Courion Joins Liberty Alliance Project.

Business Editors

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 25, 2003

Authentication Against Decentralized Identity Stores Essential to

Identity Management Success

Courion(R) Corporation, a leading provider of self-service identity management solutions, today announced that it has joined the Liberty Alliance Project as an associate member, declaring its support for an open, interoperable standard for federated network identity and identity-based Web services. This move underscores Courion's position that the existing IT infrastructure, no matter how heterogeneous, can be leveraged to gain significant ROI from identity management solutions.

With more than 2.5 million users of its solutions, Courion offers a unique and vital perspective on the real-world uses of identity management systems. Through its active participation in the development of the Alliance's standard for open, federated identity management, Courion will draw upon its experience with more than 160 customers to help shape the next phase of this growing market. Further, its participation in the Alliance is giving customers even greater confidence that Courion's Identity Management Suite(TM), anchored by its AccountCourier(R) user provisioning and PasswordCourier(R) password management product lines, will grow with them as these standards are created and adopted.

A pioneer in the identity management market, Courion's experience and vision is consistent with the Liberty Alliance's idea of a networked world in which individuals and businesses can more easily interact while respecting the privacy and security of shared identity information. Further, since its inception in 1996, Courion has understood that the key to automating identity management functions such as user provisioning and password management is to leverage existing IT assets for authentication. The company has been creating secure, efficient, cost-effective self-service identity management systems for some of the world's largest enterprises, which typically have the most disparate mix of IT systems, leveraging such complex infrastructures to gain significant ROI from the technology. Its expertise in these real-world implementations will help the Alliance further develop open, federated network identification standards to eliminate the challenges organizations face when managing the digital identities of a growing number of constituents.

"Decentralized storage of authentication information is the reality for the majority of organizations out there," said Brian Milas, chief technology officer, Courion. "Enterprises cannot afford to wait for initiatives to consolidate that data into one master authentication resource. Today's business moves far too quickly. Self-service identity management solutions leveraging a federated identity standard will not only allow our customers to more easily and securely manage decentralized digital identities, but it will create new business opportunities for them because forming business relationships will be easier and more manageable from an IT perspective."

About the Liberty Alliance Project

The Liberty Alliance Project (http://www.projectliberty.org) is a consortium formed to develop open standards for federated network identity management and identity-based services. The Alliance is made up of over 170 members, representing a worldwide cross-section of organizations ranging from educational institutions and government organizations, to service providers and financial institutions, to technology firms and wireless providers. Federated identity will help drive the next generation of the Internet, offering businesses and consumers convenience and choice. Membership is open to all commercial and non-commercial organizations.

About Courion

Courion Corporation is a leading provider of self-service identity management solutions that help enterprises manage the access rights and credentials of employees, business partners and customers with more speed, more security and less cost. Courion's Identity Management Suite, anchored by its AccountCourier user provisioning and PasswordCourier password management product lines, securely automates the resolution of common operational challenges such as user account setup and deletion and password reset and synchronization. Courion's non-invasive, self-service architecture enforces security policies, while providing measurable cost-savings, operational efficiencies and productivity improvements.

Courion's customers include industry leaders such as American Electric Power, The Boeing Company, Children's Hospital Boston, Fannie Mae, GE, Office Depot, SunTrust Banks, government institutions such as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Census Bureau, and large not-for-profit organizations such as Kaiser Permanente. Courion is funded by QuestMark Partners, JMI Equity and other private investors. For more information, contact Courion's headquarters in Framingham, MA, USA at 508-879-8400 or visit www.courion.com.

Courion, PasswordCourier and AccountCourier are registered trademarks of Courion Corporation. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.