Certicom conditional access system secures subscription revenue
MISSISSAUGA, ON, Feb. 5 /CNW/ - Certicom (TSX: CIC) today announced that
WORLDSPACE(R) Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: WRSP), a global leader in
satellite-based digital radio services, has licensed Certicom's Conditional
Access System to secure its Satellite Digital Radio (SDR) based broadcast
services for the European market.
WORLDSPACE plans to roll out a European service on a sequential,
country-by-country basis, beginning with Italy, which will be serviced by its
current AfriStar(TM) satellite. An additional satellite is expected to provide
increased capacity over Europe, enabling consumers to have access to
approximately 50 channels per country of diversified sports, talk and
commercial-free music programming at service maturity. Satellite radio
requires a security solution that is strong enough to protect copyrighted
material during transmission and at rest, while at the same time providing
seamless activation and authorization by users.
Certicom's Conditional Access System is currently deployed in millions of
consumer and commercial electronic devices and protects hundreds of millions
of dollars in subscription-based revenue. Certicom, the authority for strong,
efficient cryptography, is the global leader in delivering security and
conditional access solutions for the specialized needs of one-way digital
satellite broadcasting systems and is ideally suited for other digital
broadcast architectures such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and mobile
IPTV.
"At WORLDSPACE we pride ourselves on delivering unique, personalized
content to our global subscribers. Through this agreement with Certicom, we
are ensuring that our customers will continue to receive the highest quality
programming available," said Alexander P. Brown, Co - COO of WORLDSPACE,
"Certicom has proven itself under the most demanding digital broadcasting
environments and will deliver the highest level of security for our content
while ensuring our customers the ease of use they expect."
"WORLDSPACE has made a commitment to offer innovative programming to its
users, enhancing their listening experience. The value of this level of
investment demands a strong security solution," said Ian McKinnon, Certicom's
president and CEO. "Satellite broadcasting environments present unique
challenges where bandwidth constrained systems require optimized security that
doesn't affect performance."
Under the terms of the agreement, WORLDSPACE will pay license royalties
and an annual system maintenance and support fee.
About WORLDSPACE(R) Satellite Radio
Based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, Worldspace, Inc.
(Nasdaq: WRSP) is the world's only global media and entertainment company
positioned to offer a satellite radio experience to consumers in more than 130
countries with five billion people, driving 300 million cars.
WORLDSPACE delivers the latest tunes, trends and information from around
the world and around the corner.
WORLDSPACE subscribers benefit from a unique combination of local
programming, original WORLDSPACE content and content from leading brands
around the globe including the BBC, CNN, Virgin Radio UK, NDTV and RFI. The
WORLDSPACE satellites cover two-thirds of the earth's population with six
beams. Each beam is capable of delivering up to 80 channels of high quality
digital audio and multimedia programming directly to WORLDSPACE Satellite
Radios anytime and virtually anywhere in its coverage areas. WORLDSPACE is a
pioneer of satellite-based digital radio services (DARS) and was instrumental
in the development of the technology infrastructure used today by XM Satellite
Radio. For more information, visit www.WORLDSPACE.com.
About Certicom
Certicom protects the value of your content, applications and devices
with government-approved security. Adopted by the National Security Agency
(NSA) for classified and sensitive but unclassified government communications,
Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) provides the most security per bit of any
known public-key scheme. As the undisputed leader in ECC, Certicom security
offerings are currently licensed to more than 300 customers including General
Dynamics, Motorola, Oracle, Research In Motion and Unisys. Founded in 1985,
Certicom's corporate offices are in Mississauga, ON, Canada with worldwide
sales and marketing headquarters in Reston, VA and offices in the US, Canada
and Europe. Visit www.certicom.com
Certicom, Certicom ECC Core, Certicom Security Architecture, Certicom
Trust Infrastructure, Certicom CodeSign, Certicom KeyInject, Security Builder,
Security Builder API, Security Builder BSP, Security Builder Crypto, Security
Builder ETS, Security Builder GSE, Security Builder IPSec, Security Builder
MCE, Security Builder NSE, Security Builder PKI and Security Builder SSL are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Certicom Corp. All other companies and
products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders. Information subject to change.
Except for historical information contained herein, this news release
contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
Factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from
current expectations include, among other things: the ability of the Company
to successfully implement its strategic initiatives and whether such strategic
initiatives will yield the expected benefits; the ability of the Company to
develop, promote and protect its proprietary technology security breaches or
defects in the Company's products; competitive conditions in the businesses in
which the Company participates; changes in consumer spending; the outcome of
legal proceedings as they arise; general economic conditions and normal
business uncertainty; consolidation in the Company's industry and by its
customers; customer preferences towards product offerings; the risk that
customers may cancel their contracts with the Company; reliance on a limited
number of customers; demand for ECC-based technology; performance of the
Company's management team and the Company's ability to attract and retain
skilled employees; operating the Company's business profitably; fluctuations
in revenue and foreign currency exchange rates; interest rate fluctuations and
other changes in borrowing costs; the ability to develop and maintain
strategic relationships; and other factors identified under the heading "Risk
Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated July 26, 2006 and
filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
%SEDAR: 00003865E
For further information: Lisa Courtney Lloyd, Jolita Communications,
(613) 271-7512, lcourtneylloyd@jolita.ca
