Outsourced PKI Solutions

For early implementers of PKI with huge budgets and sufficient IT and administrative capacity, deploying an infrastructure on an in-house basis was most appropriate. However, as PKI attracts increasing interest from a larger number of large and medium-sized companies and organisations, the case for outsourcing PKI becomes favorable. Outsourced PKI solutions provide a multitude of benefits for business. Although the underlying idea is to transfer the burden of implementation and management of the PKI solution to a service provider, there are undoubtedly important strategic and financial advantages in outsourcing trust as well. As an expert in outsourced PKI since 1996, GlobalSign presents CorporateRA, the premier outsourced PKI solution in the market. The principal argument against outsourced PKI was the loss of control at the customer site. Today, outsourced PKI experts such as GlobalSign are transferring control almost entirely to the customer. The customer manages the entire lifecycle of certificates and PKI regulations while GlobalSign provides the infrastructure, training and support. Other main parameters that will define an organisation's needs related to this crucial decision are: time to market, size of population, application, financial and human resources, legal framework, etc. ASP-style PKI service providers such as GlobalSign spares the customer of a huge investment in PKI software and the integration services required to implement a solution. Still it allows the customer to control certificate issuance and management, while the service provider maintains the back-end system. CorporateRA is the standardised PKI solution for a business-to-business environment, mainly used for Extranets and Intranets. CorporateRA is GlobalSign's immediately deployable, low-cost managed PKI Solution for delivering digital certificates (PersonalSign2, PersonalSign3, SSL, DocumentSign Digital IDs for Adobe PDF) directly from the customer site. It allows customers to issue, defer and revoke GlobalSign Certificates, and manage Registration Authority tasks via an easy-to-use secure web-based interface. CorporateRA delivers the capabilities of a fully-fledged GlobalSign-accredited Registration Authority (RA) directly to the customer, without requiring the customer to invest in its own infrastructure. As a CorporateRA customer, you benefit from GlobalSign practice standards as followed by all GlobalSign customers. Moreover, certificates issued by a CorporateRA customer carry the same level of trust as those issued by GlobalSign itself.

Contact Enterprise Sales for more information on CorporateRA Low Cost: No customer investment in secure infrastructure or human resources necessary for operating an in-house CA. GlobalSign delivers this system in a "virtual" form to the customer's doorstep. Straightforward all-in-one service fee: Within the CorporateRA service fee, everything is included including certificate management, support, directory and validation services and the actual certificates. Quickly Implemented: Quick implementation of a front-end web-based software tool which immediately integrates the customer's site with the GlobalSign Network of Trust, where the technology, infrastructure, policies and practices necessary to issue and manage certificates are already in place. Scalable: CorporateRA offers the most flexible growth plan for a customer's evolving PKI needs, starting with a limited number of Certificates for pilot-testing secure e-commerce applications and growing to a full-scale high-volume PKI. Reliable: The customer issues certificates that are signed by the GlobalSign Root Certificate and backed by the GlobalSign Certification Practice Statement. These Certificates have a recognized value and are trusted around the world. Those benefits are ultimately passed on to the customer. Customer in the driver's seat: It's the customer who holds full control of registration data and user information in his company. Since the customer is taking care of the registration of users, crucial information on the user does not leave the customer's site. Complete: CorporateRA is a complete PKI solution, based upon a central RA unit, comprising critical components such as directory service (LDAP, web-based request pages and a full RA package).

CorporateRA allows customers to issue, defer and revoke GlobalSign Certificates, and manage Registration Authority tasks via an easy-to-use web-based interface within the GlobalSign Certificate Service Provider infrastructure. It consists of a web-based administration interface allowing the administrator to act as a remote user of the CA infrastructure as illustrated below:

	Companies or organisations seeking an easy-to-use, globally-accepted and trusted PKI solution to be used both inside and outside an e-commerce context.
	Organizations not planning a full-scale customized PKI infrastructure investment.

Private outsourced PKIs:
	Small and Medium Sized companies
	Financial institutions (banks / insurance companies / credit control bodies)
	Health sector and pharmaceutical companies
	Telecommunications companies (carriers / ISPs /...)
	Manufacturing
	E-Business models (b2b portals / vertical communities)

Digital Certificates can be used for:
	e-mail signing and encrypting by employees
	access to intranets
	secure e-mail with partners, suppliers and customers

DocumentSign Digital IDs can be used for:
	Applying Certifying Signatures and Approval Signatures to Adobe PDFs