PrimeKey to integrate AEP Keyper with its PKI solutions.

AEP Networks, a provider of secure networking and identity-based access products, and PrimeKey Solutions, an open source Public Key Infrastructure companies, today announced an agreement whereby the AEP Keyper hardware security module (HSM) and PrimeKey's products and services will be integrated to create solutions for digital rights management, financial services and the public sector. The company states that with this alliance, PrimeKey will become an authorized reseller of the AEP Keyper product worldwide and AEP Networks will become an authorized reseller of PrimeKey's services worldwide.

The company articulates that the ability to positively identify users and authenticate documents is a fundamental security element. The PrimeKey/AEP PKI solution issues the digital certificates which enable users to access and sign documents by proving integrity and authenticity. The private keys used to sign these certificates are securely stored and managed inside AEP Keyper HSM. The signed data can neither be modified nor altered during the transaction ensuring the integrity of the transmitted information.

"Digital certificates are being used to identify parties and to prove authenticity and data integrity. As PKI is becoming widely adopted and more applications are required to interoperate, there is a need for cost-effective infrastructure that can be fully integrated in the organization business process," said Pat Donnellan, CEO of AEP Networks. "PrimeKey is able to integrate our Keyper HSM to develop custom PKI solutions that provide a high-performance and tamper-resistant environment for the associated cryptographic processes."

"PrimeKey and AEP Networks already have a joint customer (concealed Fortune 500 customer) using the PrimeKey CA / AEP Keyper solution for digital rights management," said Konstantin Papaxanthis, CEO of PrimeKey. "And we have several other projects underway with public sector, police and defense customers to meet their very stringent security requirements."