Tech Bytes: Certicom Buys Security Tool-Kit Firm

Certicom Corp. said it has completed the acquisition of Consensus Development Corp. of Berkeley, Calif., a leading supplier of tool kits for the "secure sockets layer" form of Internet security.

Certicom, best known for its elliptic-curve cryptography systems that are well suited for smart cards and other small appliances, paid $3 million in cash and $21.5 million in stock.

Christopher Allen, president of Consensus Development, was named chief technology officer of Certicom, which is based in Toronto and has its sales and marketing office in San Mateo, Calif.

Consensus chairman Gifford Pinchot 3d said his company "had several opportunities to partner with other firms over the past few years, none of which offered the ... combination of technology leadership and cultural fit" that Certicom did.

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