Product, partnerships, pricing....
I/We/Tucows have spent the better part of last year thinking about these
things. As you might expect, Equifax came up as one of our potential
partners. We even considered going our own and creating our own CA
(ultimately we rejected that idea because there is enough capacity in the
market already, cost of investment is very high, and our time to market
would be slow -- another interesting discussion for a different day).
The following should give you some insight into our decision making process.
In choosing our partner we evaluated, among other items, the following:
1) Quality of all Security Offerings (beyond solely web certificates)
2) Pricing (of course)
3) Understanding of our business model and willingness to respect it (i.e.
let the Reseller own the customer relationship).
4) Commitment to the business
5) Experience in the business
On the issue of quality, Equifax Certificates offer the same level of
security and browser recognition as the Entrust Certificates. Entrust's
cross-certification agreement with Thawte (for recognition in old versions
of browsers -- see previous post or Introduction and Implementation white
paper on the certs.tucows.com site for discussion on this) runs out one-year
prior to Entrusts but I can't honestly say that that was a major contributor
to our decision.
On the issue of pricing... Equifax is very competitive. For us, this was as
disconcerting as it was exciting. However compelling that story was it was
overshadowed by the concerns we had around Equifax' commitment to the
business, experience in the business and, most importantly, the willingness
to respect our business model. Let me explain....
Although Equifax understood our business model there are a few things we
know (or at least can surmise that we know): 1) their core business has
nothing to do with the Internet it is a credit rating agency (for the
purpose of this discussion we will call it the "MotherShip"); 2)
EquifaxSecure (the "away mission") is but a blip on their balance
sheet/Income statement 3) At present, EquifaxSecure has to either be losing
money or making very poor Return on Investment 4) EquifaxSecure is aligned
to some degree with Verisign (see Press Release below). Herein lies the
heart of our fears...
At some point the Mothership is going to require an accounting from the Away
Mission. If they are not making a good Return on Investment (ROI) at present
then they will have tell a dramatic future revenue story (full of vision,
buzzwords and meaningful gazes into the horizon, as if to say the future is
ours for the taking). This results in two potential risks for Tucows and our
resellers: 1) The Mothership doesn't buy into the vision and they drop this
business... we and our resellers are back to square one but this time with
some scarred relationships at the other providers and/or 2) The future
revenue story is a story that goes directly to the end-user. In other words,
if we teamed up with Equifax, and Equifax and Verisign teamed up to offer
products directly to your customers (in violation of one of our cardinal
principals) we would do everything we could to stop it but Tucows probably
wouldn't do so well against two elephants (and, without fear mongering,
neither would our resellers).
Entrust, on the other hand, is heart and soul PKI (Public Key
Infrastructure). They made their reputation selling PKI solutions to Fortune
500/Global 2000 companies. They were in the game as early as Verisign
(originally a Nortel Subsidiary) but were playing in a different sand-box.
Their technology and security practices are of the highest quality and there
is no issue around their commitment to the business. About a year and a half
ago they set up a division called Entrust.net to compete directly with
Verisign for Internet security products. However (and I am getting editorial
here), their sales/marketing organization and culture did not resonate very
well with users of the Internet. This is where we naturally fit together.
They understand our business model and have contractually agreed to abide by
our business principles (neither Tucows nor Entrust will market other
products and services directly to your customers). For those reasons we
chose Entrust as a partner and hope to expand that partnership to other
products and services (as always with your input).
My apologies for the length of the post.. hope you find it
interesting/informative and I hope it make you favour Tucows Certs over the
competition. I welcome comments/criticism and feedback of all types.
Thank You
Darryl Green
Product Manager
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Verisign and Equifax Form Alliance to Provide Consumer Authentication
Services for Enterprise Customers
Enterprises can now authenticate their end-users to minimize the risk of
fraudulent transactions
Mountain View, Calif. and Atlanta, GA -- October 17, 2000 � VeriSign, Inc.
(Nasdaq:VRSN), the leading provider of Internet trust services, and Equifax
Inc. (NYSE: EFX), a worldwide leader in information management and
e-commerce solutions, today announced a partnership to combine VeriSign�s
new Authentication Service Bureau with Equifax�s patent-pending consumer
authentication services, enabling enterprises to issue digital credentials
to their customers for use in high-value e-commerce transactions. As part of
the relationship, VeriSign has named Equifax as a preferred provider of
consumer authentication services and Equifax has named VeriSign as a
preferred provider of Internet Trust Services. In addition, Equifax will
sell certificate-based authentication to its customers via VeriSign's
certificate infrastructure.
Responding to the increasing demand for the most advanced levels of security
and authentication, VeriSign and Equifax are teaming to provide
best-of-class solutions that not only secure e-commerce transactions by
encrypting sensitive information, but also authenticate online consumers.
Through this initiative, businesses in a variety of industries- including
telecommunications, healthcare, transportation, banking, financial services
and online retailing -can significantly reduce the risk of fraudulent
transactions while enabling consumers to protect themselves from online
identity theft and fraud.
"As communications and transactions over the Internet continue to expand, it
is imperative for corporations to provide the highest level of security and
authentication to prevent fraud and identification theft," said Anil
Pereira, senior vice president of VeriSign�s Internet Services Group.
"Equifax is at the forefront of online authentication technology. This
alliance combines Equifax's comprehensive authentication services with
VeriSign's scaleable and proven digital certificate services to create a
comprehensive solution that will be critical to the continued growth of
e-commerce transactions."
Unlike traditional methods that rely solely on so-called "wallet"
information such as name and address to identify users online, the Equifax
authentication solution requests both wallet and shared data that are known
only to the user and Equifax, such as banking and payment history. The
authentication engine compares and analyzes multiple elements of the
furnished information against existing consumer data from Equifax and other
consumer and business information sources, all in compliance with the
Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.
"Obtaining a more complete and accurate user profile, Equifax authentication
is a superior shield against tampering and identity theft, protecting the
privacy of user information through each step in the authentication
process," said C. Richard Crutchfield, executive vice president and group
executive, Equifax Internet Solutions. "By interfacing with Equifax�s
extensive consumer databases and authentication technology, VeriSign is
setting a new industry standard for personal privacy and security when
issuing digital certificate credentials to individuals in an online
environment."
About the VeriSign Authentication Service Bureau
VeriSign�s Authentication Service Bureau enables businesses to establish
trusted online relationships with their customers by irrevocably
authenticating users via organizational and individual identity
authentication, age validation, physical �personal presence� validation, and
authentication for specific kinds of restricted access, such as access to
healthcare or legal records. These services enable enterprises, online
merchants, B2B exchanges and others to seamlessly outsource their
authentication process and issue digital credentials necessary for
authentication over the Internet.
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRSN) is the leading provider of trusted
infrastructure services to web sites, enterprises, electronic commerce
service providers and individuals. The company's domain name, digital
certificate and payment services provide the critical web identity,
authentication and transaction infrastructure that online businesses require
to conduct secure e-commerce and communications. VeriSign's services are
available through its web sites (www.verisign.com and www.netsol.com) or
through its direct sales force and reseller partners around the world.
About Equifax
Equifax Secure, the e-commerce division of Equifax Inc, provides security,
privacy and transaction management solutions that protect consumers and
enterprises from the risk of identity theft and fraudulent transactions.
Equifax Secure authenticates online consumer identity, secures business
applications and manages digital certificates and directories for highly
secure, private e-commerce over the Internet and other networks. Equifax
(www.equifax.com), a worldwide leader in enabling and securing global
commerce, brings buyers and sellers together through its information
management, transaction processing, direct marketing, and customer
relationship management businesses. Atlanta-based Equifax (NYSE: EFX) serves
the financial services, retail, credit card, telecommunications/utilities,
transportation, information technology and healthcare industries and
government. Equifax adds knowledge, expertise, convenience and security to
provide value-added solutions and processes for its customers wherever they
do business, including the Internet and other networks. Equifax employs
about 15,000 associates in 16 countries with sales in almost 50 and has $1.9
billion in revenue.
Statements in this press release that relate to Equifax�s future plans,
objectives, expectations, performance, events and the like are
�forward-looking statements� within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Future events, risks and uncertainties, individually or in the aggregate,
could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or
implied in these statements. Those factors could include changes in
worldwide and U.S. economic conditions that materially impact consumer
spending and consumer debt, changes in demand for the Company�s products and
services, risks associated with the integration of acquisitions and other
investments, the spinoff of Payment Services on a timely basis without
adverse impact on the Company�s operations, and other factors discussed in
the �forward-looking information� section in the management�s discussion and
analysis included in the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 1999 and 10-Q for the period ending June 30, 2000.
Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information
constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or
implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and
uncertainties include, among others, potential volatility in VeriSign's
stock price, uncertainty of Internet privatization, increased competition in
the domain name registration business including price competition, customer
acceptance of new products and services offered by the company in addition
to or as enhancements of its registration services, risks associated with
the company's international business, uncertainty of future revenue and
profitability and fluctuations in its quarterly operating results. More
information about potential factors that could affect the company's business
and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, especially in the company's Registration Statement
on Form S-4 filed on April 12, 2000, as amended, Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 1999 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for
the period ended March 31, 2000.
All rights reserved.
VeriSign is a registered trademark of VeriSign, Inc. All other trade names
mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
companies.
Darryl Green
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tucows Inc.
Phone:(416)538-5461
Fax: (416)-531-5584
96 Mowat Avenue
Toronto Ontario
M6K 3M1
