White Plains, NY August 22, 2001 IBM is undertaking a series of B2B initiatives aimed at making it easier for companies worldwide to conduct business and to move money across the Internet by reducing the risk of fraud, the technology provider announced today.
IBM's initiatives are intended to help financial institutions and their customers speed the deployment of user authentication and digital signature technology. The initiatives will focus on Identrus, a global industry standard for Internet identity trust and user authentication.
IBM is opening an "Identrus Ready" applications testing laboratory and is making available a series of "Identrus Compliant" products. The company is also deploying a team of integration services experts to implement and support the Identrus Trust System.
The Identrus Trust System, created and managed by 47 of the world's top financial institutions, uses smart card technology, public key infrastructure (PKI), digital signatures and other encryption technology to increase security for online B2B transactions, forming a global standard that leverages the relationships that exist between financial institutions and their corporate clients.
With Identrus, financial institutions provide their commercial customers with trust services intended to minimize the risk of doing business with otherwise anonymous companies. Identrus-enabled applications include the online sharing of business proposal requests (RFPs), secure e-mail correspondence and e-payments.
IBM said it is opening the world's first testing facility to ensure that application providers meet the requirements of the new "Identrus Ready" certification program and to help spur growth and availability of industry solutions used in the Identrus system.
IBM also said that its WebSphere e-infrastructure software, DB2 Universal Database and eServer hardware are now Identrus Compliant. Financial institutions within the Identrus Trust System can use these infrastructure technologies. IBM has also set up a team of Identrus experts for PKI integration projects at financial institutions and their customers.
"Trust verification is the next wave in B2B Internet commerce, and financial institutions have the opportunity to find new revenue sources in this rapidly growing space," said Mark Greene, general manager for IBM Global Banking. "Trust verification is being built a layer at a time. First came the hardware, software and services to build out the PKI infrastructure and now we're bringing IBM's financial services expertise in the IT arena to support applications built to work within the Identrus Trust System. More Identrus Ready applications will allow businesses to conduct transactions on the Internet with financial institutions standing behind and vouching for those transactions."
Dave Oshman, senior vice president, technology for Identrus, said, "We look forward to IBM's close involvement in the new Identrus Ready program to help financial institutions and businesses find solutions to meet their Internet commerce goals."
