Security: ImagineCards to Fortify E-Commerce

The financial services world is one step closer to achieving full- blown, secure electronic commerce with the April 1 availability of the ImagineCard Corporate and ImagineCard Web solutions from Hewlett-Packard Co. and alliance partners Informix Software, Inc., and Gemplus.

The ImagineCard solutions are pre-integrated, smart card-enabled tool kits for intranet applications and Web services that employ two-factor authentication for increased security. The ImagineCard Corporate solution, which invokes strong authentication and digital signature technology to verify the legitimacy of transactions, enables banks to develop corporate intranet applications through private networks or corporate intranets.

Similarly, the ImagineCard Web tool kit, which uses strong authentication, enables banks to safely extend Internet-based shopping and home banking services to customers.

At present, the ImagineCard Web solution is being piloted by Germany's Gries & Heissel Bankiers and British Telecom is testing the ImagineCard Corporate solution. About 100 pilots are planned worldwide by banks, manufacturers and telecom companies, a majority of which will focus on corporate intranet applications, according to HP's Feisal Mosleh, director of Internet security solutions. Several of the pilots will involve U.S. financial institutions.

Pricing for the tool kits is straightforward: ImagineCard Corporate development kits are $153,000 (includes printer, 100 smart cards, adminsitration server and software); Web development kits are $129,000. Deployment kit pricing is based on number of licenses, with corporate costs of $120 per user and Web costs of $64 per user. FB