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[LOGO CANADA NEWSWIRE]
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News release via Canada NewsWire, Toronto 416-863-9350
[CERTICOM LOGO]
ATTENTION BUSINESS/TECHNOLOGY EDITORS:
724 SOLUTIONS AND CERTICOM TEAM TO DELIVER FIRST OPEN AND STANDARDS-BASED,
WIRELESS PKI SOLUTION FOR THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY
Innovative WAP-compliant solution will interoperate with a broad range of
PKI technologies and certificate authorities
TORONTO, and HAYWARD, CA, July 12 /CNW/ - 724 Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SVNX;
TSE: SVN), a leading Internet infrastructure software developer for financial
services providers, and Certicom (NASDAQ: CERT; TSE: CIC), a leading provider of
mobile e-commerce security, today announced an agreement to provide a wireless
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) solution to the financial services industry.
This solution is unique in that it enables 724 Solutions to provide support for
a broad array of PKI products, services and technologies. 724 Solutions has
contributed their expertise into Certicom's development of an open and
standards-based security solution that enables secure communication and digital
signatures via a variety of Internet-enabled devices, including personal digital
assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, and pagers.
Today's announcement comes on the heels of a number of government acts -
such as the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN)
passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in June and set to take effect on
October 1, 2000 - which give consumers and businesses the ability to close
contracts with digital signatures.
The new wireless PKI solution will provide financial institutions with the
ability to offer consumers the confidence and convenience of performing secure
anytime, anywhere high value transactions from a variety of Internet- enabled
devices. This wireless PKI solution enables consumers to digitally sign high
value transactions - such as mortgage agreements, opening brokerage accounts,
buying insurance, and applying for credit cards - without having to go on
location to sign a piece of paper. Digital signature verification (customer
authentication) is the Internet equivalent of traditional hand-
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written signatures. PKI also impacts the retail world by enabling non-
repudiation, permitting legally binding transactions to be performed in mobile
and online environments. This assures the merchant of the end-user's identity,
reducing fraud and expense for merchants and financial institutions currently
enabling mobile offerings.
"Our collaboration with Certicom is another example of how our alliances
with industry leaders helps 724 Solutions innovate more quickly in the mobile
space," said Greg Wolfond, Chief Executive Officer, 724 Solutions. "The PKI
portal technology we develop with Certicom will be the first of its kind for
wireless financial services. 724 Solutions plans to roll it into the Financial
Services Platform, allowing us to build upon our security - quickly connecting
with PKI technologies of the present and future - and truly remain a leader in
offering secure wireless financial services solutions."
As part of today's announced agreement, 724 Solutions has licensed
Certicom's first-to-market WAP-compliant Trustpoint(TM) PKI Portal solution for
incorporation into the Financial Services Platform. The new wireless PKI
solution will support a range of encryption and asymmetric key technologies -
including Certicom's patented Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), which is key to
enabling digital signatures on many of today's leading mobile devices.
"We are very pleased to be working with 724 Solutions, a clear leader in
providing innovative solutions to today's leading financial institutions, on
this groundbreaking wireless PKI initiative," said Rick Dalmazzi, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Certicom. "As the necessity for applications that
enable high value transactions in a wireless world increases, we believe there
will be high demand for solutions that enable strong client authentication via
use of efficient PKI implementations."
The PKI portal solution enables 724 Solutions to interoperate with a wide
range of existing PKI technologies and certificate authorities (CAs) including a
seamless interface to VeriSign's Wireless Trust Services (Nasdaq:VRSN) and
Baltimore Technologies' UniCERT(TM) Certificate Management System (Nasdaq:
BALT).
"We are pleased that the 724 Solutions/Certicom solution is interoperable
with our Wireless Trust Services," said Anil Pereira, Vice President of
VeriSign's Internet Services Group. "Financial institutions and other
enterprises can now seamlessly link our wireless authentication, payment and
validation services with the leading services provided by 724 Solutions."
"As a leading provider of e-security products, services and solutions,
Baltimore Technologies recognizes the importance of interoperability amongst PKI
components for e-business and mobile commerce. Baltimore welcomes this PKI
portal solution, which will ensure 724 Solutions' customers can select the CA
product that best suits their e-security needs for financial transactions,"
commented John Fallon, Director of Technical Market Development at Baltimore
Technologies.
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, Motorola, 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 http://www.certicom.com.
About 724 Solutions Inc.
724 Solutions provides an Internet infrastructure solution to financial
institutions that enables them to offer personalized and secure online banking,
brokerage and e-commerce services across a wide range of Internet- enabled
wireless and consumer electronic devices. The company's solution currently
enables consumers to access online banking and brokerage services
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through network service providers using digital mobile phones, personal digital
assistants, two-way pagers and personal computers. Its subsidiary ezlogin.com is
a leading provider of Internet infrastructure and aggregation tools for
user-driven personalization. 724 Solutions' customers include Citigroup, Bank of
America, Bank of Montreal, Wells Fargo, Claritybank.com, BBVA Bancomer and
Wachovia. 724 Solutions' common shares are listed on the NASDAQ National Market
(SVNX) and The Toronto Stock Exchange (SVN). Headquartered in Toronto, Canada,
the company has offices in London, San Francisco, Sydney, and Tokyo. For
additional information visit www.724.com.
Certicom, and Trustpoint are trademarks and or registered trademarks of
Certicom Corp. All other companies and products listed herein are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective holders.
This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature. These
statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these forward-
looking statements by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates,"
"future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar expressions.
The accuracy of these statements may be impacted by a number of business risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those projected or anticipated, including risks related to: the risk that
technologies for the delivery of financial or e-commerce services over the
Internet and wireless networks will not be developed or be attractive to
consumers as anticipated; the risk that 724 Solutions and Certicom will not
successfully deploy or operate services based upon the 724 Solutions Financial
Services Platform; and other risks outlined in 724 Solutions' SEC filings, and
filings with Canadian Securities Administrators, including but not limited to
724 Solutions' registration statement on Form F-1, prospectuses, material change
reports, Annual Information Form, Form 20-F, Management Information Circular, or
filings on Form 6-K. 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. 724 Solutions and Certicom do not undertake any obligation to update
this forward-looking information, except as required under applicable law.
%SEDAR: 00003865E
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For further information: please contact: Certicom Corp., Lorraine Kauffman,
Public Relations, (510) 780-5417, [email protected]; Jessica Johannes,
Lutchansky Communications for Certicom, (408) 938-9050, ext. 15,
[email protected]; Investor contact: Lillian Armstrong/Kris Otridge,
Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates, (415) 433-3777; 724 Solutions Inc., Ray McManus,
Director, Public Relations, (416) 228-8191, [email protected]; David Marcus,
Maverick PR for 724 Solutions, (416) 628-5200, [email protected]
