Microsoft is working to make several of its core products more
easily integrated with Identrus LLC's secure global network for
financial services firms.
Under an agreement between the two companies, Microsoft will add
new hooks and tools into products such as Windows 2000 and .Net
enterprise servers that will allow them to work better with the
Identrus network.
Microsoft will also work with Unisys and Baltimore Technologies to
develop and sell a pre-packaged, Identrus-ready technology suite
that financial services firms can use to secure high value,
Internet-based transactions quickly.
Identrus, established by eight leading global banks, including ABN
Amro, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan and Citigroup, has been
building a global system based on public-key infrastructure (PKI)
aimed at allowing financial institutions and corporate trading
partners to identify one another reliably during e-commerce
transactions. The system is also designed to create non-disputable
records of the transactions.
Identrus has prescribed specifications, standards and
interoperability test processes that technology vendors must meet
to be able to sell to member institutions. Today, more than 70
banks are part of the Identrus system.
Today's agreement means more applications are becoming available
that meet these requirements, said Laura Rime an Identrus
vice-president.
As part of the agreement, Microsoft will integrate into products
such as Windows 2000 and BizTalk an Identrus tool kit that
specifies how messages are to be handled within the Identrus system
and how validation of certificates should work, Rime said.
Such processes are already possible but typically take time and
integration efforts by Identrus' member banks, Rime said. The
agreement will make it simpler for financial institutions to bring
Microsoft products into the Identrus network, she added.
"It's a great win for Identrus because the integration effort was
always forced on banks," said Pete Lindstrom, an analyst with The
Hurwitz Group. "Identrus wants to make access to their service as
ubiquitous as possible.
"This makes it easier for them to get the message out to
prospective banks that there is no integration required [on the
client] side," he said.
Products such as Windows 2000 already support PKI and mechanisms
for secure e-commerce, said Bill Hartnett, global director of
financial services at Microsoft.
However, "there are certain pieces of the Identrus standard and
certain Identrus-specific [requirements] that need to be met",
which Microsoft is now integrating into its products, he said.
Identrus-ready Microsoft products should be available by the second
half of the year, he added.
Meanwhile, Microsoft, Unisys and Baltimore plan to design, develop
and sell a Windows 2000-based technology suite that combines
Baltimore's UniCERT PKI technology and Unisys' applications,
systems integration services, project management and consulting
services.
The suite will include Identrus-compliant smart card management
technology, a digital signature messaging system, validation
services, FIPS 1401-1 Level 3 hardware security modules and secure
transaction logging services.
Jaikumar Vijayan