Hewlett-Packard Co. said that VeriSign Inc. is now a strategic partner in the HP Praesidium partner program.
VeriSign’s participation will immediately enable qualified international banking customers using HP VirtualVault to employ the strongest encryption legally available for export to date for all their international business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications over intranets, extranets and the Internet, the firm said.
The combination of HP VirtualVault and VeriSign’s Global Server ID lets international banks with servers in the United States and abroad use 128-bit SSL sessions to conduct financial transactions more securely, even with export versions of popular browsers, without having to first obtain specific U.S. government approval.
HP and VeriSign said they are both authorized by the U.S. Department of Commerce to provide Secure Server IDs to qualified HP VirtualVault customers, eliminating the need for them to go through the time-consuming process of obtaining approval themselves.
The newer export versions of both Microsoft and Netscape Web browsers are programmed to enable strong encryption only when they encounter a VeriSign Global Server ID. Otherwise, they are limited to standard 40-bit encryption, the company said.
The HP Praesidium partner program consists of strategic alliances with Internet technology providers to provide total Internet security solutions to customers. The company states that the program also integrates Internet-based applications with VirtualVault and other HP Praesidium products to provide customers with easy access to electronic-business applications.