Certicom's Device Authentication Service Ships Over One Million Certificates for ZigBee Smart Energy Devices

MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO -- 05/28/09 -- Certicom Corp., the global leader in smart energy security technologies, today announced that its Device Authentication Service for ZigBee Smart Energy has shipped more than one million certificates for smart meters and ZigBee Smart Energy networked devices to help utilities and their customers enable more efficient energy consumption.

With the Obama administration's focus on reducing energy consumption and smart-grid technology, utilities are increasingly investing in smart metering for more efficient energy management and to address environmental concerns. As they build out smart metering infrastructure, they need to ensure that the networks are protected from unauthorized access and that customer information is secure.

ZigBee is a specification based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless devices enabling low-cost and low-bandwidth networks for the mass-market. The specification is regulated by the ZigBee Alliance with over 300 members worldwide. The ZigBee Alliance developed the ZigBee Smart Energy Public Application Profile to meet the requirements of wireless smart energy applications such as demand response, load control and energy efficiency programs.

The ZigBee Smart Energy profile uses bandwidth efficient Elliptic Curve Qu Vanstone (ECQV) implicit certificates to authenticate devices on the network and performs secure key agreement based on authentic device identities. Certificate-based device authentication and key establishment enables a robust Smart Energy ecosystem where devices can be deployed and managed with confidence, avoiding the security issues associated with previous wireless networking innovations, such as WEP.

"Strong, efficient ECC is ideal for securing bandwidth and resource constrained residential and commercial energy management systems, and Certicom's Device Certificate Authority helps ensure that only trusted devices have access to the utility network," said Jim Alfred, Senior Director, Product Management for Certicom.

The Certicom Device Authentication Service provides a root of trust for ZigBee Smart Energy devices. The service helps facilitate the interoperability of ZigBee Smart Energy devices, lowering the total cost of ownership for utilities and metering companies while ensuring the security of the utility network.

In addition to Certicom's ZigBee solutions focusing within the home, the company offers a highly scalable, turnkey Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) platform that provides automated, end-to-end security between advanced utility meters and utility companies' back-end IT infrastructure. Smart meters require enhanced security and key management to protect the smart grid for decades to come. Strong, efficient ECC is the ideal foundation.

More information on these green energy solutions can be found at http://www.certicom.com/index.php/products.

About Certicom Device Authentication Service for ZigBee Smart Energy
The Certicom Device Authentication Service for ZigBee Smart Energy provides a root of trust for all ZigBee Smart Energy devices. Authentic ZigBee Alliance certified products can be quickly and cost-effectively provisioned on the utility network because they have been tested and certified to be compliant with ZigBee Smart Energy standards. The service delivers out-of-the-box interoperability and security which lowers the total cost of ownership to utilities and metering companies while ensuring the integrity of the utility network.

ZigBee: Wireless Control That Simply Works
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. The ZigBee Alliance membership comprises technology providers and manufacturers worldwide. Membership is open to all. Additional information can be found at www.zigbee.org. 

About Certicom
Certicom, a wholly owned subsidiary of Research In Motion Limited (RIM), manages and protects the value of content, applications and devices with government-approved security. Adopted by the National Security Agency (NSA) for government communications, Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) provides the most security per bit of any known public-key scheme. As the global leader in ECC, Certicom's security offerings are currently licensed to hundreds of multinational technology companies, including IBM, General Dynamics, Motorola and Oracle. Founded in 1985, Certicom's corporate offices are in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada with worldwide sales and marketing headquarters in Foster City, California and offices in Europe and Asia. Visit www.certicom.com.
 

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