Unisys, Microsoft, Baltimore Technologies To Collaborate On Identrus Enabled Trust Solution - Company Business and Marketing

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, May 14, 2001

Unisys Corporation, Microsoft Corp., and Baltimore Technologies will design, develop, and market the first packaged solution of an Identrus enabled architecture for the Microsoft Windows 2000 platform.

This collaboration means that the global, trusted Identrus infrastructure for business-to-business electronic commerce is now available in a packaged solution that will enable financial institutions to build a cost-effective secure environment for high-value transactions quickly and efficiently in a Windows 2000 operating environment.

The necessary financial applications for a complete solution will also be incorporated.

Through the Identrus system, corporate customers of Identrus member financial institutions can conduct electronic transactions with confidence in the integrity, authenticity, and privacy of the communications.

For example, a loan officer can authorize a letter of credit, from virtually any Microsoft Windows 2000 desktop on the Identrus system, to any bank customer with the assurance that the identities of both parties have been conclusively established and a binding record of the transaction has been created.

"The lack of a robust trust solution associated with high-value Internet transactions can be a tremendous barrier to the growth of e-business," remarked Sunil Misra, Managing Principal, Unisys Worldwide Enterprise Security Practice. "The Identrus trust framework removes that barrier and enables financial institutions to become trusted intermediaries for e-commerce. This solution will help financial institutions minimize the risk associated with on-line transactions. And it will help them maximize the opportunities presented by electronic commerce, because they can now offer more value-added services to their clients. Our fully integrated, pre-tested package contains a proven architecture that is both flexible and scalable for fast, efficient implementation of the Identrus framework."

As part of the three-way alliance, Unisys, Microsoft, and Baltimore will offer a packaged solution for the Identrus system, which operates on a Microsoft Windows 2000 platform and Baltimore Technologies' UniCERT Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) security system.

Unisys will provide applications, systems integration, project management, and consulting services necessary to implement the packaged solution.

"This solution is designed to ensure that financial institutions can quickly establish a trust infrastructure with reduced capital costs, while leveraging best-of-breed technology from the leaders in the field," said Kim Legelis, Solutions Marketing Manager at Baltimore Technologies. "Through Baltimore's Financial Trust Solution, our current solution for the Identrus system, we provide a unique combination of e-security hardware, software, and professional services specifically addressing financial institutions' concerns about time to market, cost, flexibility, and expertise required to implement an Identrus solution. This new initiative expands our range of alternatives for Identrus system deployments."

The solution includes Identrus-compliant certification authority (CA), registration authority (RA), smart card management, Transaction Coordinator, Digital Signature Messaging System (DSMS), Validation Services (OCSP Responder), FIPS 140-1 Level 3 Hardware Security Modules, Identrus Signing Interface Layer (ISIL), and secure Identrus transaction logging.

In addition, customers will be able to choose from multiple hardware configurations that scale to support mid- to high-range performance requirements.

For customers requiring high performance and scalability, the optimal hardware platform will be the Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server, equipped with up to 32 Intel processors and the de-facto standard architecture for large-scale Microsoft- and Intel-based servers.

According to Bill Hartnett, global director of financial services at Microsoft, "Interest in the Identrus global trusted network is very high among our financial institution customers. Implementing Identrus functionality on Microsoft's .NET Enterprise Servers and Windows 2000 operating system demonstrates to the industry our commitment to an operating environment built for mission-critical business needs. The integrated solution package we are developing provides the business agility financial institutions and merchants need to take full advantage of the Internet quickly and cost effectively, while conducting business in an extraordinarily secure environment."

"We are pleased to see these key technology and security providers working together on this important initiative," said Guy Tallent, President and CEO of Identrus. "The collaboration between these companies will enhance our financial institutions' ability to be up and running and to deploy their Identrus enabled applications and services more quickly."