EADS Becomes Sixth CertiPath Charter Customer; Leading Aerospace Company Joins Boeing, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman

Business Wire, Oct 26, 2005

HERNDON, Va. -- CertiPath LLC, a joint venture between ARINC, Exostar LLC and SITA SC, today announced that EADS, the second largest aerospace and defense company in the world, has signed on as its sixth charter customer. CertiPath is recognized as the provider of the first commercially managed Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)-based bridging mechanism to the international aerospace and defense (A&D) community.

EADS deals with multiple parties, dispersed all over the world, and shares highly sensitive information between them. CertiPath simplifies EADS's use of PKI, and as a result reduces the cost of establishing and maintaining secure relationships with global customers, partners and suppliers. CertiPath also provides EADS and their extended business network the piece of mind to know that identities and intellectual property are safe and that the people they do business with are who they claim to be.

"The addition of EADS as a charter customer demonstrates the value that CertiPath provides to the global A&D community," said Jeff Nigriny, President and CTO of CertiPath. "With the complex, multi-party structure of the A&D industry, the need to effectively and simply credential a network of suppliers and partners is critical." CertiPath's goal is to add all the major aerospace companies in North America and Europe to the community in the next 18-24 months. Aerospace organizations in Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East are also being targeted.

As a charter customer, EADS will work with other industry leaders to help guide the future development of requirements and features of the CertiPath PKI bridge. This forms a foundation that links together the identity infrastructures of leading aerospace and defense companies so that an individual or organization credentialed with one partner will be automatically vetted with other partners without the need to create trusted relationships between each and every individual and organization.

EADS joins the Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman as an organization that understands the need to enable secure trusted identity assurance between the organizations and their partners and customers.

Customers with existing PKIs will be able to realize a significant cost savings through a single cross certification to CertiPath, which would then link to the U.S. Government's Federal Bridge. The Federal Bridge provides secure interoperability with most major U.S. Governmental Departments, such as the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, State Department, Treasury Department, and National Air and Space Administration.

About EADS

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services. In 2004, EADS generated revenues of EUR 31.8 billion and employed a workforce of about 110,000. The EADS Group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter and the joint venture MBDA, the international leader in missile systems. EADS is the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium, is the prime contractor for the Ariane launcher, develops the A400M military transport aircraft and is the largest industrial partner for the European satellite navigation system Galileo.

About CertiPath

CertiPath, LLC - a joint venture between ARINC, Exostar and SITA SC - enables secure trusted identity assurance between organizations, partners, and customers through the first commercially managed Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)-based bridging mechanism. Initially designed for the international aerospace and defense (A&D) community, the CertiPath PKI bridge enables the transfer of secured and authenticated data globally between participating companies and domestic and foreign government agencies. This shared trust network drives down the cost of using PKI globally, as well as the cost associated with maintaining secured customer and supplier relationships on a one-on-one basis. For more information or to become a CertiPath customer, please visit www.certipath.com.