even close to where the NeverLost system indicated it was. Had I never been to the IBM facility in Somers, I would have been "ForeverLost.lt Two units have been defective. One never found a single satellite, and one kept turning itself off and on. My bill was adjusted, but as a traveler, who has come to rely on these devices, I found these problems to be of concern. The system itself is not user friendly. It is difficult to determine which of the initial menu selections is the correct selection, and "Points Of Interest" is not a logical category for Hertz locations or company facilities. Overall, navigating within the device is cumbersome and not always logical. Most of the problems I have experienced are due to the Navtek database, and I understand that since there are many cars with NeverLost systems in the Hertz fleet there are bound to be occasional mechanical problems. However, I believe that if travelers such as myself are to rely on these devices, more attention needs to be paid to keeping the database current and consistent with the database in the Hertz counter systems, and to keeping the units in working order. I hope that these comments, which are intended to be constructive in nature, will prompt changes in the deployment of the NeverLost systems. We want to be able to rely on NeverLost as we travel about. Notebook Computers I am currently reviewing micro/sub/ultra notebooks that are available today, including units from Panasonic, Sony, and Compaq. Does keyboard size make a difference? How about screen resolution? Can you be productive on an airplane with these systems? What about battery life? Can these notebooks be powered by an airplane seat power plug? Along with questions such as these, I am also evaluating the notebooks from a wireless standpoint. Are they designed in such a way that wireless operation will not interfere with or degrade performance? I expect to have the results for the August issue. Stand by! Local News The next Wireless Data University will be held on Sunday, October 15, 2000, the day before CTIA’s Wireless IT show in Santa Clara (San Jose), and our second Summit 4Mobility will be held February 25-27, 2001 in Phoenix. The Summit 4Mobility is a senior executive-level, invitational event, and Forbes will again be our co-host. Lucent is the first major sponsor to sign on, and we will be announcing others next month. If you are interested in attending or becoming a sponsor, please visit www.outlook4mobility.com for more information. The Tenth Annual Wireless Dinner at Comdex/Fall is coming up in November. We have additional sponsors and will be sending out invitations toward the end of September. Ten Years! In this time, we have grown from 1 sponsor to 15, and from 8 guests to more than 350 guests who are movers and shakers in the wireless world. It will be a fun event, and I can’t wait to see what goodies our sponsors will give out this year. Winding Down Back up your files, watch out for wireless viruses and, above all, see if you can convince just one WAP developer to set aside the web browsing concept and work on making life simpler for people who want to retrieve information they need from the web no matter where they are or what they are doing.