Smartcard Trial Paves Way for Secure Ecommerce

Ten of the world’s largest financial institutions have launched a trial of secure smartcard technology, and aim to roll-out the service to five million companies worldwide early next year. Identrus, a global alliance including Barclays, Chase Manhattan, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, is trialling a secure business-to-business payment system based on De La Rue’s AuthentIC smartcards, and software from iD2 Technologies. Identrus is developing a global network based on PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) which will allow up to 300 smaller banks to offer secure business services to their corporate clients. Identrus will act as a guarantor for the integrity of the service. During the trial, two of Identrus’ member banks will test the software and smartcards for interoperability and reliability. If successful, Identrus hopes to start rolling-out the system in early 2000.

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