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PKI seems perfect for businessto-business transactions on the Internet. An individual or a company can use a PKI-enabled digital certificate to encrypt and sign messages, and the person on the other end, anywhere on the Internet, can be certain who sent the message and that the contents were not altered.
For all its potential, PKI, or public key infrastructure, has taken off more slowly than many predicted, largely because of its cost and complexity. And two companies that aspire to play a key role in PKI merged last month, hoping to have more success together than they have had apart
But the merger partners have had very different business models, raising questions about their prospects.
New York-based Identrus LLC was founded by 20 of the world's largest banks and targets international trade. Identrus operates as the center of a global network, issuing certificates to participating banks, which, in turn, issue Identrus certificates to corporate customers.
That enables a company that banks at Industrial Bank of Japan to exchange certificates with a Hong Kong company served by Standard Chartered Bank, as both banks are Identrus members. All told, 13 Identrus banks are issuing certificates, including four that went live this year.
Identrus is merging with Digital Signature Trust, a PKI player that has been U.S.-focused. Created by Zions Bancorporation, the leading bank in Utah, Digital Signature Trust had the backing of the American Bankers Association,...