Strategic Partnership Intends To Extend Value of Xcert International Transaction
BEDFORD, MA.— RSA Security Inc. (Nasdaq: RSAS) today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) describing the terms of a strategic partnership with Marconi plc (London and Nasdaq: MONI), a global communications and IT company that provides advanced communications solutions and key technologies and services for the Internet. Marconi plc was the second largest shareholder in Xcert International Inc., a privately held company that RSA Security has agreed to acquire (see today's announcement). Marconi SecurTrust, part of Marconi plc, provides fully managed security services as an Application Service Provider (ASP) which include a trusted Certificate Authority, as part of a public key infrastructure (PKI), based upon Xcert's PKI technology.
RSA Security and Marconi expect to develop a strategic relationship to build on the investment and relationship that Marconi held with Xcert International, and to provide new market and growth opportunities to deliver trusted managed security solutions to customers worldwide. Under the terms of the MOU, the companies agreed that Marconi intends to license RSA Security's RSA BSAFE encryption products, that the companies intend to become a preferred supplier of each other's products and services, and that they intend to collaborate on product plans for their respective offerings.
"We are delighted with the opportunity to extend our longstanding relationship with Xcert to RSA Security," said Jack Fryer, director of strategy and technology for Marconi plc. "We believe this partnership will bring together complementary security expertise and technologies that enable Marconi and RSA Security to deliver trusted e-security solutions to organizations."
"The relationship with Marconi presents new market and growth opportunities for both companies," said Art Coviello, CEO and president of RSA Security. "We look forward to working together with Marconi to bring value-added communications and security solutions for the business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets."
About Marconi plc
Marconi plc is a global communications and IT company with around
49,000 employees world-wide and sales in over 100 countries. It supplies
advanced communications solutions and the key technologies and services
for the Internet. Marconi plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange
and Nasdaq under the symbol MONI. Marconi can be reached at www.marconi.com.
About RSA Security Inc.
RSA Security Inc., the most trusted
name in e-security™, helps organizations build secure, trusted foundations
for e-business through its RSA SecurID® two-factor authentication, RSA
BSAFE® encryption and RSA Keon® digital certificate management systems.
With more than a half billion RSA BSAFE-enabled applications in use
worldwide, more than eight million RSA SecurID users and almost 20 years
of industry experience, RSA Security has the proven leadership and innovative
technology to address the changing security needs of e-business and
bring trust to the new, online economy. RSA Security can be reached
at www.rsasecurity.com. RSA and Keon and are registered trademarks,
and The Most Trusted Name in e-Security is a trademark of RSA Security
Inc.
