Certicom Unveils Device Authentication Service for ZigBee Smart Energy Devices

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Certicom's Elliptic Curve Cryptography Helps Energy and Utility Companies More Effectively Address Environmental and Conservation Issues

MISSISSAUGA, ON, May 20 - Certicom Corp. (TSX: CIC) today launched its new Certicom Device Authentication Service for ZigBee Smart Energy enabling secure, low cost, low bandwidth networking. The service uses Certicom's Device Certificate Authority to issue Elliptic Curve Qu Vanstone (ECQV) implicit certificates based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) to secure wireless data communications and authenticate smart metering devices. As utility providers around the world embrace smart metering for more efficient energy management and to address environmental concerns, it is critical to ensure that their networks are protected from unauthorized access and that customer information is properly secured.

ECC provides state-of-the-art encryption for resource-constrained applications including ZigBee Smart Energy devices. ZigBee is the standard for (IEEE) 802.15.4 wireless devices enabling low cost, low-bandwidth, mass-market networks. The standard is regulated by the ZigBee Alliance with over 250 members worldwide. ZigBee members, including Certicom, developed the ZigBee Smart Energy public application profile to meet the requirements of wireless smart metering applications such as demand response, load control and energy efficiency programs.

"Certicom's innovations in ECC-based security protocols have enabled a robust ZigBee Smart Energy security architecture. With power and memory footprint at a premium in ZigBee devices, ECC delivers the performance we require," said Skip Ashton, Vice President of Engineering for Ember Corporation, a leading provider of ZigBee networking systems. "Certicom's Certificate Authority helps ensure that only trusted devices have access to the utility network. Certicom's optimized security libraries – tightly integrated with Ember's development platform - make it easy for our customers to comply with ZigBee Smart Energy."

"Requiring all devices to be authenticated with digital certificates provides a solid foundation of trust and interoperability for ZigBee Smart Energy," said Jim Alfred, director of Product Management for Certicom. "Our new device authentication service makes it easier for metering companies to deploy and manage large mesh networks of smart metering devices."

The Certicom Device Authentication Service provides a root of trust for ZigBee Smart Energy devices. The service delivers out-of-the-box security, lowering the total cost of ownership for utilities and metering companies while ensuring the integrity of the utility network. Certicom's Device Authentication Service for ZigBee Smart Energy for bulk certificates will be available this month. Test certificates are available now. More information can be found at www.certicom.com.

[an error occurred while processing this directive] About Certicom Device Authentication Service for ZigBee Smart Energy
At the heart of Certicom Device Authentication Service for ZigBee Smart Energy are Certicom's Security Builder(R) MCE(TM) and Security Builder(R) Crypto(TM) products. Security Builder(R) MCE(TM) provides the cryptographic primitives required to create a trusted platform for microcontroller devices, thereby enabling wireless networks of devices that can be uniquely identified while allowing data to be securely sent to and retrieved from these devices. Security Builder(R) Crypto(TM) is optimized for small code size and includes a range of current and legacy algorithms that provide proven cryptographic security to constrained environments such as secure devices and applications.

ZigBee: Wireless Control That Simply Works
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. The ZigBee Alliance membership comprises technology providers and manufacturers worldwide. Membership is open to all. Additional information can be found at www.zigbee.org.

About Certicom
Certicom protects the value of content, applications and devices with government-approved security. Adopted by the National Security Agency (NSA) for government communications, Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) provides the most security per bit of any known public-key scheme. As the global leader in ECC, Certicom security offerings are currently licensed to more than 300 customers including General Dynamics, Motorola, Oracle, Research In Motion and Unisys. Founded in 1985, Certicom's corporate offices are in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada with worldwide sales and marketing headquarters in Reston, Virginia and offices in the U.S., Canada, Europe and China. Visit www.certicom.com.
 

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