Mobile commerce outfit 724 Solutions has introduced a PKI Gateway product for managing digital authentication services over handheld devices.
The vendor says the product will enable financial institutions to implement wireless public key infrastructure (PKI) and digital signature capabilities that work with virtually any PKI technology and certificate authority. The open standards based wireless solution uses Certicom's Trustpoint PKI Portal.
The product is integrated into the application framework solution, says 724, allowing the service provider to choose policies for which transactions need to be digitally signed, and what fields need to be contained in that contract. For example, the application logic can be configured to only request digital signatures for transfers of funds that exceed an amount specified by the financial institution. In this way, larger value transactions may be authenticated and made non-repudiable through digital signatures, while small value funds transfers or stock transactions can bypass the key exchange procedures.
"PKI technology is becoming increasingly important as service providers continue to deploy larger wireless service offerings that allow for higher value transactions, especially in areas such as commercial banking," says John Sims, 724 CEO. "We expect that this development will open the door to the introduction of new wireless services, including the submission of commercial bids and proposals, awarding contracts, invoicing and paying for large-ticket items - all via the mobile Internet."