RON THORNBURGH
Secretary of State |
STATE OF KANSAS |
Memorial Hall, 1st Floor
120 SW 10th Avenue
Topeka, KS 66612-1594
(785) 296-4564
www.kssos.org
|
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
Contact Information
Jesse Borjon, Communications Director
Office of the Secretary of State
(785) 296-4580
jesseb@kssos.org
VeriSign Equips State of Kansas with Digital Signature Technology,
Enables
Citizens to Interact Efficiently with Government Agencies
VeriSign’s Outsourced Security Services Allow Government to
Reduce Costs and Expand Services to Citizens
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA. - January 28, 2003 - VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRSN),
the leading provider of digital trust services, and Kansas Secretary of State
Ron Thornburgh, winner of the 2002 “Agent of Change” Digital Government
Award presented by the Massachusetts Institute for Technology and Accenture,
announced today that VeriSign has signed a multi-year contract with the State
of Kansas to provide digital certificates in support of Kansas’ statewide
initiative to improve e-government services to citizens. Using VeriSign’s
public key infrastructure (PKI) technology, state, county, city agencies and
the state educational system will have the ability to digitally sign documents,
thus increasing efficiency and reducing costs traditionally associated with
government transactions.
“A remarkable collaboration of 15 state offices worked six years to build
the plan for our state’s implementation of PKI. After a nine-month evaluation
of solution providers, we chose VeriSign’s managed security solution because
of its reliability and capacity to scale to millions of users, enabling us to
support the new breed of online applications,” said Kansas Secretary of
State Thornburgh. “With VeriSign’s solution, we will be able to offer
government, business and citizens electronic communications that authenticate
the identities of senders and ensure that the original content of messages have
not been changed.”
The State of Kansas is currently served by 90 state agencies in addition to
55 institutions of higher education. Complementing the State’s wide range
of physical services, VeriSign’s digital certificate technology is intended
to provide citizens, employees and businesses with a trusted means to electronically
transact with multiple government agencies.
“It is clear that the State of Kansas is a leader in providing its constituency
with increased access to Internet services with the same trust and reliability
that it already provides in the physical world,” said Barry Leffew, vice
president of VeriSign’s public sector group. “VeriSign will continue
to work with all levels of government, ensuring that sensitive documents and
transactions can be protected online.”
VeriSign’s public sector group works with a variety of federal and state
government agencies in providing digital trust services to government employees,
ensuring efficiency and security in online communications, payment transactions
and authentication services.
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. is the leading provider of digital trust services that enable
everyone, everywhere to engage in commerce and communications with confidence.
VeriSign's digital trust services create a trusted environment through core
offerings - telecommunications services, security services and registry services
- powered by a global infrastructure that manages billions of network connections
and transactions a day. Additional news and information about the company is
available at www.verisign.com.
Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information,
including but not limited to, statements regarding new business relationships
and new service offerings, constitute forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties
that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially from those stated
or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties
include, among others, VeriSign's limited operating history under its current
business structure; the uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and
potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results; the ability of VeriSign
to successfully develop and market new services and customer acceptance of any
new services; the risk that VeriSign's announced strategic relationships may
not result in additional products, services, customers and revenues; increased
competition and pricing pressures; and risks related to potential security breaches.
More information about potential factors that could affect the company's business
and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2001 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign
undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after
the date of this press release.
VeriSign is a registered trademark of VeriSign, Inc. Other names may be trademarks
of their respective owners.
VeriSign Contacts:
Media Relations: David Berkowitz, dberkowitz@verisign.com,
650-426-4470
Investor Relations: Steven Gatoff, sgatoff@verisign.com,
650-426-4560
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