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SUMMARY: GTE and Maithean Announce Successful Online Testing of Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) Architecture
Full System Operability Clears the Way for Banks, Merchants and Consumers to Begin Pilot Tests
NEEDHAM, Mass. -- GTE and Maithean today announced they have successfully completed online testing of the messaging architecture at the core of the latest approved Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol, the widely accepted standard for secure electronic commerce. The tests demonstrated full interoperability between the GTE CyberTrust ™ certification authority and Maithean's NetPay ™ electronic payment software for cardholders, merchants and payment processing institutions. By achieving full system operability, GTE and Maithean have demonstrated their leadership in SET development and cleared the way to begin pilot tests with live consumers, merchants and banks.
In the tests, GTE and Maithean successfully issued and processed MasterCard-branded SET-compliant digital certificates across all three levels - cardholder, merchant and payment gateway. GTE CyberTrust and Maithean executed dynamic request, issuance and registry messages resulting in certificates being issued to all three NetPay applications - NetPay Wallet, NetPay Merchant and NetPay Gateway. The digital certificates were subsequently used by NetPay in a test SET payment transaction.
"Each new achievement of full system operability is a significant step in the evolution of SET," said Steve Mott, senior vice president, Electronic Commerce/New Ventures at MasterCard. "GTE and Maithean have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to delivering the products and services that will make electronic commerce a reality for banks, merchants and cardholders. MasterCard is pleased to be working closely with both companies and we look forward to the first round of pilots in the weeks ahead."
SET is an open industry standard for safeguarding payment-card purchases made over open networks such as the Internet. The SET protocol, developed by MasterCard and Visa in conjunction with GTE, IBM, Microsoft, Netscape and others, uses software, digital certificates and encryption technology to provide a high level of security to electronic transactions. Under the SET protocol, consumers, Web merchants and banks will enjoy greater security, privacy and protection.
Digital certificates are electronic credentials that provide electronic transactions with a means of identification, authentication, privacy and data integrity. Distributed by a trusted third party known as a certification authority or CA, digital certificates contain identifying information about the holder and the issuing organization that cannot be forged or altered. Data integrity is assured through the use of digital signature techniques. GTE CyberTrust is a leading developer of CA products and services and the preferred provider of SET-compliant digital certificates to MasterCard International.
The NetPay payment system consists of three applications - NetPay Wallet for cardholders, NetPay Merchant for Web-based retailers, and NetPay Gateway for banks and other payment processing institutions. NetPay manages the details of SET within the application, thereby insulating cardholders, merchants and banks from the complexities of SET. All three NetPay products support online registration for digital certificates with an integrated certificate viewer. In addition to SET, NetPay supports a range of other virtual commerce functions, such as bill presentation and management, online banking and payment aggregation for micropayments. In addition to software-based cryptography, the NetPay products also support hardware-based cryptography via the Spyrus EES LYNKS Privacy Card&153.
"The successful testing of online enrollment and issuance of SET-compliant digital certificates to cardholder and merchant wallets and payment gateways is a major achievement and removes the last obstacle to more meaningful testing," said Tom Carty, vice president, Marketing and Business Development at GTE. "Maithean has proved to be a leader in the development of electronic payment products for consumers, merchants and banks. Integration of the CyberTrust certification authority with a complete line of payment systems from Maithean provides the customer community with a total solution. "
"Maithean has approached SET with the understanding that our products have to operate smoothly with certification authorities," said Mark Wolfe, president of Maithean. "GTE has demonstrated its commitment to the development and testing of SET-related products and services through the CyberTrust Partner Forum. We look forward to working with GTE to deliver a complete set of electronic payment solutions."
The GTE-Maithean tests were conducted through the CyberTrust Partner Forum, a development and testing service for use by technology providers, systems integrators and business partners. The Partner Forum provides a platform for interoperability testing of public key-enabled applications and digital certificate systems prior to release or implementation. Supporting a number of different standards, including the SET protocol and X.509 standards, the Partner Forum offers an open environment for testing a wide range of applications, such as electronic payments and access control.
GTE CyberTrust is a complete line of certification authority products and services for use by financial institutions, systems integrators, technology providers and corporate enterprises in a wide range of applications. In addition to the CyberTrust Partner Forum, the CyberTrust Customer-Branded Service offers an outsourcing solution enabling organizations to issue digital certificates under their own brand while GTE CyberTrust manages the system in the background. The CyberTrust CA product is a complete digital certificate system for companies that want to be their own certification authority. More information about GTE CyberTrust products and services can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.cybertrust.gte.com.
With revenues of more than $21 billion in 1996, GTE is one of the largest publicly held telecommunications companies in the world. GTE is also the largest U.S.-based local telephone company and a leading cellular-service provider, with wireline and wireless operations that form a market area covering about one third of the country's population. Outside the U.S., where GTE has operated for more than 40 years, the company serves over 6 million customers. GTE also is a worldwide leader in government and defense communications systems and equipment, aircraft- passenger telecommunications, directories and telecommunications-based information services and systems. Additional information about GTE can be found on the Internet at www.gte.com.
Maithean, Inc. is a leading provider of secure solutions for electronic commerce, electronic data interchange, and online transaction processing. The company offers a variety of highly scalable, standards-based applications for Windows 95, Windows NT and Unix platforms. Its core product, NetPay, is a comprehensive SET-compliant electronic commerce platform which includes an electronic wallet, merchant payment system, and acquirer gateway. Maithean provides products and services to leading financial institutions, service providers, hardware and software manufacturers, and government agencies. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Maithean is a privately held corporation. More information about Maithean can be found on the Internet at www.maithean.com.
Contacts:
Richard Blane, Maithean
650-903-7050 / 650-938-8165(fax)
info@maithean.com
MAITHEAN, NETPAY, NETPAY PAYMENT SYSTEM , NETPAY WALLET, NETPAY MERCHANT, NETPAY GATEWAY, NETPAY CERTIFICATE MANAGER, NETPAY CSP and SECURETRANZ are trademarks of MAITHEAN. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.