Hongkong_Post_-_Technical_Backgrounder.doc

TECHNICAL Backgrounder HEWLETT-PACKARD’S IMPLEMENTATION FOR HONGKONG POST PUBLIC KEY INFRASTRUCTURE (PKI) Introduction Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, holds promise of massive growth due to its promise as a high-volume low-cost marketing channel. It reduces cost of sales, including overhead, speeds delivery, and empowers customers to order any time from anywhere. US-based Forrester Research estimates that business-to-business e-commerce transactions will reach US$43.0 billion this year and the consumer e-commerce sales will total about US$18.2 billion. Hong Kong companies will now be able to take the fullest advantage of this rapidly expanding channel to increase their revenues. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) provides a technical solution framework to achieve this by authenticating the identity of participants in e-commerce and to ensure the integrity of information exchanged via the use of a digital certificate, alleviating concerns about security. Through HPs PKI implementation, Hongkong Post will play a vital role in fulfilling the promise of electronic commerce by building a world-class Certification Authority (CA) system by the end of the year. A CA issues digital certificates that offer a high level of security for Internet-based transactions to businesses and consumers so that they can securely identify themselves when conducting electronic transactions. Collaborating with Hewlett-Packard Hong Kong, GTE CyberTrust, Entegrity Solutions and Control Data Systems together provide the core technology needed to the specific requirement set forth by Hongkong Post. HP also proposed several optional technologies to Hongkong Post for consideration. These include De La Rues smart card solution, Gempluss smart card solution, NetDoxs notary consultancy service, Ss Internet postage solution and the University of Hong Kongs Netscape plug-in for strong encryption. Proven, Open, and Secure Standards Based PKI Solution for Root CA A gr