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[CERTICOM LOGO]
NEWS RELEASE
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CRITICALDEVICES.com LICENSES CERTICOM'S ENCRYPTION TECHNOLOGY TO
SECURE THE FIRST INTERNET-BASED ASSET SERVICES MANAGEMENT(TM) OFFERING
HAYWARD, CALIF., APRIL 20, 2000 -- Certicom, a leading provider of m-commerce
security, and CriticalDevices.com, an innovative leader in service automation
technology, today announced a license agreement whereby CriticalDevices.com will
integrate Certicom's elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) technology into its
innovative flagship product, Asset Services Management(TM) (ASM). Certicom's
technology will ensure that sensitive communications used to support the
tracking, management and monitoring of customers' valuable corporate assets
remain secure.
"Incorporating Certicom's ECC technology into CriticalDevices.com's ASM offering
further strengthens our position to offer the most high-performance, cost
effective, Internet-based systems management capabilities while ensuring
top-level security for our customers," said Roy Hogsed, president and chief
executive officer of CriticalDevices.com, based in Dallas. "Certicom's security
enables a level of trust in our products sought by IT managers for organizations
who wish to leverage the popularity of mobile devices as quickly as employees
are integrating them into their lives."
CriticalDevices.com provides Asset Services Management(TM) (ASM) a suite of
technologies that help companies monitor, track and secure their computing
assets. ASM incorporates software agents in processor-based devices such as
servers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, desktops cell
phones, printers and more. This allows ASM to monitor the health and operating
status of every device and receive electronic alerts that can then be routed to
the appropriate service provider and company IT administrator.
CriticalDevice.com's relationship with Certicom is effective immediately,
providing the tight security and high processing speed required for mission-
critical, real-time and secure communications of their high bandwidth traffic
requirements.
"With the proliferation of on-line communications from the enterprise to mobile
devices, security remains a key issue for the users," said Richard Depew,
Certicom executive vice president of field operations. "Certicom's technology
continues to be adopted by innovative companies that utilize the Internet as a
medium for providing solutions to the challenges facing today's evolving
enterprise."
About Elliptic Curve Cryptography
Developed for a broad range of computing platforms and maximum interoperability,
Certicom's Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) technology enables strong, high
performance security for many pieces of the computing infrastructure, including
the new generation of small form-factor products such as handheld computers,
pagers, cell phones
-more-
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and smart cards. Certicom's patented implementation of ECC technology can
provide a more efficient alternative to conventional public key cryptographic
algorithms in many mobile and wireless environments, resulting in generally
faster processing speed, reduced bandwidth usage and decreased battery
requirements. These advantages make Certicom's ECC-based security technology
particularly well suited to mobile devices that incorporate less powerful
processors, such as handheld computing devices, Internet-enabled phones and two
way pagers.
About Critical Devices.com
CriticalDevices.com delivers Internet-based asset inventory tracking and
monitoring services to system integrators, value-added resellers and IT
consultants. With Asset Services Management (ASM), the company offers high
performance, cost effective, 24-hour monitoring and management of enterprise-
wide assets, including personal digital assistants (PDAs), notebooks, laptop and
desktop computers, servers, routers and virtually any networked device.
CriticalDevices.com was founded in March 1999 and recently began offering its
private-label services nationally. For more information, contact Roy Miller at
(214) 521-8596 or at rmiller@mbapr.com, or visit www.criticaldevices.com.
Sales inquiries may be sent to sales@criticaldevices.com.
About Certicom
Certicom is an encryption technology company specializing in security solutions
for mobile computing and wireless data markets, including m-commerce. Major
computing and communications companies, such as Palm, Inc., BellSouth Wireless
Data, Motorola, Pitney Bowes, and QUALCOMM incorporate Certicom's technology
into electronic commerce software, wireless messaging applications, and smart
cards. Certicom is a leading source for a wide range of OEM security products
and services, including cryptographic toolkits, custom implementations, and
security integration services and consulting. Certicom's worldwide sales and
marketing operations are based in Hayward, California, with cryptographic
research and product development in Toronto, Canada. For more information, visit
Certicom's Web site at http://www.certicom.com.
# # #
Except for historical information contained herein, this press release contains
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results
may differ materially. Factors that might cause a difference include, but are
not limited to, those relating to the acceptance of mobile and wireless devices
and the continued growth of e-commerce and m-commerce (mobile e-commerce), the
increase of the demand for mutual authentication in m-commerce transactions, the
acceptance of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) technology as an industry
standard, the market acceptance of our principle products and sales of our
customer's products, the impact of competitive products and technologies, the
possibility of our products infringing patents and other intellectual property
of third parties, and costs of product development. Certicom will not update
these forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the
date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect
Certicom's financial results is included in the documents Certicom files from
time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities
regulatory authorities including Certicom's Registration Statement on Form F-10.
For further information, please contact:
Lorraine Kauffman Roy Miller
Public Relations Michael A. Burns & Associates/CriticalDevices.com
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Certicom Corp. (214) 521-8596
(510) 780-5417 rmiller@mbapr.com
lkauffman@certicom.com
Jessica Johannes Lutchansky
Communications for Certicom
(408) 938-9050 x 15
jessica@lcomm.com