SECURITY
Baltimore enters the T-commerce market
04-10-2000
by Aoidin Scully
Dublin-based security specialist Baltimore Technologies has announced an agreement with interactive television company FutureTV to develop secure e-commerce solutions for digital TV.
The integration of Baltimore's e-security products with FutureTV's server, set top box and smartcard platform will enable network operators and content providers to deploy secure T-commerce (e-commerce over TV) services.
"Personalised, pay-as-you-go TV, Video on Demand (VOD), e-cinema and e-music are just some of the new and exciting media offerings poised for enormous and imminent growth," said Ricky Rand, chief executive officer of Future TV. "The combination of FutureTV's product offering with Baltimore Technologies' e-security systems will enable us to offer solutions based on best of breed e-security and PKI techniques."
Peter Doyle, vice-president of marketing with Baltimore Technologies, said that ltimate success for the T-commerce industry would be determined by the availability of an infrastructure to secure data, protect content, authenticate users and uphold transactions.
FutureTV will integrate Baltimore's UniCERT Certificate Management system to allow the use of digital certificates and signatures that attest to the identity of users and devices for a variety of e-commerce transactions over digital TV networks.
The two companies claim their solution will enable network operators and content providers to implement new methods of business practice, attract new customers and suppliers, and create new markets, while eliminating transaction costs, preventing fraud and offloading much of the complexity of e-commerce.
"In the immediate future, we envisage that these combined technologies will enable secure delivery of a host of new and exciting e-government projects in Northern Europe which will be delivered using digital signatures for user authentication via the medium of the TV," added Peter O'Keeffe, chief executive officer of FutureTV Northern Europe.
Forrester Research predicts that interactive TV services will generate USD11 billion in advertising, USD7 billion in commerce, and USD2 billion in subscription revenues by 2004, while analysts at Deutsche Bank forecast revenues from T-commerce will exceed those from e-commerce by the same year. Electronic programme guides alone are expected to reach into 55 million homes and create USD3.2 billion in advertising revenues in the next five years.
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