EDS, Entrust Team on Digital Certificates

Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Entrust.net Inc. announced today that EDS will distribute Entrust.net's Web and wireless digital certificates to its clients in North America and overseas.The agreement is expected to produce $22 million in revenue over three years from services generated using Entrust.net certificates, said EDS of Plano, Texas. Entrust.net of Ottawa is a subsidiary of Entrust Technologies Inc. of Plano. EDS will perform this service through its local registration authorities in Australia, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States. The agreement includes an option to expand the services to additional regions in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Pacific.Digital certificates are a key component of electronic commerce. They work by uniquely identifying people and resources over networks, such as the Internet, essentially enabling secure, confidential communication to occur between two parties. "Since EDS is a major provider of Web hosting and other Internet services for its clients, we view this announcement as a strong validation of Entrust.net and Entrust Technologies' continued ability to serve global customers," said Dennis Heathcote, Entrust.net's vice president.