Gemplus partners Baltimore Technologies to provide portable security for e-biz

Baltimore has incorporated Gemplus GemSAFE smart cards into its PKI solutions portfolio offering customers the choice of using this integrated technology for added security and manageability in a variety of e-commerce applications. Baltimore's products such as UniCERT, MailSecure and PKI-Plus will support Gemplus GemSAFE smart cards in future versions. With the strategic agreement, customers can immediately use Baltimore's UniCERT digital certificates on GemSAFE smart cards with a variety of e-business applications to provide enhanced security and portability in a simple way.

Kommunedata (KMD), one of Denmark's largest systems operation and software house, which provides a Certificate Authority Service in Denmark as a Commercial Certification Authority (Trusted Third Party), is already using the integrated solution to facilitate the rapid adoption of the Internet as a key platform for business.

"We were highly conscious of the importance of interoperability in choosing our PKI technology, in particular the ability to interface seamlessly with smart cards. We recognised that both Baltimore and Gemplus are leaders in their respective fields and given the fact that they had already completed integration work as part of Baltimore's PKIWorld resulted in the easy establishment of our CA services," said Finn Grimstad, Vice-President for Technical Development, KMD.

"Smart cards provide a secure, portable means for using PKI technology and digital certificates and are rapidly becoming part of everyday life," stated John Palfreyman, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Baltimore Technologies. "Smart cards not only provide enhanced security, but their ease of use offers a convenient, user friendly means for portable user authentication. The integration of GemSAFE technology with UniCERT Certificate Authority system will facilitate the widespread deployment of smart card based PKI systems for both e-commerce and enterprise applications," he added.

Gemplus and Baltimore Technologies are also working together on the integration of GemSAFE Manager with Baltimore's UniCERT Certificate Authority system. GemSAFE Manager is part of GemSAFE Enterprise, Gemplus smart card-based network security solution. This component is a server based system for managing and administering the entire lifecycle of GemSAFE smart cards. The integration of this system with UniCERT's flexible Registration Authority (RA) will enable bulk personalization, corporate branding and management of the smart card and the associated cryptographic keys and digital certificates it contains.

"In the fast-growing age of digital business, PKI technology has become the de-facto standard to secure open networks. Smart cards increase the usability of any PKI implementation by providing corporations with a secure and portable solution that can be adopted easily by all types of users, including those with minimum technical knowledge," said Matthew Lim, Electronic Business Marketing Director, Asia Pacific, Gemplus. "The card-based solution provides a familiar token, increasing the comfort level of users. This unique alliance between Baltimore Technologies and Gemplus, provides our customers in Australia and across the globe, with one of the best security solutions available today," he added.

Baltimore's UniCERT is used in Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) systems to provide full-strength security for a wide variety of e-Commerce and Enterprise security systems. Using digital certificates, UniCERT provides authentication and non-repudiation facilities for services such as Secure Email, Internet Shopping, Secure Web Banking, Online Trading and Virtual Private Networks.

Gemplus GemSAFE Enterprise provides corporations with an integrated security solution, including all the hardware and software necessary to enhance an existing PKI, from the development tools and end-user components, to the management and administration system. In addition to integrating into an existing PKI, GemSAFE Enterprise can potentially be incorporated into other IT security applications including firewalls and VPNs. GemSAFE technology has already been adopted by more than 15 solutions providers and by large OEMs such as Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, IBM.

About Gemplus
Gemplus S.C.A. is the world's leading provider of plastic and smart card-based solutions (by units sold, source: Dataquest 1998). Gemplus sells magnetic stripe cards, memory and microprocessor-based smart cards, smart contactless cards, electronic tags and smart objects. The company designs and markets software, development tools and readers. Gemplus also provides consulting, training and personalization services to deliver the industry's most comprehensive and flexible card-based solutions to its developers, distributors, partners, and customers.

With sales of over US$648 million in 1998, Gemplus employs more than 4,300 people in 10 manufacturing facilities, 5 R&D centers and 41 sales and marketing offices located in 27 countries around the world. Founded in 1988, Gemplus has successfully implemented portable and secure smart card-based solutions to simplify applications such as public and wireless communications, financial transactions, loyalty, transportation, education, healthcare, identity, physical access control, pay TV, electronic commerce, Internet security, logical access control and information technology.

About Baltimore Technologies
Baltimore Technologies develops and markets security products and services to enable companies to develop trusted, secure systems for e-business, e-commerce and the Internet. Its products include a wide range of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) systems, cryptographic toolkits, security applications and hardware cryptographic devices. Baltimore's global professional services organization offers a wide variety of consulting, training and deployment support to its customers worldwide. Baltimore Technologies markets and sells its solutions worldwide directly and through the TrustedWorld channel program. TrustedWorld includes many of the world's leading technology companies and a wide variety of global, regional and local business alliance partners.

Baltimore Technologies employs over 450 people worldwide and operates from over 20 cities with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland; London, UK; Boston, USA and Sydney, Australia. Baltimore Technologies plc is a public company with dual listings on NASDAQ (BALT) and the London Stock Exchange (BLM). Intel Corporation is a minority shareholder in the Company. Baltimore Technologies made e-commerce history in 1998 when President Clinton and Ireland's Prime Minister Ahern digitally signed an inter-governmental communiqué using security technology provided by Baltimore.