Wireless certificates

-- EDN, 2/17/2000

Diversinet has announced the Digital Permit Server Version 2.0, which acts as a proxy for wireless devices requiring certificate authentication. Diversinet cuts the size of a certificate from the typical 1 kbyte to 2 kbytes of a x.509 certificate to around 100 bytes. The Permit server issues digital permits that carry privileges or permissions for devices and are stripped of lengthy headers and noncritical information. The Permit server then queries the appropriate Certificate Authority with a full x.509 certificate. The technology is currently available as software, but the company hopes to soon move it to a chip. Licenses cost less than $1 in high volumes.

Diversinet, www.diversinet.com.

-by Nicholas Cravotta