IBM, VeriSign Team Up for Transaction Services

IBM Corp. and VeriSign Inc. will jointly develop and sell services designed to enhance companies’ ability to conduct secure, automated transactions over the Internet.

Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.

The largest computer maker said it will stop selling its Tivoli Public Key Infrastructure software and instead sell a similar, upgraded service developed with VeriSign.

The service uses digital signatures, encryption and automated updates to ensure a secure transaction, the companies said.

IBM and VeriSign want to make Web-based transactions easier and cheaper for corporations. Both companies would benefit from increased sales of security services and software, and IBM would gain sales of its server computers, Web-management software, databases and networking and integration services.

“It will improve a customer’s sense of confidence that IBM will serve as the prime contractor for this,” Gartner Inc. analyst Vic Wheatman said.