IBM and Intel Team Up on Security for e-business

Joint efforts to accelerate CDSA open specification adoption

Armonk, N.Y., & Santa Clara, Calif (November 05, 1998) – IBM and Intel today announced joint efforts to promote broad industry adoption of Internet security features that work across multiple computing platforms.
As part of this effort, IBM and Intel will promote the adoption of the Common Data Security Architecture specification, which enables developers to create interoperable, CDSA-based applications and solutions. Today, many security solutions are proprietary, making interoperability an obstacle for companies that want to conduct electronic business securely. The two companies also will conduct joint activities that will help educate the information technology community on using CDSA in their environments.
In support of this initiative, IBM plans to ship KeyWorks, the first CDSA-based product in the market, in the AIX*, OS/400*, and OS/390* operating systems, as well as in its IBM Vault Registry certificate management software and the IBM eNetwork Firewall for AIX and NT products. Intel plans to make selected IBM KeyWorks technologies available with its CDSA reference implementation which will increase the interoperability of the specification. In addition, IBM plans to extend KeyWorks to take advantage of selected security capabilities planned for future Intel core silicon chips.
“To conduct e-business, companies need to know that their systems, assets and business transactions will be protected,” said Al Zollar, General Manager, Network Computing Software Division, IBM. “By promoting a standards-based, interoperable, cross-platform approach, and by adopting this standard in our own products, IBM and Intel are making it easier and more cost-effective for customers to adopt encryption and conduct business on the Web more securely.”
“A strong security infrastructure is critical to continue rapid growth of the Internet,” said Pat Gelsinger, Vice President and General Manager of the Desktop Platforms Group, Intel. “By working with IBM and other industry leaders, we will accelerate the deployment of CDSA-based solutions for secure communication, e-commerce, and development and deployment of high value Internet content.”
IBM and Intel will sponsor a series of industry events designed to educate the developer and IT communities on the benefits of CDSA-based products and solutions using this open architecture. The programs will include multi-vendor seminars, interoperability forums, technology development workshops, demonstrations and publication of technical documentation. (For more details on these events, see www.ibm.com/security and
www.intel.com/ial/security.)
CDSA, originated by Intel, is an industry-accepted specification for the development of security-enabled applications that are interoperable and offer cross-platform support. By providing the cryptographic key management for the specification, IBM also was a significant contributor to the development of CDSA. Established as an industry standard by The Open Group, CDSA enables developers to quickly and easily create advanced security-enabled applications for customers that are easy to install and use. CDSA allows flexible and configurable use of cryptography, certificate management, trust policy management, key and certificate lookup, storage and retrieval, and optional key recovery.
In addition, CDSA is becoming an increasingly important element for e-business security solutions. It enables Internet-based public key security infrastructures to interoperate via the IETF’s Public Key Infrastructure standard, or PKIX. IBM recently provided a PKIX reference implementation to the IETF Internet Standards body, building upon the creation of open, interoperable, cross-platform standards.

Source: IBM

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