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The Signal
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Q1 2005
Industry
Intelligence for Communications Providers
April 2005, VOL.1, NO. 1
The Signal is a quarterly publication providing carriers with news,
industry insights, and an update on the VeriSign IC3 Strategy – Intelligent
Communications, Commerce and Content.
In This Issue:
Welcome to The Signal!
With many strategic
initiatives underway in VeriSign Communications Services (VCS), we want
to keep you informed. Welcome to The Signal, a quarterly publication
highlighting important developments worldwide in each area of our IC3
Strategy – Intelligent Communications, Commerce and Content.
In this premier issue, you’ll
learn more about our SS7 network investments, new mobile-content delivery
capabilities, and strong authentication for commerce and content sharing.
You’ll also get insight from our authentication expert, and an invitation
to our free Security Planning Web Seminar with the Yankee Group.
In my travels this quarter, I’ve
been inspired by many customer achievements as well as advancements
in service delivery and network evolution based on the hard work of
VeriSign employees. Here are a few additional highlights from around
the globe:
- In January, I was honored to receive the PAETEC Maestro Quality Award.
Arunas Chesonis, CEO of PAETEC Communications, presented VeriSign with
this award which recognizes vendor excellence in supporting PAETEC.
This is one of four such awards provided in PAETEC’s history.
- At 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France, we met with dozens of global
customers, announced the VeriSign and Gemplus SIM Authentication Solution,
and held the VeriSign “Mobile Security Roundtable,” among many other
activities. Read more about 3GSM in the Industry News section.
- And, in California, Jamster!
(a wholly owned subsidiary of VeriSign, Inc.) supported The Recording
Academy’s “What’s
the Download®” Interactive Advisory Board, which convened
during the 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards Weekend. We believe working with
groups like this is a great way to share ideas and bring more music
to the digital world. Acquired last June as part of our IC3 strategy,
Jamba! (Jamster! in North America, UK, and Australia) develops, delivers,
and maintains one of the world’s most extensive catalogs of mobile content
– content that mobile providers can turn into a valuable service for
their subscribers.
I hope this newsletter conveys
to you the enthusiasm and excitement we have at VCS about what our IC3
strategy is doing for your business. I welcome your feedback to ensure
this communication is always worth your while.
Best
wishes,
Vernon
Irvin
Executive Vice President, VeriSign Communications Services
VeriSign Named Telecom Service Provider Company
of the Year
Over the past few years we have
been working hard to expand our infrastructure and service offerings.
The business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan took notice, and named
VeriSign the 2005 Telecommunications Service Provider Company of the
Year.
Frost & Sullivan’s 2005 Excellence
in Information & Communications Technologies Awards Banquet, held
in Scottsdale, Arizona in January, honored world-class companies for
outstanding performance and achievements in the information and communications
technologies markets. This annual event recognized the quality and merit
of distinguished individuals and companies. VeriSign received this award
for performance and leadership in creating and marketing our network,
database capabilities, billing infrastructure, and content services
to wireless and wireline subscribers.
“It is evident that overlaying
the current diverse systems with an intelligent and scalable infrastructure
is necessary for telecommunications service providers to reach the next
level of growth and functionality,” notes Frost & Sullivan’s Telecommunications
Services Industry Manager Reggie Helton. “Recognizing this need and
putting the right infrastructure in place has enabled VeriSign to satisfy
customer needs.”
Companies that receive this award
exhibit outstanding management, consistent growth, and positive social
and economic impact on local and national communities and customers.
Exceptional customer service has been noted as crucial to success, coupled
with the ability to combine technology and successful strategic initiatives.
VeriSign was also awarded the
2004 Frost & Sullivan Market Leadership Award for continual innovation
of our solutions to keep pace with changes in the digital certificate
market.
Back
to top
Intelligent
Communications, Commerce and Content (IC3) Update
Intelligent COMMUNICATIONS
Intelligent Databases, Connectivity & Interoperability Services
SS7
Investments Help Future-Proof Your Network
As
your needs evolve from traditional networking to the IP world, VeriSign
is uniquely positioned to partner with you. By facilitating interoperability
between legacy and emerging networks, on the back of a stable, reliable
platform, we can support your evolution plans.
VeriSign
is continually investing in its SS7 capabilities to help ensure ongoing
reliability while providing a platform with which to link to VoIP and
next-generation networks. Over 1,000 carriers look to VeriSign every
day to reliably support over 2 billion messages for their customers.
Recent
investments include new capabilities which bridge the public switched
network with IP Protocol. Capabilities such as SIGTRAN Connectivity
and SIP-to-PSTN Interconnectivity help future-proof your network. In
addition to investing in new technology, we are also investing in the
infrastructure to deliver increased international reach. Our ANSI-to-ITU
Port Conversion and ITU Connectivity provides domestic-to-international
signaling, to meet our customers’ ongoing requirements for global expansion.
Finally,
reliability of service is critical to your operations. In order to continue
delivering world class availability, we continually invest in our backbone
infrastructure and network management tools. This includes the deployment
of a scalable IP backbone network with fully-restorable SONET Rings,
providing even greater diversity and reliability.
VeriSign
operates the largest independent SS7 network in the world with over
3,900 links with direct access to every local access and transport area
in the country, so the ability to effectively monitor and manage that
infrastructure is critical. We continue to invest and upgrade our operational
support systems to deliver enhanced IP monitoring and enable support
of next-generation networks. We’re committed to continual improvement
in network reliability and in keeping you ahead of the technology curve.
Learn
more about our SS7
capabilities on the VeriSign Web site.
Back
to top
Intelligent COMMERCE
Billing & OSS Services, Trust & Security Services
Wireless
Provider Selects Integrated Billing & OSS Solution
Delivering
next generation services to your customers presents a new range of revenue
generating opportunities and a new range of business challenges – how
to provision, invoice and support those new data rich applications.
There are no longer just minutes of voice, but also value-added mobile
services such as mobile commerce and digital content. It is imperative
that you can support these new applications with Billing & Operations
Support Systems (OSS) that are as robust and scalable as those you have
been using for voice. We’ve been working on this challenge to ensure
our solutions evolve to meet your changing business needs.
During the CTIA Wireless 2005 tradeshow in New Orleans, Louisiana, we
announced the upcoming availability of VeriSign Integrated Billing &
OSS, an end-to-end business and operational support solution enabling
the wireless delivery of next-generation communication, commerce, and
content services, and accelerating the delivery of new, data-rich mobile
services such as mobile commerce. The solution has received endorsement
from key customers, including Midwest Wireless. Based in Mankato, Minnesota,
and owned by a group of independent telephone companies, Midwest Wireless
operates in 85 counties in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. By providing
wireless services, including voice and data, to those living in rural
areas, Midwest Wireless has become a leader amongst wireless providers
and is known for its focus on customers.
Midwest
Wireless is moving into next generation telecommunications services
for their customers and is looking for a solution that:
- Is robust and scalable,
as subscribers and transactions grow
- Is quick to market
- Supports multiple
business models to include pre and post paid billing
- Supports multiple
access network types in order to provide them with the flexibility to
support different access types (such as CDMA, Wi-Fi, etc.)
VeriSign’s
product team worked with Midwest Wireless to implement a beta test of
the Integrated Billing Solution.
“We
are delighted to be working with VeriSign to deliver this solution in
a real carrier environment and bring these benefits to our customers.
By being one of the first to offer this solution, Midwest Wireless is
able to differentiate ourselves as a provider of next generation telecommunications
services,” said Mark Allen, chief information officer, Midwest Wireless.
“The value of working with VeriSign is their sophisticated business
and operations support that enables delivery, settlement and billing
for the data-rich content and mobile commerce services our customers
are demanding.”
VeriSign
Integrated Billing & OSS is comprised of six functional components,
each addressing a key stage in the customer lifecycle from acquisition
to customer care. These components include: Content and Applications,
Provisioning, Mediation, Pricing and Billing and Security Payments and
Customer Care.
Unique
in the billing marketplace, only this new solution from VeriSign can
enable carriers to provision a wireless device, push their own content
to that device, mediate the event, settle revenue with content partners,
bill for the content, process a secure payment, and provide seamless
customer care.
Back
to top
EXPERT
Q&A: Protecting Your Identity With Strong Authentication
An interview with Nico Popp, Vice President, VeriSign Authentication
Services
Carriers
and service providers face increasing challenges and threats to the
security of their internal network and the extended networks used to
communicate with customers, suppliers and distributors. Security breaches
are not only costly to remedy, but risk exposing valuable company or
customer data. The Signal conducted a Q&A session with expert Nico
Popp, VeriSign’s Vice President of Authentication Services, on the need
for Strong Authentication.
The Signal: We’re hearing more and more about the need
for Strong Authentication to secure critical applications. What’s the
latest on this approach?
Popp: A hacker needs only one working ID in order to
steal valuable information or vandalize the critical systems of entire
organizations. For this reason, companies are beginning to deploy Strong
Authentication security systems, which combine something that they know,
like a user name, with something that they have, like a one-time-password
token or a USB smartcard. Although two-factor authentication gives users
truly secure access to critical systems and applications, historical
solutions are too costly, inflexible, and complex for most corporations
to deploy.
The Signal: So, what’s the solution?
Popp: Corporations deploying Strong Authentication solutions
need an intelligent infrastructure that is flexible enough to adapt
to the broad range of users and applications found in today’s modern
enterprise. This solution must be highly scaleable to support a corporation’s
natural growth. At the same time, it must remain uncompromisingly cost
effective, and easy to deploy and manage. Services such as VeriSign®
Unified Authentication enable enterprises to leverage a single integrated
platform for all of their Strong Authentication needs. Unified Authentication
eliminates the need to develop and maintain proprietary systems for
strong authentication; includes a next-generation multi-purpose token
that can be used both as a one-time-password token (in unplugged mode)
and as a USB smartcard (in plugged mode); reduces the total cost of
ownership by leveraging an enterprise’s existing infrastructure; and,
moves the complexity of security and scalability to VeriSign’s substantial
Internet infrastructure.
The Signal: Can you provide us with a real-world example
of how this might be deployed?
Popp: Service providers continually strive to find new
sources of revenue and ways to differentiate themselves. One potential
application is the ability to deliver “trusted identities.” Service
providers know their customers and have authenticated that they are
credit worthy and able to pay their bills. Those same subscribers want
single sign-on capability and the ability to be connected anytime and
anywhere, without compromising security or privacy of personal information.
Why not deliver these trusted identities – these authenticated subscribers
– to business partners to conduct commerce and share content? Service
providers are well-positioned to provide a secure, trusted environment
for all parties in the value chain. Applications which can be supported
include internet banking services, m-commerce sites, auction services,
and corporate intranets.
To learn more about protecting your network, register for our Free Web Seminar, featuring the Yankee Group.
Back
to top
Intelligent CONTENT
Content & Application Services
VeriSign
Announces Acquisition of LightSurf to Expand Mobile-Content Capabilities
We’re
pleased to announce that we’ve acquired LightSurf
Technologies, Inc., a global leader in multimedia messaging
and interoperability solutions for the wireless market. The LightSurf
6 Open Standards MMS Platform is a suite of hosted and managed MMS services
that allow subscribers to capture, view, annotate, and share multimedia
messages with almost any handset or email address, regardless of device,
file type, or network operator. The solutions are available for both
CDMA and GSM networks. LightSurf customers include Sprint, Eastman Kodak
Company, Motorola, and Bell Mobility. The LightSurf portfolio, is a
perfect complement to our acquisition
of Jamba! AG, the leading provider of mobile content in Europe,
(Jamster!
in North America, UK, and Australia). Both Jamba!/Jamster! and LightSurf
offer the deep, broad managed-service expertise so important to tier-one
carriers.
Learn more about our Digital Content
Services on the VeriSign Web site.
Back
to top
Events
FREE Web Seminar “Risk Mitigation: Balancing Risk, IT Security, and
Cost” Featuring Yankee Group
April 20th, 2005, 2:00 pm EDT
To help you prepare security
plans, VeriSign is hosting a free Web seminar on April 20 at 2:00 pm
EDT, entitled, “Risk Mitigation: Balancing Risk, IT Security, and Cost.”
Featuring Phebe Waterfield of the Yankee Group, this seminar explores
the critical balance between risk mitigation and expenses for security
implementations. Waterfield will discuss the concept of “Return on Risk”
(ROR), a crucial measurement of risk reduction as compared with dollars
spent. She will examine how ROR can be used as an important criterion
in the decision-making process, and the role of ROR within a well-orchestrated
security response plan that protects critical business processes. Join
us on April 20. Reserve
your space now.
For additional communications
industry conferences and events, visit the Events
section of the VeriSign Web site.
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to top
Industry News
From 3GSM World Congress
WirelessWeek (2/15/05) – from “3GSM World Congress in Brief”
“VeriSign, IBM and Gemplus International plan to demonstrate a new technology
solution for wireless operators that includes carrier-grade SIM, strong
authentication, federated identity and single sign-on integration. The
solution, the companies say, is designed to enable operators to give
subscribers the ability to conduct remote transactions securely by leveraging
their mobile platform to deliver a rich set of third-party services.” Click
here to read more.
Telecom TV (2/14/05) – Voice
over IP is set to extend its influence into the mobile enterprise. For
video interviews on this issue recorded at the 3GSM World Congress with
Neil McGowan, SVP, VeriSign Communications Services; Mike Mulica, CEO
Bridgeport Networks; and Robert Chu, Director Global eBusiness, IBM, click
here (Free Telecom TV subscription registration required
to view.)
Back
to top
Talk to Us!
Questions? Comments? The Signal wants to hear from you. If
you’d like to learn more about a particular topic, or if you have an
idea for a story, please
let us know.
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