Radicchio to submit m-commerce and security standards work to the Liberty Alliance Project


Radicchio Ltd. and the Liberty Alliance Project announced today that Radicchio, a cross-industry initiative for secure m-commerce, will contribute all its existing work in the area of mobile data services to the Liberty Alliance for further development.

The move will provide the Liberty Alliance, an organisation developing an open standard for federated network identity, further expertise in the mobile and European markets, as well as additional resources. It will also help speed development of a secure standard for authenticating and sharing identity-based data services across mobile networks around the globe.

Radicchio, formed in 1999 to advance the potential of mobile e-commerce and mobile security, has worked in concert with its members, a number of partners in the mobile industry, the Liberty Alliance and regulatory and standardisation organisations like the European Commission and ETSI to develop the "Trusted Transaction Roaming" platform.

Radicchio's newly developed platform, a method for securely authenticating mobile users across different mobile networks, already utilises the Liberty Alliance Federated Identity Architecture, and will continue to be supported within the Alliance.

"During our work we quickly learned identity and authentication is key to security and mobile services," said Stefan Engel-Flechsig, Radicchio CEO. "Our work was becoming more identity-related and the Liberty Alliance is the natural and universal place for conversations, concepts and standards around identity to develop."

The consolidation of Radicchio's work within the Liberty Alliance will also help Radicchio's member base, many of whom are also part of the Liberty Alliance. Engel-Flechsig continued, "There are numerous standards developments occurring simultaneously which is a strain not only on the those who must implement the standards but on the members involved in standards development as well. Because of the Alliance's strong support and our shared membership, we feel this is the best place for our work to continue."

"The ability for these two organisations to work together, first as distinct entities and now together, underscores the importance of an open standards organisation," said Michael Barrett, president of the Liberty Alliance Management Board and vice president of Internet strategy for American Express. "Wireless is one of the fastest growing industry around the globe. We're excited to incorporate the contributions of an organisation like Radicchio, and we look forward to expanding the scope of our work with their knowledge and assets."

"As a contributing member to both Radicchio and the Liberty Alliance, we are pleased to see the two bodies of work join more closely," said Professor Michael Walker, Vodafone Group Research and Development Director. "Mobile operators and service providers are all looking for an interoperable and more secure way to manage identity across networks. We think everyone will benefit from this alliance."

About the Trusted Transaction Roaming Platform

Radicchio's new Trusted Transaction Roaming platform is a concept for securely authenticating mobile users across networks for offering data services. The platform will allow service providers to be able to offer data services to other network operators' customers providing more value to their own customers and offering customers a wider choice of services without leaving their existing operator network.

Gemplus, also a member of both Radicchio and the Liberty Alliance, organised an effort to co-fund the project within the European Commission's 5th Framework Program for Research and Development. Together with the other project partners Orange, SmartTrust, Ubizen and Vodafone, Radicchio recently presented the "Trusted Transaction Roaming" platform to the European Commission, and independent evaluators have evaluated the "Trusted Transaction Roaming" platform project as successfully and promising.

Andrea Servida, Project Officer of the European Commission said, "The requirements and specifications of the trust-roaming platform constitute a valuable and promising contribution towards facilitating the development of services in the mobile environment as well as on the Internet."

About the Liberty Alliance Project

The Liberty Alliance Project (http://www.projectliberty.org/) is an alliance of more than 160 companies, non-profit and government organisations from around the globe. The consortium is committed to developing an open standard for federated network identity that supports all current and emerging network devices. Federated identity offers businesses, governments, employees and consumers a more convenient and secure way to control identity information in today's digital economy, and is a key component in driving the use of e- commerce, personalised data services, as well as web-based services. Membership is open to all commercial and non-commercial organisations.

If you are interested in seeing the full list of Liberty Alliance members or are interested in becoming a member, please visit us at http://www.projectliberty.org/.