VeriSign, Inc, the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure for the networked world, has announced that the WiMAX Forum® has chosen VeriSign’s Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to defend the rapidly increasing wireless broadband ecosystem.

After a wide-ranging selection procedure, VeriSign has been chosen to offer security solutions based on PKI for WiMAX™ networks that combine the speed of broadband with the ease of wireless to deliver the ‘last mile’ of connectivity on quick, metropolitan area networks.

As the leader in powering public as well as private trust communities, VeriSign is the only independent PKI supplier authorized to offer services to both WiMAX service providers and device makers.  

Worldwide, over 80 million devices from cable modems to ATM machines already rely on VeriSign’s PKI-based digital certificate services to secure access to a variety of services, and this number is set to develop dramatically with the addition of the WiMAX ecosystem.

Mr. Matt Wangler, Director of Operations of the WiMAX Forum, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the adoption of WiMAX-compatible products and services, said, “Ensuring secure communication over WiMAX-based networks is critical for the successful growth of the WiMAX ecosystem.”

“Seamless security that is transparent to the end user is also crucial for widespread adoption. We selected VeriSign because of its long track record in providing PKI solutions that feature the scalability and reliability required for WiMAX technology to flourish. With VeriSign, WiMAX is in good hands,” Mr. Wangler added.

As a trusted Certification Authority, VeriSign is set to perform critical certificate lifecycle functions for WiMAX service providers and device makers that include secure key generation and storage plus certificate issuance, validation, revocation, and renewal.  

Available to both WiMAX service suppliers and device mankers, the VeriSign WiMAX PKI Service is able to back up hundreds of millions of PKI-based WiMAX digital certificates on a worldwide scale.

The service is based on VeriSign’s PKI infrastructure, which has been delivering hosted and managed security to thousands of commercial and government clients since its inception in 1995.

“As WiMAX capabilities becomes more recognizable and available around the world, the need for a structured but scalable security framework is vital,” stated Adam Geller, vice president, Enterprise and Government Authentication at VeriSign. “We are delighted to once again be chosen to deliver the trusted third party infrastructure and services required to support a complex ecosystem like WiMAX.  WiMAX service providers and device manufacturers can be assured that we have the experience and perspective to provide vendor-agnostic services to all participants in the WiMAX community.”