VeriSign Presented the 2004 Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Leadership in the Digital Certificate Market

VeriSign Presented the 2004 Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Leadership in the Digital Certificate Market

LONDON, January 12/PRNewswire/ -- For continually innovating solutions to keep pace with market changes and
implementing superior strategies to become the market leader, VeriSign, Inc.,
is presented with the 2004 Frost & Sullivan Market Leadership Award. VeriSign
has leveraged its keen understanding of end user requirements in the digital
certificate market to outdo competitors such as Entrust Technologies and RSA
Security.



VeriSign has adopted a different market approach by deploying a managed
model, which suits the needs of enterprises that are unlikely to use complex
proprietary public key infrastructure (PKI) to secure their network
authentication and applications.



The company delivers PKI services through its security operation centres
(SOCs). With the recent establishment of security operation centre (SOCs) in
Switzerland, and the establishment of direct-selling presences in several
countries, VeriSign has strengthened its presence in Europe. Part of the
company's popularity comes from making its PKI systems simpler, faster to
deploy and cheaper than most competing products.



"VeriSign's flexibility in this market has been fundamental to its
success," says Frost & Sullivan Analyst Jose Lopez. "While many of its
competitors have failed in making PKI a success due to sole focus on the
technology, VeriSign has understood companies' business needs as well as the
benefits that the technology can provide them with."



End users, regardless of their size, can benefit from the company's
flexible approach to budget and scope of project and level of management.
VeriSign helps companies control the issuance of digital certificates to
internal and external users, while enabling them to outsource data centre
processing tasks, such as digital certificate generation, validation, renewal
and revocation, to VeriSign.



VeriSign has developed strategic partnerships with international vendors
such as IBM Corp., Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. The company has also
played a crucial role in setting up open standards such as XML Key Management
Specification (XKMS) and Web Services Security Language (WS-Security).



Recent advances in VeriSign's platform include deep integration with
MSFT's Active Directory and XP Client to enable seamless and transparent
provisioning and management, removing virtually all of the end user's
involvement from the process. Additionally, VeriSign's PKI products are part
of VeriSign Unified Authentication platform, introduced in September 2004,
which enables an enterprise to manage all authentication credentials - OTP,
PKI and Smart Cards- from one single management platform, further reducing
cost and complexity of administration.



"The use of digital certificates is likely to become the preferred mode
of authentication among parties, and VeriSign is best positioned to take
advantage of this situation due to its position and readiness in the market,"
notes Mr Lopez.



About Frost & Sullivan



Founded in 1961, Frost & Sullivan is recognised as a global leader in
growth consulting. Frost & Sullivan Awards are presented to companies that
demonstrate best practices in their industry, commending the diligence,
commitment, and innovative business strategies required to advance in the
global marketplace. Frost & Sullivan rigorously analyses specific criteria to
determine award recipients in a broad spectrum of market industries and
landscapes. For further information, visit www.frost.com.




For further information, please contact:

Kristina Menzefricke
Frost & Sullivan
Corporate Communications
P: +44-(0)-20-7343-8376
E: kristina.menzefricke@frost.com



Source: Frost & Sullivan

Kristina Menzefricke, Frost & Sullivan, Corporate Communications, Tel +44 (0)-20-7343-8376, E: kristina.menzefricke@frost.com


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