"Computer Within a Floppy Disk" puts secure electronic commerce in the palm of your hand.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 1996--Fischer International Systems Corp. (FISC) announced Wednesday the availability of Crypto SmartDisk(tm), the world's first intelligent security token housed in a floppy disk-sized device.

The announcement was made at the annual conference of RSA Data Security Inc., a leading encryption algorithm vendor. Addison M. Fischer, founder and chairman of FISC and a world-recognized leader in systems and data security, attended the meeting with fellow experts in cryptography.

Crypto SmartDisk is a self-contained computer, complete with crypto coprocessor, memory, real time clock, and resident operating system. It fits in any of the 150 million installed standard 3.5 inch floppy disk drives; no additional hardware is required.

Crypto SmartDisk supports RSA, DSA and DES algorithms for encryption and digital signatures. The RSA public key cryptographic system is the de facto standard and is commonly used to create digital envelopes for secure electronic commerce. DSA is a standard for digital signatures that is endorsed by the U.S. government, and DES is the most widely used and tested encryption algorithm available.

"Crypto SmartDisk breaks barriers in the world of secure electronic commerce," said Michael S. Battaglia, FISC president and CEO. "It literally puts in any user's hands the power to use any PC with a 3.5 inch floppy drive as a secure electronic transaction station. Businesses, government agencies, even private citizens can use Crypto SmartDisk to engage in secure electronic commerce with complete confidence that their transactions will be read only by those people the users intend."

Crypto SmartDisk is positioned to gain rapid acceptance among agencies of the U.S. federal government, particularly those that manage civilian applications. It offers the benefits of hardware-based encryption without the expense of retrofitting PCs that don't have card readers. By using a Crypto SmartDisk, for example, private citizens could conduct secure electronic transactions with agencies like the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Social Security Administration (SSA), and IRS from their home computers.

The General Services Administration Security Infrastructure Program Management Office is planning just such a pilot project, with hundreds to thousands of participants including private citizens. Using Crypto SmartDisk, participants may conduct electronic transactions such as requesting SSA benefit information, inquiring about the availability of federal loans, and potentially even filing on-line tax returns with the IRS.

Crypto SmartDisk also offers a developer's toolkit so users can create their own applications featuring encryption capabilities. The toolkit provides both software tools and libraries and is fully compliant with the PKCS No. 11 standard and the ISO 7816 standard.

Fischer International Systems Corp. is a leading worldwide supplier of software solutions for secure Electronic Commerce. Founded in 1982, it is one of the largest privately held software companies in the United States. Its products include Watchdog(r) and SmartDisk(tm) for PC data security, TAO(tm) (Totally Automated Office) for cross-platform, multilingual messaging and office automation; EDI/comm(tm) for Electronic Data Interchange; and WorkFlow.2000(tm) for cross-platform automated forms and process management.

Crypto SmartDisk and the Crypto SmartDisk toolkit are available for immediate shipment. -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: In the Internet/email address noted in the contact information in this news release, there is an "at" symbol between Chamberlain and fisc.com. This symbol may not appear properly in some systems.

CONTACT: Fischer International Systems Corp., Naples, Fla.

Katharen Chamberlain

Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone]

Internet: [e-mail]