Certicom Wins Frost and Sullivan Award for Excellence in Technology
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario–June 23, 2004–Certicom Corp. (TSX: CIC), the authority for strong, efficient cryptography, today announced that it has won the 2004 Award for Excellence in Technology from Frost & Sullivan, an international market analysis and consulting firm. Certicom is being recognized for its work with Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC).
Certicom is a pioneer in researching and developing ECC, a strong and computationally efficient form of public-key cryptography. In 1997, Certicom developed the industry’s first toolkit to include ECC, which has since been adopted by the world’s leading device manufacturers, software vendors and government organizations, including, among others, Motorola, Research in Motion and Unisys. Certicom also has an extensive portfolio of ECC-based patents and pending patents. Last year, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) licensed Certicom’s ECC-based intellectual property to protect mission-critical government communications.
To choose a winner, analysts conduct extensive primary and secondary research. They then create a shortlist based on a company’s overall technical excellence, its commitment to innovation and its contribution to the marketplace through its technology.
“Certicom, with its proven solutions for today’s security needs, was the clear winner. And, it is a notable achievement that the NSA had turned to Certicom and its ECC-based intellectual property,” said Michael Valenti, research analyst, Frost & Sullivan. “The NSA, who had been researching ECC for many years, chose ECC for its strength and Certicom for its expertise and proven implementations. The NSA’s choice of public-key technology could represent a major step towards worldwide adoption of ECC technology.”
The underlying mathematics of ECC are more sophisticated than that of competing public-key schemes. This means users can obtain the desired security level with significantly smaller keys – at least 10 times smaller than traditional public-key schemes. This feature is particularly important for handheld computers, digital consumer electronics, and other devices where resources such as network bandwidth, memory, power, and local storage are constrained. Manufacturers do not have the luxury of adding more computing resources for inefficient security where profit margins are already slim. Certicom’s security technology has particular relevance for both financial and government scenarios, where long-term, strong security is required.
“This award validates ECC as the next generation public key cryptography, and is available today. Our customers have known this for some time and we are very pleased that Frost and Sullivan has formally recognized it,” said Ian McKinnon, Certicom’s president and CEO. “As information becomes more valuable and devices smaller, Certicom and its efficient ECC implementations will continue to be regarded as the cryptographic provider of choice”
About Frost & Sullivan
Founded in 1961, Frost & Sullivan is recognized as a global leader in growth consulting. Frost & Sullivan Awards are presented to companies that demonstrate excellence in their industry, commending the diligence, commitment, and innovative business strategies required to advance in the global marketplace. Frost & Sullivan rigorously analyzes specific criteria to determine award recipients in a vast variety of market industries and landscapes. For further information, visit www.frost.com.
About Certicom
Certicom Corp. (TSX:CIC) is the authority for strong, efficient cryptography required by software vendors and device manufacturers to embed security in their products. Adopted by the US Government’s National Security Agency (NSA), Certicom technologies for Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) provide the most security per bit of any known public key scheme, making it ideal for constrained environments. Certicom products and services are currently licensed to more than 300 customers including Motorola, Oracle, Research In Motion, Terayon, Texas Instruments and XM Radio. Founded in 1985, Certicom is headquartered in Mississauga, ON, Canada, with offices in Ottawa, ON; Reston, VA; San Mateo, CA; and London, England. Visit www.certicom.com.