Burnaby, BC, Toronto, ON and Mountain View, CA, October 30, 2001
– TELUS and CIBC have entered into an agreement to establish a new,
national e-commerce trust services provider that will serve as VeriSign,
Inc.'s principal Canadian affiliate. VeriSign, the leading provider
of digital trust services, will provide both technology and capital
to the new entity formed by TELUS and CIBC. This new entity will provide
web site security to enable secure e-commerce; enterprise authentication,
which leverages VeriSign's public key infrastructure (PKI) to issue
and manage digital credentials for signing transactions; and online
merchant payment services, which facilitate settlement of transactions
between buyers and sellers.
This initiative forms an independent Canadian company that draws on
the expertise of each partner to establish a trusted environment for
wired and wireless transactions. TELUS and CIBC currently deliver PKI
services in Canada as part of the VeriSign trust network, which uses
common technology, operating practices and infrastructure to establish
secure communications and transactions on the Internet. Under terms
of the alliance, TELUS and CIBC will combine their PKI services to deliver
a Canadian national trust infrastructure for secure online and wireless
commerce.
"This transaction advances by over a year TELUS'
plans for providing this crucial service to customers," says Mark
Schnarr, TELUS executive-vice president and president, TELUS Ventures.
"TELUS' investment in this new company is in line with our strategy
of funding start-up businesses and emerging technology ventures that
exploit the convergence of data, voice, IP and wireless and enable TELUS
to provide its customers the best and most complete service."
"CIBC is recognized as a leader in the Canadian
e-commerce marketplace by identifying new e-commerce opportunities and
incubating and growing new ventures," said David Marshall, CIBC
vice-chairman of e-commerce, operations and technology. "The success
of CIBC's VeriSign powered PKI services over the past two years proves
that our strategy is on the right track. Today's announcement that we
are continuing that success and joining forces with TELUS – one of Canada's
largest telecommunications companies – is simply the next logical step
in the expansion of this business and the realization of our e-commerce
vision."
"As small businesses and enterprises across
Canada continue to deploy a broad range of e-commerce applications,
the need for a national trust infrastructure becomes paramount,"
said Anil Pereira, senior vice president and group general manager,
Enterprise and Service Provider Division, VeriSign. "The combination
of two leading infrastructure providers, TELUS and CIBC combined with
VeriSign's digital trust services will provide reach in every corner
of the country and will accelerate wired and wireless e-commerce."
VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN) is the leading provider
of digital trust services that enable everyone, everywhere to engage
in commerce and communications with confidence. VeriSign's digital trust
services create a trusted environment through three core offerings -
web identity, authentication and payment services – powered by a global
infrastructure that manages more than five billion network connections
and transactions a day. Additional news and information about the company
is available at www.verisign.com.
CIBC (TSE:CM, NYSE:BCM) is a leading North American
financial institution offering more than eight million personal banking
and business customers a full range of products and services through
its comprehensive electronic banking network, branches and offices across
Canada, in the United States and around the world. As the Canadian national
affiliate of VeriSign, Inc., CIBC leverages the proven technological
and managed expertise of global security leader VeriSign to bring Internet
trust services to individuals and e-business marketplaces throughout
Canada.
TELUS Corporation (TSE: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is one
of Canada's leading telecommunications companies providing a full range
of telecommunications products and services that connect Canadians to
the world. The company is the leading service provider in Western Canada
and provides data, Internet Protocol, voice and wireless services to
Central and Eastern Canada. For more information about TELUS, visit
www.telus.com.
TELUS Ventures manages TELUS' venture capital fund,
targeting start-up businesses and emerging technology ventures consistent
with TELUS' strategy to exploit the convergence of data, voice, IP and
wireless.
####
Statements in this announcement other than
historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements
involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results
to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking
statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others,
VeriSign's limited operating history under its current business structure,
failure of the Illuminet merger to close due to the failure to obtain
regulatory or other approvals; failure of the Illuminet stockholders
to approve the merger; the risk that the VeriSign and Illuminet businesses
will not be integrated successfully and unanticipated costs of such
integration; uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential
fluctuations in quarterly operating results; increased competition;
risks associated with the company's international business and risks
related to potential security breaches. More information about potential
factors that could affect the company's business and financial results
is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
especially in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2000, Registration Statement on Form S-4 filed on
October 10, 2001 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters
ended March 31 and June 30, 2001. VeriSign undertakes no obligation
to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this
press release.
VeriSign is a registered trademark of VeriSign, Inc.
Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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