[announce] OASIS Expands to Include PKI Forum

[Carol Geyer <carol.geyer@oasis-open.org>]

OASIS Expands to Include PKI Forum

Security Alliance Moves Adoption Agenda to International Consortium

Dallas, TX, USA, 4 November 2002 -- OASIS, the global standards
consortium, today announced that it will expand its organization to
include the security advocacy group, PKI Forum. As the newest OASIS
Member Section, PKI Forum will continue to advance the use of the
Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI) as a foundation for secure transactions
in e-business and Web services applications.

"Since much new standards and application development activity is in the
world of XML-related standards, and since it is vital for PKI to become
integrated into applications, this move makes sense. The synergies among
the groups within OASIS should help PKI move to the next phase as an
unseen but foundational part of the infrastructure," said Victor S.
Wheatman, Vice President and Research Area Director for Gartner, Inc.

The OASIS PKI Member Section joins a growing list of OASIS activities
that address Web services and security including WS-Security, the
Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), the XML Access Control Markup
Language (XACML), the Rights Language, the Service Provisioning Markup
Language (SPML) and XML Common Biometric Format (XCBF) and the Digital
Signature Services (DSS) protocol.

"OASIS advances the adoption of today's most important Web services
security standards. PKI is an important foundation for those standards,
and it makes perfect sense for PKI Forum to be part of the consortium,"
noted Terry Leahy of Wells Fargo, who served as chair of the PKI Forum
Executive Board and now leads the OASIS PKI Member Section Steering
Committee. Leahy added that moving PKI Forum's activities within OASIS
will benefit members from both organizations as well as increase market
awareness of all the e-business enabling tehnologies.

"Coordination and interoperability between the various security
standards are key factors for the success of Web services," said Patrick
Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. "Advancing the adoption of PKI
alongside other Web services and e-business security standards at OASIS
makes it easier for every company with a serious stake in the security
agenda to be represented and involved in this work."

Under the new organizational structure, members of PKI Forum will join
OASIS and be eligible to contribute to all OASIS technical work.
Existing OASIS members will have the option to participate in PKI
committee activities without additional membership dues. PKI committees
will be formed and operate under the OASIS technical process.

The PKI Forum Executive Board will continue to guide the alliance as the
OASIS PKI Member Section Steering Committee. Members include Derek Brink
of RSA Security, Peter Doyle of Baltimore Technologies, John Sabo of
Computer Associates, Mitch Arnone of Schlumberger Network Solutions,
Patrick Gen Kanaishi of Neucom, Terry Leahy of Wells Fargo, and Jeff
Stapleton of KPMG.

OASIS will host open mail lists for public comment on PKI Forum
activities, and completed work will be freely available to the public
without licensing or other fees.

About PKI Forum (www.pkiforum.org)
PKI Forum brings technology and service providers, integrators and
end-users together to accelerate the adoption and use of PKI
applications, digital certificates and other real world solutions, as
well as to facilitate interoperability through multi-vendor testing of
industry standards and educational outreach. Established in 1999, PKI
Forum serves as a global information resource for PKI and advocates
cooperation and market awareness enabling organizations to understand
and exploit the value of PKI in applications relevant to their
businesses.

About OASIS (http://www.oasis-open.org)
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards) is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the
development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members
themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open
process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite
disparate efforts. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web
services, XML conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing,
topic maps and interoperability within and between marketplaces. OASIS
has more than 500 corporate and individual members in 100 countries
around the world.


For more information:

Carol Geyer
Director of Communications
OASIS (www.oasis-open.org)
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
+1.978.667.5115 x209