Nexus and SmartTrust Extend and Improve PKI Product Agreement


LINKOPING, Sweden, July 1, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Nexus and SmartTrust today signed an extension and improvement to their agreement of July 1, 2002. The agreement gives Nexus access to SmartTrust's property rights for products developed for fixed Internet, and SmartTrust gains access to Nexus's further development of these products for the mobile market.

Nexus also acquires the right to freely use the brands associated with these products, such as Personal, Certificate Manager and Security Center.

The agreement means that Nexus and SmartTrust strengthen their leading positions on their respective markets: the European market for digital ID and the market for secure mobile services.

Combined with previous acquisitions such as Blueice Research, this agreement gives Nexus additional strength to secure a long-term, cost- effective product development.

Nexus has already signed a number of substantial agreements with Volkswagen, Portima and HSBC among others, and other significant negotiations are underway with players on the global market.

"The cooperation with SmartTrust and the agreement signed last summer have given Nexus a sound platform to do business on the European market and meet the general impact and strong growth that digital ID is now seeing," says Gustaf Malmros, Nexus's executive vice president and Business Area Manager of Nexus Secured Business Solutions. "We can now underpin our investments in product development, in both the short and long term."

"This considerably strengthens Nexus and we can develop the Nordic and international PKI market more optimally -- where we have already successfully established ourselves as a leading partner. The deal will have a positive effect on Nexus's results and cash flow in 2003," says Michael Jacobsson, president and CEO at Technology Nexus AB.

"With this agreement, we strengthen our long-term partnership with Nexus, which gives us access to their unique competence in PKI for our solutions for secured mobile services, and forms a firm base for our further leading development in this area," says Lars Irenius, Director of Sales EMEA, SmartTrust.


 For further information, please contact:

 Gustaf Malmros, executive Vice President and Business Area Manager,
 Secured Business Solutions, Technology Nexus AB. Phone +46 705-94 43 58,
 e-mail mailto:gustaf.malmros@nexus.se

 Mikael Jacobsson, president and CEO, Technology Nexus AB,
 Phone +46 706 47 58 10, e-mail mikael.jacobsson@nexus.se

About

Nexus's solution area Digital Identities and Signatures Digital identification and signatures are used to fulfil requirements for the confidentiality, traceability, correctness and availability of information distributed via digital media.

Digital identities and signatures also ensure that the right users have access to the right information, and that unauthorised users are denied access.

Demands on security levels for access control vary and can be solved using different technologies. But if access control is to be combined with traceability in the form of digital signatures, then Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is the technology that meets all requirements. PKI is a method used for digital IDs and signatures. It is based on a key pair, one private key and one public key, used for digital identification, signing and encryption.

Nexus participated in pilot projects that formed the base of digital identification solutions used by the Swedish National Tax Board (Riksskatteverket), the Swedish National Social Insurance Board (Riksforsakringsverket), and the Banks' ID Service. Nexus is one of the leading companies in this field in Europe.

About Secured Business Solutions

Within the field of secured IT solutions, Nexus has gathered expertise in business and operations systems, PKI-based solutions, and secured messaging.

Through the combination of our expertise and experience in secured solutions for electronic business transactions, electronic services, message management, and electronic IDs, we have a unique ability to create the right security solutions based on our clients needs.

We deliver secured solutions within the following areas: Digital Identities, Digital Signatures, Identity Management, Secured Messaging

See also www-nexus-secured.com, www-nexus-secured.com/smarttrust

Facts about Technology Nexus AB

Technology Nexus AB develops and delivers software and services that allow businesses to have more open IT communication with their own customers, while protecting important and valuable information. Whether managing subscriber identities and digital signatures or delivering secure messaging, Nexus safeguards customers' transactions and communication channels and improves their profitability.

Nexus works with the end-customer market, and as a development partner with customers with high demands on quality.

Nexus has about 500 employees, with regional offices across Sweden in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Uppsala, Umea, Karlstad, Vasteras, Orebro and Borlange. International offices are in Copenhagen, Hamburg, Paris, London, Madrid and New Jersey, USA. Our head office is in Linkoping, Sweden. Find more information at http://www.nexus-secured.com. E-mail: contact@nexus.se

This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net

The following files are available for download:

http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/07/01/20030701BIT00850/wkr0001.doc

http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/07/01/20030701BIT00850/wkr0002.pdf