FC: Verisign cashes in by selling wiretap outsourcing

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Mon Oct 07 2002 - 22:10:53 PDT

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    [CALEA, aka Digital Telephony, is a federal law that, generally speaking, 
    requires telecommunications firms to rewire their networks to ensure ready 
    snoopability by police. --Declan]	
    
    ---
    
    http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/print_story.asp?story=28919712
    
    VeriSign Signs Arrival, Cellular Mobile Systems, and First Cellular For
    NetDiscovery Services
    2 Oct 2002, 08:01am ET
    
    /FROM PR NEWSWIRE SAN FRANCISCO  415-543-7800/
    [STK] VRSN
    [IN] TLS NET CPR
    [SU] CON
    TO BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY EDITORS:
    
          VeriSign Signs Arrival, Cellular Mobile Systems, and First Cellular
                               For NetDiscovery Services
    
    Trusted Nationwide Infrastructure Supports Turnkey Solution Enabling All Types
                  Of Carriers to Comply with CALEA Easily at Low Cost
    
         MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
    VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN), the leading provider of digital trust services,
    announced today that three new contracts have been executed for their
    NetDiscovery(TM) Services, the most complete outsourced solution available for
    compliance with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).
    Arrival Communications, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) that
    provides voice and data services to underserved cities throughout California,
    and regional wireless carriers Cellular Mobile Systems of St. Cloud and First
    Cellular of Southern Illinois, have deployed VeriSign's NetDiscovery Services
    as a cost-efficient means of meeting their obligations under CALEA, the
    congressional mandate requiring carriers to support law enforcement agencies
    in conducting lawfully authorized intercepts of communications content and
    call data.
         VeriSign's trusted network infrastructure, secure data centers and
    security bureau personnel uniquely position the company to serve the CALEA,
    subpoena, and judicial order compliance needs of all types of
    telecommunications carriers and information service providers as well as law
    enforcement agencies.
         "VeriSign NetDiscovery Services offer us a streamlined, affordable
    solution for provisioning, access, and delivery of call information to law
    enforcement agencies (LEAs)," said Tony DiStefano, CEO of Arrival
    Communications.
         "CALEA compliance can be simply cost-prohibitive for smaller wireless
    carriers because we are required to maintain the same level of capabilities as
    our much larger competitors but we have far fewer subscribers to spread the
    cost over," said Terry Addington, the President and CEO of First Cellular of
    Southern Illinois. "In our 10 years of service we never had an intercept
    request. To spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a solution at our size
    just didn't make sense. For us, the VeriSign NetDiscovery service bureau is
    the perfect solution to meeting our preparedness obligation."
         In addition to the potentially high cost of network upgrades, non-
    compliant carriers could face a fine of $10,000 per day for each intercept
    request from law enforcement agencies.
         "VeriSign's NetDiscovery is a valuable solution to help carriers comply
    with CALEA, in particular relieving us of the administrative headaches
    involved with administering the legal orders, so we can focus on other,
    revenue generating services," said Sandy Bromenschenkel of Cellular Mobile
    Systems.
         "VeriSign's nationwide network infrastructure, digital certificate/PKI
    technology and secure data centers enable us to provide a service bureau
    solution that saves carriers the burden of significant capital and operating
    expenses," said Raj Puri, VP - NetDiscovery Services for VeriSign
    Telecommunication Services. "In addition, VeriSign's trusted solution advances
    public networking by maintaining streamlined connections for multiple carriers
    and switches."
         VeriSign's NetDiscovery solution manages the call content and call data
    intercept, provisions the intercept event, converts calls and call data into a
    required legal standard format, and delivers the call data and call content
    directly to the law enforcement monitoring facilities using highly secure IP-
    VPN technologies.
    
         About Arrival Communications
         Arrival Communications is a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC),
    providing voice and data services to underserved cities throughout California.
    The company offers a full suite of business products including, SDSL and T1
    broadband Internet access and local, centrex, long-distance, toll free, voice
    mail, and teleconferencing voice services. Founded by a group of individuals
    with extensive experience in the telecommunications industry, the privately
    held company based in Bakersfield, California utilizes a highly trained,
    direct sales force to proactively design cost-effective voice and data
    solutions for small to medium sized companies. Voice over DSL and other
    advanced technologies allow Arrival to deliver business telecommunications
    services at costs well below the traditional telephone company. For more
    information, visit www.arrival.com.
    
         About VeriSign
         VeriSign, Inc. is the leading provider of digital trust services that
    enable everyone, everywhere to engage in commerce and communications with
    confidence. VeriSign's digital trust services create a trusted environment
    through four core offerings -- Web presence services, security services,
    payment services, and telecommunication services -- powered by a global
    infrastructure that manages more than seven billion network connections and
    transactions a day. Additional news and information about the company is
    available at www.verisign.com.
    
          Contacts
          Media Relations: Penny Thomas, pthomasat_private, 360-493-6724
          Investor Relations: Steven Gatoff, sgatoffat_private, 650-426-4560
    
         Statements in this announcement other than historical data and
    information, including but not limited to, statements regarding benefits of
    VeriSign's restructuring and new service offerings, constitute forward-looking
    statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
    Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve
    risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ
    materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements.
    The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, VeriSign's
    limited operating history under its current business structure, the risk that
    businesses of previously-acquired companies as well as other businesses will
    not be integrated successfully and unanticipated costs of such integration;
    uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in
    quarterly operating results; the ability of VeriSign to successfully develop
    and market new services and customer acceptance of any new services; the risk
    that VeriSign's announced strategic relationships may not result in additional
    products, services, customers and revenues; increased competition and pricing
    pressures; risk that the company may not be able to achieve anticipated cost
    savings from the restructuring; and risks related to potential security
    breaches. More information about potential factors that could affect the
    company's business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings
    with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual
    Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001 and quarterly reports
    on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-
    looking statements after the date of this press release.
    
                          MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here
                    http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X59942075
    
    SOURCE  VeriSign, Inc.
         -0-                             10/02/2002
         /CONTACT:  media, Penny Thomas, +1-360-493-6724, or pthomasat_private,
    or investors, Steven Gatoff, +1-650-426-4560, or sgatoffat_private, both of
    VeriSign, Inc./
         /Web site:  http://www.verisign.com/
    
    
    
    
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