Certicom launches Certicom Elliptic Curve Engine product line with the shipment of Security Builder; Certicom Elliptic Curve Engine enables developers to harness the security, efficiency and flexibility of the Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 1997--Certicom Corp., a leading provider of cryptographic technologies and information security products, today introduced the Certicom Elliptic Curve Engine - (CE)(2) - Product Line with the launch of its Security Builder(TM) crypto-toolkit at a company event in Santa Clara.

"With the release of Security Builder, software developers now have access to Certicom's (CE)(2) technology, the most efficient public-key implementation available," said Philip C. Deck, president & CEO of Certicom. "Certicom is ready to provide firmware and integrated circuit solutions as well as to ensure that the technology can be deployed across all platforms."

"Certicom continues to build on the performance lead that we established with the beta version of Security Builder," said Scott Vanstone, chief cryptographer of Certicom. "The basic cryptographic functions in release 1.0 are more than four times faster than those shipped in the beta version."

Emerging technologies for electronic commerce require the highest levels of security to provide user authentication, data integrity and privacy while at the same time demanding increasingly higher levels of efficiency. Certicom's (CE)(2) removes the obstacles to deployment of electronic commerce by making the highest strength cryptography practical in low power environments such as smart cards and wireless devices.

"The convergence of electronic commerce technologies with existing communications devices demands fully interoperable technologies. With the (CE)(2) Product Line, Certicom now provides a complete line of cryptographic components including software, integrated circuit designs and firmware solutions to ensure that the strength and efficiency of ECC technology can easily be deployed across all platforms," said Lisa Pretty, vice president of marketing with Certicom.

The March 25 (CE)(2) launch in Santa Clara included demonstrations of Security Builder as well as presentations by Motorola, Inc. on the advantages of ECC in wireless environments; VeriFone, Inc. on the use of ECC in its P-ATM smart card terminals; Atalla Corporation on the benefits of ECC in high-transaction volume applications; Schlumberger on the integration of ECC in low cost smart cards. In addition, several existing and new customers of Security Builder were presented including Commerce Direct International, Entegrity Solutions, GlobalKey Inc., Technical Communications Corporation and Sterling Commerce.

Certicom conducted an Early Input Program with over 50 leading computing and communications companies in order to ensure that Security Builder Release 1.0 would meet the needs of developers for ease-of-use, flexibility and performance. The result is a crypto-toolkit which has garnered strong support from the OEM market.

About the Certicom Elliptic Curve Engine (CE)(2)

(CE)(2) is the crypto-engine at the heart of Certicom's product line. Available in a range of development tools, (CE)(2) enables OEMs to harness the security, efficiency and flexibility of the Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems (ECC). Users of (CE)(2) can realize dramatic savings in computation, bandwidth and storage. Implementation in small devices and high transactions environments id made feasible by the company architecture of (CE)(2).

The (CE)(2) product line offers a complete range of components for integration into every application and digital device that has a need for information security.

-- (CE)(2) Foundation is a (CE)(2) software implementation for mainstream operating environments. The most comprehensive of the components in the (CE)(2) product line, (CE)(2) Foundation provides key pair generation, digital signatures, public-key encryption, key agreement, key transport, random number generation, secure hash and symmetric encryption functions.

-- (CE)(2) Embedded Systems are (CE)(2) implementations for devices with specialized system resource constraints, such as wireless modems, cellular phones, pagers and smart cards. (CE)(2) Embedded systems provide optimized implementations of the engine and are available in 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit architectures.

-- (CE)(2) I/C Designs are integrated circuit designs of hardware implementations. Through partnerships with I/C manufacturers, Certicom's cryptographic expertise has been merged with I/C designer expertise. (CE)(2) I/C Designs are a result of these partnerships and enable the development of very compact, highly efficient I/Cs, containing leading-edge security.

-- (CE)(2) O/S Utilities are (CE)(2) implementations for security frameworks, such as Microsoft's CryptoAPI and Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) architecture. (CE)(2) O/S Utilities are end-user installable and provide the flexibility to choose a solution for preferred operating environments and security architectures. Certicom will provide the cryptographic components required to support the initiatives of others, such as Microsoft, to make including security in applications as simple as possible.

About Security Builder

Security Builder is Certicom's cryptographic software toolkit, built around the (CE)(2) Foundation, providing elliptic curve and symmetric key functions for mainstream operating systems. The software contains an easy-to-use API to access all the functions required to create secure applications. Future releases of Security Builder will incorporate application-specific modules to further reduce the time spent integrating information security into products.

ECC: The Next Generation in Public-Key Technology

ECC has the highest strength-per-bit of any known public-key system, minimizing the requirement for large key sizes. For example, in a strength/key size comparison, 160 bit ECC is equivalent to 1,024 RSA/DSA. Cryptographic processes based on ECC provide efficient computational techniques and low overhead for encryption, digital signatures, and key management. ECC draft standards are currently under review by: IEEE, ANSI, ISO, IETF, and the ATM Forum.

Certicom is a leading provider of cryptographic technologies for computing and communications companies. Certicom's core technology is the Certicom Elliptic Curve Engine (CE)(2) -- a stronger, faster, smaller engine which performs public-key encryption and digital signatures required for advanced data security. (CE)(2) is available for software, hardware and firmware implementations and is particularly well suited for constrained environments such as wireless devices, smart cards and high-transaction servers.

Certicom's headquarters are located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, with sales and marketing operations in San Mateo, Calif., and regional offices in Washington, D.C., and New York. Certicom shares are quoted on the Canadian Dealing Network under the symbol "CERT."

CONTACT: Certicom Corp.

Kim Morningstar, 905/507-4220 or 800/561-6100 (in the U.S.)

[e-mail]

or

Miller/Shandwick Technologies

Sheri Dupart/Anne Gowan, 415/962-9550

[e-mail]

[e-mail]