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PRODUCT
PRESS RELEASE SONERA
SMARTTRUST EXPANDS ITS WAP SECURITY SOLUTIONS TO SERVICES BASED ON THE
EMERGING WAP STANDARDS
- PKI and Digital Signature on WAP Today,
Sonera SmartTrust Ltd. announced the extension of its comprehensive family
of security products to cover the emerging WAP security standards. The
SmartTrust product family now covers Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) service integration
ensuring data confidentiality and Wireless Identification Module (WIM)
support for user authentication according to the new WAP standards. Sonera
SmartTrust provides wireless Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) security to
current GSM networks and phones. It made a world-first demonstration of a
high level PKI transaction security solution over WAP (Wireless
Application Protocol) phones last October at Telecom 99. This wireless PKI
solution can be used today by WAP users around the world. Sonera
SmartTrust´s strategy is to extend the availability of high level PKI
transaction security and tamper-proof mobile identity to new user
environments to allow a growing number of wireless users to conduct
business over wireless networks. Consistent with this strategy SmartTrust
now extends its security solutions to yet another fast-growing group of
users and wireless service providers. SmartTrust solutions enable
corporations and mobile operators to provide secure mobile commerce
services to the largest target market possible and therefore reaping the benefits of wide-scale mobile commerce quickly. Currently,
SmartTrust security solutions can already be used to reach a huge amount
of mobile customers, estimated to exceed 200 million by the end of this
year, using WAP and STK phones. The extended set of WAP compliant
SmartTrust products, SmartSignature client and the SmartSecurity server,
will be available starting from Q2 of 2000 for trial and more widely in
the second half of the year when the first WAP1.2 handsets supporting the
WIM functionality are estimated to enter the market. SmartTrust’s
SmartSecurity server will support all standard WIM clients from any
security solution provider, again ensuring the same standards-based
wireless PKI infrastructure from SmartTrust can service a maximum number
of mobile users. The SmartSecurity server will also be made available to
WAP server technology providers so that they will be able to provide
complete integrated product offerings to their corporate and mobile
operator customers. SmartTrust
security solutions are fully compatible with the Wireless PKI standards
defined by the WAP Forum. "These innovative solutions for WAP
security fit perfectly into SmartTrust´s portfolio, as they support the
existing operations of client companies and help them create entirely new
WAP-based highly secure wireless network services, that would have been
hard to imagine just a few years ago. In particular, the banking and
finance sector is very interested in the business benefits provided by
WAP, Wireless PKI and the digital signature, because their services and
customer focus is rapidly shifting to the Internet and wireless devices.
They require highly sophisticated security solutions to be able to move
their mission critical businesses to digital networks", said Harri
Vatanen, CEO and President of Sonera SmartTrust. The
demand for secure electronic signature technologies in the WAP environment
spans a variety of industries. Companies operating in virtual banking,
e-commerce, logistics, as well as the travel industry, insurance companies
and the public services are especially interested in this development. Now
a totally new range of services can be developed for customers and used
without any restrictions on network environment. "The
wireless e-commerce market is expected to grow rapidly.
Mobile devices will be the future platform for financial
institutions and other service providers to reach a vast majority of
customers. Security technologies, which are based on open platforms such
as WAP and PKI, will create a mass market for wireless e-commerce.
We welcome Sonera SmartTrust´s approach to support WAP security
thus contributing to building a unified open global platform for wireless
e-commerce”, said Dr J.T. Bergqvist, Senior Vice President of Nokia
Networks. Nokia
estimates that by the end of 2002 there will be around one billion mobile
subscribers. Furthermore, the number of web-enabled handsets is expected
to surpass the number of Internet connected PCs by the end of 2003. This
will attract businesses to develop new secure wireless communication
services for all network environments. Solutions based on secure open
standards of communications will provide new business opportunities for
service providers as well as software and systems developers. "The
extension of the SmartTrust product family to embrace the recently
specified security standards for WAP is applicable to any wireless
service, which calls for strong user authentication and data
confidentiality. SmartTrust now has security solutions, which open a huge
market potential through both WAP and STK Toolkit phones. Our product
family is a complete solution for corporations, mobile operators and
end-users. It brings digital signatures and transport layer encryption for
transactions enabling non-repudiation", said Mr Timo T. Laaksonen,
Senior Vice President of Sonera SmartTrust. Wireless
security technology developed by Sonera, meets the most stringent personal
identification requirements and is based on PKI, which has significant
advantages over the currently used systems. PKI is supported by the
world's leading banking and financial institutions, such as Chase
Manhattan, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank and Radicchio, a consortium of
companies promoting Wireless PKI. Radicchio´s most recent members now
include Across Wireless AB, Baltimore Technologies, CYLINK Corporation,
EDS, Entrust Technologies, Ericsson, Gemplus, Gray Cell Inc., iD2
Technologies, Lucent Technologies, MasterCard International, Mobile
Telephone Networks, NTT DATA Corporation, Saraide, Sonera SmartTrust,
Synamic Limited, VeriSign Inc., Virgin Mobile, Visa International and
Vodafone Airtouch. Motorola, Nokia and Ericsson have also jointly
announced their support for the development of wireless PKI as the
platform for mobile commerce security. Sonera
SmartTrust aims to bring the capability of conducting secure transactions
to the maximum number of wireless users. The key hallmark for these
services is that they are easy to-use while providing high-value for the
customers. To implement PKI systems in the wireless environment a host of
different technologies and components is required. Sonera SmartTrust uses
standard technologies and works actively in collaboration with other
leading companies in the field. About Sonera SmartTrust Sonera
SmartTrust Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sonera, is a global leader
in wireless e-commerce services and solutions based on Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI). Sonera
SmartTrust is a founding member of the global initiative Radicchio. More
information on Sonera SmartTrust to be found at http://www.smarttrust.com. About
Sonera Sonera
Corporation (HEX: SRA, NASDAQ: SNRA) is an international forerunner in
mobile communications and mobile-based services and applications. By
combining its expertise in mobile communications, the Internet and service
provision, Sonera aims to develop into a global communications
operator and provider of transaction and content services. In 1999,
Sonera's revenues amounted to EUR 1.85 billion and profit before
extraordinary items and taxes was EUR 0.5 billion. Information about
Sonera can be found on the Internet at http://www.sonera.com. For
further information, please contact: Sonera
SmartTrust Sari
Laitinen Tel.
+358-40-511 8108 Maxine
Bruce Regional
Marketing Manager, UK and Benelux Tel.
+ 358-40-707 44 88 maxine.bruce@sonera.com Chris
Clarke/Ellie Ellis Hill
and Knowlton (UK) Ltd Tel.
+ 020 7413 3145/3779 eellis@hillandknowlton.com (Dedicated to providing comprehensive information to mobile computing community of IT professionals, user organizations, and vendors) |
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