Comtrust, the e-business solutions provider unit of UAE's Etisalat Monday entered into an alliance with The e World Wide Group with the aim of making Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) applications available in Pakistani market as an area of special focus. Additionally, eWWG will promote all Comtrust services in Pakistan.
Commenting on the alliance, Comtrust’s General Manager, Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar, said, “As the region’s pioneer in PKI related technologies, Comtrust is uniquely qualified, bringing the necessary expertise, experience, technology and regional understanding required to build a workable model for introduction of Public Key Infrastructure enabled applications in Pakistan.”
According to Salma Abbasi, President, eWWG, the recent changes in legislation in Pakistan have laid the way for the introduction of latest technologies. “With the promulgation of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance, the proposed creation of an effective and efficient Public Key Infrastructure within Pakistan becomes a viable option,” she said.
“The environment is rapidly changing in a positive direction. Therefore, this is the right time for the country to start building the foundations for the eEconomy. This will further strengthen Pakistan’s position as a real player in the global market place. The partnership with Comtrust, will enable us to quickly bring quality e-applications to Pakistan,” concluded Abbasi.
Public Key Infrastructure or PKI is an all-encompassing technology consisting of software applications, encryption methods and related business practices.
PKI is designed to ensure the identification and authentication of parties involved in online transactions. The technology allows verified identification of individuals and organisations across the Internet thereby helping to eliminate fraudulent actions.
Leveraging Comtrust’s experience in ebusiness industry, both as a consultant and implementer of authentication solutions based on latest smart card technology as well as in its capacity as the UAE’s certification authority, eWWG believes it can fast track the process in Pakistan.
“We have been working closely with the key players within industry sectors such as banking and finance, defence, education, telecommunications, government as well as sourcing feedback from various corporate IT arms. We have identified that a pent up demand exists and needs to be effectively addressed and this is something Comtrust is perfectly positioned to contribute to,” said Abbasi.
“Our initial step will be to offer special consultancy services through Comtrust in order to lay the framework before undertaking turnkey projects,” said Abbasi.
For Comtrust, Julfar believes the new alliance constitutes a major step forward as e-specialist seeks to increase its penetration into markets outside the UAE. “Geographic expansion is a key business objective of Comtrust. Partnerships such as this are critical to our ability to project our services outside the UAE. Pakistan is a developing market and thanks to this new alliance we are positioned to make significant contributions to the creation of economically viable options for Pakistan market,” said Julfar.
Under the terms of the agreement, eWWG will bring in their domain knowledge, extensive networking, credibility in the market and demonstrated ability to achieve results in the region. Comtrust will contribute thru technical capability, Intellectual Property, knowledge base and backend Infrastructure to go forward aggressively into opening the market in Pakistan. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
