PinkRoccade and Enschedé/Sdu take initiative for digital security platform

The joint venture will market shared technology in the field of PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) and smartcards. In the Netherlands and the EU, PKI is the statutorily approved technology for the development of electronic signatures. The new company aims to function as an independent platform to initiate and promote benefits of scale and standardisation in the field of digital information security. PinkRoccade and Enschedé/Sdu will be open to third parties wishing to participate in the new venture. These may be existing and new customers, sector organisations, providers and organisations playing a role in the logistic process surrounding the technology. Talks have already been started with several potential participants. This will create an independent platform which will facilitate the service provision by the participants to the maximum. At the same time, the organisation can offer the benefits of scale which are needed to guarantee the cost-effectiveness and thus affordability of digital security. The platform will focus entirely on the market for digital security and digital identification. This is a market which is developing rapidly as the Internet and Internet applications reach maturity. Identification, security and reliability are essential aspects for E-business and E-government. Equally essential is the development of a security standard, to avoid a variety of different systems operating alongside and in parallel with each other, resulting in an digital confusion of keys. The first result of the proposed collaboration has already been recorded. At the end of October 2003, following a European tender round, a 10-year contract was signed with the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management for the supply of a smartcard-protected PKI infrastructure for the new digital tachograph, used to monitor compliance with the statutory driving and rest periods which apply for professional drivers. It is estimated that 600,000 of these smartcards will be issued over the next 10 years.