Differential Announces Digital Receipt Infrastructure Initiative to Take E-commerce to the Next Level; Differential Initiates Industry Discussion on Digital Receipts at RSA 99.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 1999--At a press conference held yesterday at RSA 99, David Jevans, president and CEO of Differential, Inc. announced an initiative for the accelerated development of a Digital Receipt Infrastructure (DRI) for electronic commerce.

Differential's DRI initiative will allow corporations to track a broad class of enterprise transactions in a non-forgeable, auditable and notarized format. By implementing a digital receipt infrastructure, corporations and consumers will have definitive proof that electronic transactions and events have occurred. DRI also provides a standardized infrastructure for remote electronic auditing and real-time transaction assurance on the Internet with comparable levels of protection found in private networks.

DRI incorporates the following key features that are needed to elevate electronic commerce to a level where enterprises and consumers feel as secure doing business over the Internet as they have using the traditional paper trail method:

-- Trusted Timestamps gives users proof of when transactions take place. This is critical for time-related transactions such as stock market trades.

-- Digital Signatures ensures the identity of all participating parties.

-- XML Extensibility allows the integration of a wide variety of transactions.

-- Real-time Assurance guarantees that transactions are accurate and complete.

-- Unified Infrastructure manages exponential increase in the volume of transactions created by the rapid growth of electronic commerce.

-- Auditing tracks high-value electronic transactions without a paper trail.

According to David Jevans, president and CEO of Differential, "We are moving toward an electronic economy where valuable transactions such as business-to-business purchases and stock trades conducted over the Internet require a higher level of legal assurance and auditability. The concept of DRI is aligned with Differential's vision to make business transactions over the Web safer than paper. To demonstrate our commitment we have released relevant proprietary technology to the public domain in an effort to make our vision possible."

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), introduced by RSA, has become the open standard ID card of the Internet. Acceptance of this open standard facilitated the rapid expansion of e-commerce. DRI, now being introduced by Differential, builds on PKI to offer non-repudiation for electronic transactions.

Datum Inc, the leader in high precision time products (see related release dated January 19, 1999) has already voiced its support for DRI. For those interested in joining the initiative or participating in a dialog on DRI, please visit Differential's Booth 126 at the RSA show. Differential has also set up a DRI Website at http://www.receipt.org. Visitors to the site can download a copy of the DRI technical specification, code samples and white paper, or register to become members of the initiative.

Kent Davidson, vice president of engineering at Differential, is currently working with members of the Trade Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) on the Open Trading Protocol specification. "Differential is working closely with this group regarding submission of DRI to the IETF to ensure that the Digital Receipt initiative incorporates IETF drafts for digital signing of XML."

Differential, Inc. provides business-to-business electronic commerce infrastructure software that gives FORTUNE 500 companies a "safer than paper" solution for secure data interchange and transaction processing. Founded in 1996, Differential is a privately held corporation funded by U.S. Venture Partners and SOFTBANK Holdings. For more information, please contact John Jefferies, Differential Inc., 10054 Pasadena Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014; Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]; Website: http://www.differential.com.

Note to Editors: DRI, Safer than Paper, and Differential are trademarks of Differential, Inc.