Entrust Technologies, Sun Microsystems and Beijing Data Systems Jointly to Provide People's Bank of China with e-Business Solutions for Web Authentication - Company Business and Marketing

Cambridge Telcom Report, Sept 6, 1999

Entrust Technologies Inc., a global leader in solutions that bring trust to e-business, announced Monday that it has been selected to provide the People's Bank of China (PBOC) with industry-leading PKI software and services for the Bank's secure Web authentication projects.

PBOC is China's official central bank and regulatory body for the financial sector. Entrust Technologies will work with Sun Microsystems China Limited and Beijing Data Systems, a local systems integrator, to provide a secure authentication solution for the Bank's business- to-consumer and business-to-business Web communications and transactions.

China's use of the Internet and advanced technology is beginning to grow rapidly. It is the world's fastest developing Internet market, increasing 100 to 200 percent every year with a projected 4 to 6 million Internet users by the year 2000. The PBOC's Web authentication project is the largest to date in China and is widely recognized as the key initiative in China's e-commerce development. It will create a centralized PKI-based system for all Chinese banks that will support the China Capital E-Commerce City, other provinces' and cities' e-commerce initiatives, as well as the international trading supply chain's needs.

In a signing ceremony last evening in Beijing, Dr. Chen Jing, Director General of PBOC Department of Payment, Science and Technology commented on the contract award.

"The China Financial Certification Authority project is led by the People's Bank of China, in conjunction with 12 commercial banks (Bank of China, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Agriculture Bank, Construction Bank, Communication Bank, Merchant Bank, Guandong Development Bank, Shenzhen Development Bank, Everbright Bank, Hua Xia Bank, CITIC Bank, and Ming Sheng Bank). The contract is being awarded to Beijing Data Systems, Sun & Entrust Technologies jointly based on their very strong overall technical competence, and their sound technical solution. The Financial CA will provide the security and trust to electronic commerce Internet payments advancing the development of e-commerce in the capital district and the whole country."

"This contract represents our first in China - a country that is rapidly expanding its Internet connectivity," said John Ryan, president and chief executive officer, Entrust Technologies Inc. "Our established presence in Japan combines with this important win for a strong foothold in the Asia-Pacific region. We're pleased to provide our proven Web solutions to the Bank to help enable their trusted Web communications and transactions."

Headquartered in Beijing, The People's Bank of China was established in 1948 as the country's central bank. Its main focus is to keep the value of Chinese currency (yuan) stable and promote economic growth within China, a country with a population of 1.3 billion people.

PBOC intends to use two products, Entrust/Direct and Entrust/Web Connector, from Entrust Technologies' family of Web solutions within its secure Web authentication projects. Entrust's cost-effective Web solutions are easy to use as they provide proven security without complicated processes for users, they allow organizations to be sure that business transactions are valid and they allow users to be sure that Web sites are authentic. For further information on Entrust Technologies Web solutions please visit http://www.entrust.com/products/web/index.htm.> SUN Microsystems China Limited will be providing the servers for PBOC.

"We are pleased to provide the most reliable and scalable servers to PBOC - all of which have been proven to be best suited for mission-critical applications," said Fred Sit, General manager of Computer Systems from Sun Microsystems China Limited. "At Sun, everything we do is explicitly aimed at providing the products, technologies and services for companies to harness the power of the Internet and transform their business to an online services driven model."

Beijing Data Systems will provide software modules and other related application software, in its role as the prime contractor for hardware, software and the total turn key network solution on the PBOC contract. Data Systems worked closely with Entrust Technologies and Sun China on the design of the solution and will be working with PBOC implementation team to complete the solution in Beijing.

"As a major solutions provider to China's banking industry for the past ten years, we are very happy to work with the People's Bank for building China's e-commerce infrastructure," said Mr. Xiaoxin Shi, general manager and board director, Beijing Data Systems. "I believe we have made the right decision for using PKI as the security backbone for China's financial certification authority." About Entrust Technologies

Entrust Technologies Inc. is a global leader in providing products and services that allow e-businesses to manage trusted, secure electronic transactions over today's advanced networks, including the Internet, extranets and intranets. Since 1994, Entrust Technologies has been providing award-winning solutions to global enterprises, government entities, small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. Over four million Entrust Technologies users have been licensed with digital certificates to date. Entrust Technologies Inc. is headquartered in Plano, Texas with offices in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany and Japan. FMI: http://www.entrust.com.