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.

Anders Hoffman, senior director of business development for iD2, said: "With the help of PKI you provide a common secure platform both for corporate and public networks, and you can use it for all types of applications."

Customers are given a secure identity held on a smartcard. The cards can then be used for business transactions via a reader attached to a PC or server.

Hoffman added that digital signatures have become essential for the growth of ecommerce, and using an individual smartcard to store a digital identity was much safer than holding details on a PC.

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.

In the first phase, up to five million companies could pay for De La Rue's DE128 smartcard readers and browser software from iD2. Hoffman added that the system could be expanded for consumer use in the future.