TERENA Awards Contract to GlobalSign for a Managed SSL Solution

LEUVEN, Belgium-25 January 2006-GlobalSign®, a subsidiary of Cybertrust®, the global information security specialist, has been awarded a contract by the Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association (TERENA) to deploy a managed SSL solution. The solution will provide TERENA's members with proven certificate verification processes and procedures, accredited Certificate Authority capabilities and a consistent and flexible solution to issue high volumes of SSL server certificates.

TERENA provides a platform to encourage the development of a high-quality computer networking infrastructure for the European research community. TERENA's principal members are European National Research and Education Networking organizations (NRENs) that represent the academic community in their countries. An increased use of SSL server certificates at the NRENs and their user communities, in combination with a growing need for encrypted channels and the introduction of authentication and authorization solutions, encouraged TERENA to investigate a global solution to meet an increasing demand for SSL server certificates and a technology to address security issues such as phishing and other forms of identity fraud.

TERENA will utilize Cybertrust's SureServer EDU, an SSL server certificate exclusively for use in educational and research environments. Following training and accreditation procedures, the TERENA NRENs will become Registration Authorities. Cybertrust will deliver an easy-to-use managed service including a Web interface, which enables TERENA Registration Authorities to verify server certificate requests, issue an unlimited number of certificates and manage the entire certificate lifecycle. A total of 5000 SSL server certificates is estimated to be issued by approximately 100 accredited NREN Registration Authority administrators during the course of the first year.

In a first phase, the following NRENs will use Cybertrust's solution: ACOnet (Austria), CARNet (Croatia), CESNET (Czech Republic), RENATER/CRU (France), RedIRIS (Spain), SURFnet (the Netherlands), SWITCH (Switzerland) and UNI·C (Denmark).

"TERENA was looking for a global solution which would enable multiple NRENs to issue and manage server certificates on a large scale," said Karel Vietsch, TERENA secretary general. "We conducted a thorough comparison and evaluation of a number of PKI service solution providers, and Cybertrust came out on top. Additionally, Cybertrust clearly demonstrated the flexibility we were looking for, coupled with a strong understanding of the specific needs of an educational and research environment."

"One of TERENA's main objectives is fostering new initiatives of the European research networking community," said Stijn Bijnens, Cybertrust senior vice president of identity management. "Implementing a security solution on this scale confirms TERENA's commitment to establish a high-quality, secure information and telecommunications infrastructure for the benefit of research and education."