WAP Server Certificates for Motorola, Nokia, Phone.com and Other Wireless Servers Available Immediately

Mountain View, CA, December 21, 1999 - VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN), the world's leading provider of Internet trust services for authentication, validation and payment, today introduced the world's most comprehensive digital certificate service for Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) servers and gateways. The service, available immediately, issues digital certificates for wireless servers by Motorola, Nokia, Phone.com, and other leading providers. Digital certificates are electronic credentials used to authenticate parties and enable encrypted communications and transactions over the Internet. Major e-commerce service providers including British Telecommunications, Certplus, DDI Corporation, KPN and Telia have expressed strong interest in, and support for, the VeriSign WAP server certificate service.

"DDI-CELLULAR GROUP provides 'cdmaOne' in Japan, an emerging digital cellular phone system. Presently we have more than 50,000,000 subscribers worldwide, and have delivered WAP-based Internet services under the name 'EZweb' since April 1999," said Hiroshi Sakai, Director, General Manager, Mobile Communications Engineering Division Engineering Group for DDI Corporation.

"In the near future, adding security with WAP server digital certificates and other key components, WAP-based services will enable the implementation of trusted and user-friendly electronic commerce applications. We are very interested in VeriSign's beneficial service offerings."

VeriSign's approach to delivering WAP server certificates represents a significant advancement over recently introduced competing services. First, to serve the needs of developers, telecommunications companies and wireless service providers, the service has been designed to issue certificates for the broadest range of WAP server platforms, including those from Motorola, Nokia, Phone.com and other leading providers. Second, VeriSign is offering developers and service providers free trial WAP server certificates, available immediately, to accelerate development and deployment of WAP server-based applications. Full-service certificates for use in production wireless environments are also available immediately. Third, to create a bridge between the wired and wireless worlds, customers also have the option to link their production WAP certificates into the VeriSign Trust Network, the world's most globally-interoperable network of digital certificates.

The VeriSign Trust Network is built around a common set of policies and practices and leverages broad deployment of VeriSign's digital certificate "root keys" in popular e-commerce applications.

"Motorola is committed to providing its customers with the most secure wireless solutions available," said Simon Pugh, Security Consultant, Personal Networks Group, Motorola, Inc. "By enabling WAP servers to conduct authenticated and encrypted transactions with mobile devices, VeriSign is helping to build a secure and scalable environment for e-commerce on the wireless web."

"We are extremely pleased that VeriSign is delivering WAP server certificate services to benefit our joint customers," said Heikki Heinaro, Director, Mobile E-Business, Nokia Wireless Software Solutions. "VeriSign's support of the WAP/WTLS security protocol, implemented in the Nokia WAP Server, allows our customers to develop and deploy the next generation of mobile e-commerce applications."

"As a leader in WAP infrastructure software, Phone.com welcomes VeriSign's new WAP digital certificate service," said Ben Linder, vice president of marketing for Phone.com. "The 47 network operators around the world using our UP.LinkO Server will be able to benefit from enhanced security for e-commerce applications."

VeriSign's WAP digital certificates enable Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS), the security layer in the WAP architecture. WTLS provides an interface for managing secure connections, the primary goal of which is to provide privacy, data integrity, and authentication between two communicating applications. The company is an active participant in the WAP Forum, the global industry association that has developed the de-facto world standard for wireless information and telephony services on digital mobile phones and other wireless terminals.

"As online banks, brokerages, media companies and telecommunications providers look to deploy the next generation of e-commerce applications over wireless networks, they must deliver the same levels of trust and security as they currently do over the wired Internet," said Stratton Sclavos, president and CEO of VeriSign. "Now our customers, which include all of the top 40 e-commerce sites and every Fortune 500 company with a Web presence, can serve their mobile end users with the same degree of confidence and security that they have been delivering to date on their dot.com sites."

Leaders in Wireless E-Commerce Express Strong Support

British Telecommunications

"BT is very excited about working with VeriSign to develop digital certificate services to support WAP-based applications," said Michele Mooney, Head of British Telecommunication's Plc., Trust Services. Certplus "As GSM is widely spread in Europe, we see a bright future for wireless PKI," said Jacques Pantin CEO of Certplus, the number one trust and PKI operator in France and a VeriSign affiliate. "Certplus is working very closely in this area with its shareholders and partners: Gemplus, the number one SIM card solution provider in the world; France Telecom, one of the leading wireless operators in Europe; and VeriSign the leader in Internet trust services. We are very glad to see VeriSign taking a leading role in this area, helping us to provide the best solution to our customers."

KPN