Critical Path And VeriSign Form Partnership To Provide Secure Messaging Services
Critical Path Will Offer VeriSign Digital Certificates As Part of Its Secure Email Solution
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF., MAY 18, 1999 - Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq:CPTH), a leading provider of business-to-business email service solutions for Internet service providers (ISPs), Web hosting companies, Web portals, and corporations, today announced a strategic relationship with VeriSign, (Nasdaq: VRSN), the world's leading provider of Internet trust services, to jointly develop and market secure messaging services for Critical Path's diverse customer base.
Critical Path will offer VeriSign digital certificates for its hosted domains and individual users as part of its secure email outsourcing solution. Digital certificates are considered a critical element for the most secure means for transacting business over the Internet today as they provide a way to authenticate identities over the Internet and enable secure, encrypted browser-to-server and user-to-user communications. Digital certificates are a key service for the enterprise market, which needs a means to conduct secure and private communications and transactions over the Internet.
"Critical Path is committed to staying on the cutting edge of email and messaging technology," said Doug Hickey, Critical Path's president and CEO. "VeriSign is the leading provider of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and digital certificate services. By selecting VeriSign as our security partner, we are able to leverage VeriSign's global trust infrastructure and provide our customers with the strongest certificate services available."
"Email is mission critical and embedded in almost every activity on the Internet. As email continues to grow in complexity, companies will continue to look at outsource providers such as Critical Path not only for a reliable, scalable email solution, but one that offers robust services as well," said Richard Yanowitch, executive vice president of marketing for VeriSign. "Both Critical Path and VeriSign have built highly-scalable global infrastructures, and together we are committed to creating security standards to facilitate communications and e-commerce among consumers and businesses worldwide."
Along with our planned digital certificates, Critical Path provides a number of security services to its clients including the option to digitally sign and encrypt electronic messages using industry standards such as S/MIME on X.509 certificate formats. Additionally, Critical Path plans to offer SSL, guaranteed delivery, certified delivery and a number of authentication services to round out its industry leading messaging service in support of Electronic Commerce.
VeriSign, Inc. VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN) is the leading provider of Internet-based trust services and digital certificate solutions needed by Web sites, enterprises, electronic commerce service providers and individuals to conduct trusted and secure electronic commerce and communications over IP networks. VeriSign's digital certificate services for Web sites and consumers are available through the company's Web site at www.verisign.com. The company's digital certificate services for enterprises and electronic commerce service providers are available through regional account representatives, resellers and VeriSign Affiliates worldwide.
About Critical Path, Inc. Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPTH) is a leading provider of business-to-business email service solutions for Internet service providers (ISPs), Web hosting companies, Web portals, and corporations. Critical Path has built an industry-leading global infrastructure with data centers connected to key Internet exchange points, and currently reaches millions of end-users through its partnership agreements. Critical Path provides reliable, secure, and scalable email, and a flexible suite of enhanced messaging services to partners such as E*Trade, Network Solutions, U S West, Sprint, and AOL/ICQ. Critical Path is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with offices in locations nationwide and in Germany and the UK. More information on Critical Path can be found at www.cp.net.
### Critical Path and the Critical Path logo are the trademarks of Critical Path, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their holders.
The statements in this press release relating to matters that are not historical are forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in Critical Path's prospectus dated March 29, 199 and with filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov).
Contact:
Critical Path, Inc. Stefanie Elkins, Director of Public Relations Tel: (415) 344-5503 Email: selkins@cp.net
|