Utimaco Safeware AG, the world leading supplier of data security solutions, today announced the availability of its SignatureServer SmartCard, a combination of secure hardware, integrated card readers and software, that creates and checks qualified digital signatures.
With SignatureServer SmartCard, companies and organisations can create and operate their own signature solutions in accordance with most countries legal mandates.
SignatureServer SmartCard is an easy-to-use, automatic and centralised system that generates digital signatures in all business processes requiring legally-compliant digital signatures. For example, companies that must comply with sales tax law regarding the creation of electronic invoices need qualified digital signatures so their invoices can be included in sales tax deductions.
By eliminating the need for an external trust centre to manage the digital signature process, SignatureServer SmartCard significantly reduces operating costs. The solution also provides a fast and economical alternative to conventional paper invoicing, an unwieldy system requiring printing, mailing, and manual or OCR data entry.
"SignatureServer SmartCard gives our customers complete control over their invoicing processes, even when large amounts of data are involved. As a result they can significantly reduce processing costs," said Bernhard Weiss, transaction security project manager at Utimaco. "At the same time they can be sure that they are complying with all the legal guidelines governing the creation and monitoring of qualified signatures."
One of the world's most stringent regulating bodies, the German Federal Networks Agency (BNetzA), has officially recognised Utimaco's SignatureServer SmartCard as complying with all aspects of German digital signature law. By offering the highest possible level of security, SignatureServer SmartCard also fulfills legal requirements for qualified digital signatures in most industrialised countries.
Utimaco's solution has client processing capability, making it ideal for integration into any business process regardless of whether the signature solution is run within the company or operated by an application service provider. Using up to ten signature chip cards, SignatureServer SmartCard can generate up to 40,000 digital signatures per hour. SignatureServer SmartCard has a wide range of standard interfaces including SMTP, file directories and SSF (Secure Store and Forward), meaning it can be integrated quickly and easily into SAP/R3 and NetWeaver environments. The variety of license and price models available includes a low-cost starter version.