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Automakers Bump CA Security Into Action
The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) is about to jump-start business-to-business authentication. Robert Moskowitz, head of AIAG's security working group, says service providers seeking a piece o f the auto industry's nascent IP supplier network will need to offer certificate authority (CA) services to authenticate network users. Moskowitz, a columnist for this magazine, also says he expects Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS), GE Information Services (GEIS), GTE, IBM and others to extend the work they're doing to the larger business community by offering CA services to other businesses and organizations.

In addition, Moskowitz predicts that most large auto companies and their trading partners participating in the network will run their own CA, while smaller suppliers will outsource the security work.

The AIAG pilot is scheduled to begin in late July, and, Moskowitz predicts, in teroperable CA products will start hitting the market by early fall. At press time, IBM's announced CA service role was targeted at providing Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol services under a partnership with MasterCard International. A spokesperson for GEIS says CAs will be an "obvious activity" complementing its Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) role, and an MCI marketing manager confirmed Moskowitz's speculation that MCI will provide both systems integration and service-based CA services. However, MCI was still evaluating whether to outsource the effort.

O, Give Me A Home Where The Internet Roams
Internet roaming pioneer i-Pass plans to embark on a series of partnerships to embed its remote-access software into a variety of intranet security and other products to give telecommuters and traveling employees secure intranet access. One of i-Pass' first agreements is with Aventail's IP tunneling technology, for a product expected to ship this summer. In April, i-Pass (www.ipass.com) was providing more than 1,000 Internet access points to more than 150 countries through access providers like BBN Planet, UUNET Technologies and Equant (popular at airports around the world). This month, i-Pass expects to have about 40 ISPs (with 160 signed up) using free i-Pass software that lets travelers call the nearest i-Pass Alliance number to enter a secure password and a modified user ID and have that traffic delivered to and authenticated by their own ISP.

Karen Chakmakian, marketing director at i-Pass, says authentication typically adds two to 10 seconds to existing Internet service provider (ISP) authentications. U.S. ISPs that establish their own pricing typically charge $3 per hour more domestically and about $12 more for international access, she says. In April, HomeGate launched a service to let users whose ISPs aren't signed up with i-Pass use the roaming service and have access to its 2 4-hour helpdesk for 10 cents per minute in the United States and Canada, and 50 cents per minute internationally (with an additional $5 monthly charge).