GSA Joins Growing List of Government Agencies Choosing Alliance Software
For Encryption-Based Security Infrastructure
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the U.S.
Department of Defense's (DoD's) recently announced license of iPlanet(TM)
Certificate Management System, the Sun-Netscape Alliance (Alliance) today
announced that the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) joins a growing
list of government agencies that are deploying the Alliance's Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI)-based technology. The GSA is using iPlanet Certificate
Management System for its Access Certificates for Electronic Services (ACES)
digital certificate initiative, allowing citizens and businesses to more
safely interact with the government online.
"Using the iPlanet Certificate Management System for our ACES procurement
will fundamentally transform the way government delivers services," stated
Judith Spencer, director of the Center for Government-wide Security, Office of
Information Security, Federal Technology Service at the GSA. "It will reduce
costs and enable faster service. We expect that this will be a catalyst to
enable e-commerce applications to be deployed at many agencies."
The GSA, which provides goods and services to federal employees, is
expected to provide digital certificates to citizens throughout the nation
under the ACES program, offering an encryption-based security infrastructure
for accessing government information and interacting with the government
online. The ACES infrastructure is available to most civilian government
agencies, including the Social Security Administration, Veterans
Administration, Treasury, and Department of Education, among others. GSA is
planning to obtain the iPlanet Certificate Management System through multiple
contractors, beginning with Alexandria, VA-based Operational Research
Consultants (ORC), Inc.
The iPlanet Certificate Management System is also currently in use at the
DoD. With the Alliance's PKI software, the DoD can authenticate digital
signatures on contracting documents and other forms, as well as electronic
travel transactions of DoD employees using its Defense Travel System. The DoD
plans additional pilot programs in electronic commerce, the Global Command and
Control and Combat Support Systems. The DoD's use of the product, in tandem
with GSA's announcement today, makes the iPlanet Certificate Management System
a prevailing PKI-based security technology for citizens and businesses to
access information and interact with each other and the government online.
"Government customers are increasingly turning to the Sun-Netscape
Alliance for security solutions that help them operate more effectively in
today's exploding Net Economy," said John Menkart, director of government
sales for the Sun-Netscape Alliance. "GSA's use of iPlanet Certificate
Management System builds on the Alliance's partnership with ORC and the work
we've done with the DoD PKI architecture. The end result is better, faster and
lower cost service to the citizen."
"We are pleased to offer iPlanet Certificate Management System for the GSA
and DoD," stated Daniel E. Turissini, ORC's vice president of operations.
"This software enables the deployment of certificates to citizens, contractors
and businesses so they can interact with government agencies and the DoD
electronically and securely."
The iPlanet Certificate Management System is a security software product
that allows companies and government agencies to issue, manage and revoke
x.509 public key certificates. It provides unmatched Internet scalability,
with support for millions of users, and is also easy to set up and deploy for
Extranets and e-commerce. The product works with standard Internet browsers,
such as Netscape(R) Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
About the Sun-Netscape Alliance
America Online, Inc. (NYSE: AOL) and Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW)
formed the Sun-Netscape Alliance to provide easy to deploy, comprehensive
enterprise and e-commerce solutions and services to business partners and
other companies competing in today's Net Economy. The alliance product
portfolio provides customers with the industry's most scalable, integrated
infrastructure software and a family of production ready e-commerce
applications. The products are offered on the industry's most widely available
product platforms, including DEC, HP, IBM, Linux, SGI, Microsoft Windows, and
Sun. The alliance software product portfolio includes: messaging and calendar,
collaboration, Web, application, directory, and certificate servers. The
alliance also offers a family of production-ready applications for e-commerce,
including commerce exchange, procurement, selling, and billing. The Alliance
Government Group, which exclusively serves federal, state and local
governments, is based in Bethesda, Maryland.
About America Online, Inc
Founded in 1985, America Online, Inc., based in Dulles, Virginia, is the
world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies, and
e-commerce services. America Online, Inc. operates: two worldwide Internet
services, America Online, with more than 18 million members, and CompuServe,
with more than 2 million members; several leading Internet brands including
ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger and Digital City, Inc.; the Netscape Netcenter and
AOL.COM portals; the Netscape Navigator and Communicator browsers; and AOL
MovieFone, the nation's largest movie listing guide and ticketing service.
Through its strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, the Company develops and
offers easy-to-deploy, end-to-end e-commerce and enterprise solutions for
companies operating in the Net Economy.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network is The
Computer(TM)," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. to its position as a
leading provider of high quality hardware, software and services for
establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the
Internet. With more than $11.5 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in
more than 150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com .
Additional information on the iPlanet Certificate Management System and
the Sun-Netscape Alliance is available at http://www.iplanet.com or by calling
888-786-8111. Government customers can call 301-571-3900 for more information.
For more information on ORC, visit ORC's ACES site at: http://aces.orc.com .
Additionally, contractors working with the DoD may go to:
http://eca.orc.com .
NOTE: Netscape and the Netscape N logo are registered trademarks of
Netscape Communications Corporation, a subsidiary of America Online, Inc., in
the United States and other countries. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun Logo,
The Network is the Computer, and iPlanet are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
SOURCE Sun-Netscape Alliance
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CONTACT:
Jennifer Doettling of Sun-Netscape Alliance,
650-937-2804, or jdoettli@netscape.com; or Sandy Levine of Advice
Unlimited, 301-924-0330, or slevine@adviceunlimited.net, for
Sun-Netscape Alliance
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