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PostX Announces Plan to Support and Integrate New Liberty Alliance v1.1 Specification for Federated Identity Management Standard

Leading Secure Messaging Company first to Embrace Powerful New Open Standard

Also Announces Support of SAML v1.0 (Security Assertion Markup Language)

Cupertino, CA, USA. December 12, 2002.

PostX, the leading provider of secure messaging solutions, today announced support and planned integration of the Liberty Alliance v1.1 specifications for federated network identity management. These standards will be integrated into the next generation of the PostX Enterprise secure messaging platform due for release in Q1 2003.

"We consider support of the Liberty Alliance project and the latest specification to be an important option to make available to our customers." said Cayce Ullman, Chief Technology Officer, PostX. "Federated authentication will become an integral component of enterprise secure messaging solutions going forward. PostX was the first secure messaging company to join the Liberty Alliance Project. It made perfect sense to enable a networked world in which individuals and businesses can more easily conduct transactions and share sensitive information while protecting both privacy and security."

PostX software products ensure that message security is strong, flexible, and easily extended to external organizations, partners and individuals. Security is transparent to end-users; there is no complicated and costly client software required and they may choose to receive secure communication either in their email inbox, through a secure web site, or their wireless device. PostX Enterprise, the company's flagship secure messaging platform, supports common industry standard technologies, integration interfaces, and application design.

PostX has also announced support of SAML in their upcoming release. SAML is the OASIS standard XML schema for security assertions and protocols. It enables security interoperability through the exchange of authentication and authorization information among disparate Web access management and security products. It addresses the need for secure single sign-on across diverse Web access management environments implemented across various organizations, applications, Web sites, and portals. The standard defines standardized exchanges of identity and access management (IAM) information, leveraging Web services standards such as XML and SOAP.

"Liberty Alliance, through its broad membership and high industry profile, has clearly established itself as an important group addressing Web services security through federated identity standards. Liberty is leveraging industry momentum surrounding the new OASIS standard, SAML 1.0, upon which the Alliance has built its specifications," said James Kobielus, senior analyst at Burton Group. "Concurrently, several industry vendors publicly announced commitments to implementing the Liberty Version 1.x specifications in their products over the coming year. PostX's support for Liberty Version 1.1 is encouraging, because it shows deepening vendor support for the standard throughout diverse product niches, such as secure messaging."

PostX is the only secure messaging company that plans to implement a federated authentication model based on the Liberty Alliance v1.1 specification. In PostX's implementation, users authenticate with their preferred authentication mechanism, which can be passed within a circle of "trusted" entities. This allows the promise of single sign-on to be delivered to end users with no reduction in usability or security implementations; it is transparent to the sender and recipient.

"PostX is committed to solidifying our leadership in the secure messaging market, as demonstrated by production solutions and customer adoption that sets the standard for secure messaging vendors," according to Ullman. "PostX secures email for any client, and our flexible, security platform allows us to meet the varying needs of any business, allowing nearly any standard encryption algorithm to be chosen." Ullman continued: "With the support for Liberty Alliance and SAML standards for federated identity management, PostX has once again redefined what a secure messaging solution must deliver in today's enterprise environment."

"It's important for secure messaging products to be flexible and have customer configurable security models for their messaging applications." said Joyce Graff, senior analyst, Gartner Inc. "As new standards are ratified, it's also important that secure messaging vendors comply with and integrate these standards within their software solutions."

About PostX Corporation

PostX was founded in 1996 with a mission to maximize ECommunications value for organizations by enabling secure electronic delivery of information vital to business and customer relationships.

PostX delivers powerful, secure EStatements, EConfirms, EPaystubs, Ecustomer Service, and EMarketing direct to any computer desktop or wireless device, unleashing real value in the form of significant cost savings, powerful marketing opportunities, and deeper recipient loyalty.

PostX is headquartered in Cupertino, CA. PostX partners include the United States Postal Service (USPS), IBM, VISA, DST, Cable & Wireless, Verisign, Esker, and Moore Communications. PostX customers include Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Merrill Lynch, Ford, and EuroBrokers. For more information, visit http://www.postx.com.

About the Liberty Alliance Project

The Liberty Alliance Project (www.projectliberty.org) is an alliance of more than 130 technology and consumer organizations formed to develop and deploy open, federated network identification specifications that support all current and emerging network devices in the digital economy. Federated identity will help drive the next generation of the Internet, offering businesses and consumers' convenience and choice. Membership is open to all commercial and non-commercial organizations.

About OASIS

OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web services, XML conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and interoperability within and between marketplaces. OASIS has more than 500 corporate and individual members in 100 countries around the world.

Media Contact

Michael Weir
Director of Marketing
Tel: +1 408-861-3598
Email: mweir@postx.com

[Source: http://www.postx.com/company/news/pressreleases/December_12_2002]

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See: "Liberty Alliance Specifications for Federated Network Identification and Authorization."

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These standards will be integrated into the next generation of the PostX Enterprise secure messaging platform due for release in Q1 2003. "We consider support of the Liberty Alliance project and the latest specification to be an important option to make available to our customers." said Cayce Ullman, Chief Technology Officer, PostX. "Federated authentication will become an integral component of enterprise secure messaging solutions going forward. PostX was the first secure messaging company to join the Liberty Alliance Project. It made perfect sense to enable a networked world in which individuals and businesses can more easily conduct transactions and share sensitive information while protecting both privacy and security." PostX software products ensure that message security is strong, flexible, and easily extended to external organizations, partners and individuals. Security is transparent to end-users; there is no complicated and costly client software required and they may choose to receive secure communication either in their email inbox, through a secure web site, or their wireless device. PostX Enterprise, the company's flagship secure messaging platform, supports common industry standard technologies, integration interfaces, and application design. PostX has also announced support of SAML in their upcoming release. SAML is the OASIS standard XML schema for security assertions and protocols. It enables security interoperability through the exchange of authentication and authorization information among disparate Web access management and security products. It addresses the need for secure single sign-on across diverse Web access management environments implemented across various organizations, applications, Web sites, and portals. The standard defines standardized exchanges of identity and access management (IAM) information, leveraging Web services standards such as XML and SOAP. "Liberty Alliance, through its broad membership and high industry profile, has clearly established itself as an important group addressing Web services security through federated identity standards. Liberty is leveraging industry momentum surrounding the new OASIS standard, SAML 1.0, upon which the Alliance has built its specifications," said James Kobielus, senior analyst at Burton Group. "Concurrently, several industry vendors publicly announced commitments to implementing the Liberty Version 1.x specifications in their products over the coming year. PostX's support for Liberty Version 1.1 is encouraging, because it shows deepening vendor support for the standard throughout diverse product niches, such as secure messaging." PostX is the only secure messaging company that plans to implement a federated authentication model based on the Liberty Alliance v1.1 specification. In PostX's implementation, users authenticate with their preferred authentication mechanism, which can be passed within a circle of "trusted" entities. This allows the promise of single sign-on to be delivered to end users with no reduction in usability or security implementations; it is transparent to the sender and recipient. "PostX is committed to solidifying our leadership in the secure messaging market, as demonstrated by production solutions and customer adoption that sets the standard for secure messaging vendors," according to Ullman. "PostX secures email for any client, and our flexible, security platform allows us to meet the varying needs of any business, allowing nearly any standard encryption algorithm to be chosen." Ullman continued: "With the support for Liberty Alliance and SAML standards for federated identity management, PostX has once again redefined what a secure messaging solution must deliver in today's enterprise environment." "It's important for secure messaging products to be flexible and have customer configurable security models for their messaging applications." said Joyce Graff, senior analyst, Gartner Inc. "As new standards are ratified, it's also important that secure messaging vendors comply with and integrate these standards within their software solutions." About PostX Corporation PostX was founded in 1996 with a mission to maximize ECommunications value for organizations by enabling secure electronic delivery of information vital to business and customer relationships. PostX delivers powerful, secure EStatements, EConfirms, EPaystubs, Ecustomer Service, and EMarketing direct to any computer desktop or wireless device, unleashing real value in the form of significant cost savings, powerful marketing opportunities, and deeper recipient loyalty. PostX is headquartered in Cupertino, CA. PostX partners include the United States Postal Service (USPS), IBM, VISA, DST, Cable & Wireless, Verisign, Esker, and Moore Communications. PostX customers include Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Merrill Lynch, Ford, and EuroBrokers. For more information, visit http://www.postx.com. About the Liberty Alliance Project The Liberty Alliance Project (www.projectliberty.org) is an alliance of more than 130 technology and consumer organizations formed to develop and deploy open, federated network identification specifications that support all current and emerging network devices in the digital economy. Federated identity will help drive the next generation of the Internet, offering businesses and consumers' convenience and choice. Membership is open to all commercial and non-commercial organizations. About OASIS OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web services, XML conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and interoperability within and between marketplaces. OASIS has more than 500 corporate and individual members in 100 countries around the world. Media Contact Michael Weir Director of Marketing Tel: +1 408-861-3598 Email: mweir@postx.com [Source: http://www.postx.com/company/news/pressreleases/December_12_2002] Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See: "Liberty Alliance Specifications for Federated Network Identification and Authorization."