VeriSign teams with Web services providers

SAN JOSE: VeriSign Inc. said on Tuesday that it has reached deals with a

group of technology heavyweights to integrate its technology for authentication,

payments and domain name lookups with their Internet-based services.

Other announcements at the RSA Conference included software designed to

improve the security of mobile devices and wireless networks and security

appliances to help keep intruders out of corporate networks.

VeriSign said it is integrating its "Digital Trust Services"

technology into Web services software from International Business Machines

Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., BEA Systems Inc.,

Hewlett-Packard Co., and WebMethods Inc.

Web services software enables companies to automate business processes, such

as insurance claim processing and travel booking, over the Internet.

"We see a lot of companies jumping onto the Web services bandwagon. The

main reason is clearly the productivity gains and operational efficiencies

companies can get," said John Weinschenk, vice president of enterprise

services at Mountain View, California-based VeriSign. "But they're only

good if you have trust."

Developers will be able to easily add authentication and other e-commerce

functions into the Web services, without having to get separate software from

VeriSign, said Matthew Shilts, engineering manager of VeriSign's Web Services

Group.

In addition, VeriSign is releasing open application programming interfaces

(APIs) and developer tools for programmers to integrate its technology with

in-house, customized applications that corporations create, Shilts said.

VeriSign already has a joint marketing and technology deal with IBM involving

IBM's Tivoli Policy Director software and VeriSign's public key infrastructure

services, which allow e-commerce companies to authenticate transactions.

Also at the conference, Internet Security Systems Inc. announced Wireless

Scanner, software designed to prevent against so-called "drive-by

hacking" of 802.11 wireless networks that make it easy to access and hijack

corporate data over the air.

RSA Security Inc., which hosts the conference every year, announced developer

software for optimizing encryption code in wireless devices. The BSAFE Micro

Edition allows vendors to build digital signing, payment and other features into

devices, RSA said.

Both Symantec Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. announced security appliances

that combine firewall, anti-virus, intrusion detection, content filtering and

virtual private network software.

Symantec's Gateway Security appliance uses its own software, while the server

iForce Integrated Security Solution from Sun includes software from Check Point

Software Technologies Inc., Trend Micro Inc., Tripwire Inc. and Recourse

Technologies.

Computer Associates International Inc. announced an update to its eTrust PKI

technology that allows companies to create public key infrastructure systems for

e-commerce.