Certicom to Enhance Security Offering for Symbian OS-based Smart Phones

Mississauga, Ontario – (December 17, 2002) – Certicom Corporation (TSX: CIC), a leading provider of wireless security solutions, today announced they have joined Symbian’s Platinum Partner Programme. Symbian is the leading provider of operating systems for data-enabled mobile phones. 

The world’s top 5 handset manufacturers – Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson - have all licensed Symbian OS for use in advanced, feature-rich mobile phone products. In 2001, Symbian OS licensees shipped more than 80% of all phones shipped worldwide. 

By becoming a Symbian Platinum Partner, Certicom is demonstrating its strong commitment to the fast-growing Symbian OS ecosystem. This new agreement will also facilitate in-depth interaction between Certicom’s wireless security experts and Symbian technical teams as new generations of Symbian OS are developed.

“We are delighted that Certicom has joined Symbian’s Platinum Partner Programme,” said Gilles Allain, Vice President, Partnership & Alliances, Symbian. “As Symbian OS becomes the industry standard platform for delivering advanced data services, the demand for high performance, user-friendly security solutions optimized for Symbian OS will continue to grow. As a recognized leader in the wireless security space, Certicom is ideally placed to provide these solutions. Through this strategic relationship, Certicom will bring invaluable security expertise to the Symbian community.”

The Symbian Platinum Partner Program defines a new and elite partner status open only to the community of members who have a technology or strategic position that is key to the success of mobile computing technology surrounding Symbian OS. Certicom's products and services are designed to address the security challenges imposed by a wireless data environment.
movianVPN™ from Certicom is an award-winning VPN client that extends enterprise security to handhelds. It gives mobile users the ability to access sensitive information with the highest level of security using existing wired VPN infrastructures. movianVPN is currently available for the Nokia 9210 Communicator series and development for other Symbian devices and platforms is underway. 

“Symbian's role as a driving force for the wireless industry is internationally recognized,” said Ian McKinnon, President and CEO of Certicom. “As the functionality of smartphones based on the Symbian OS increases, Certicom is committed to developing security that does not affect performance and usability so users can securely access information anytime, anyplace. Through this strategic relationship, Certicom demonstrates its commitment to the Symbian OS and reinforces its position as the leader in the wireless security market.” 

For more information on Certicom wireless security solutions, visit www.certicom.com. For availability and pricing of movianVPN for Symbian, contact sales@certicom.com.

About Symbian Platinum Program
Symbian Platinum Program members benefit from a range of Symbian products and services allowing them to design highly integrated hardware and software solutions for Symbian OS. The commercial services available to Symbian Platinum Partners include technical support and joint marketing opportunities. Symbian Platinum Partners may also get early access to the Symbian OS Development Kit™, which incorporates source code, test code, internal documentation, kernel and device driver programming interfaces and ROM building tools. For more information see 
http://www.symbian.com/partners/part-platnm.html

About Symbian
Symbian develops and licenses Symbian OS, the industry standard operating system for data-enabled mobile phones. Symbian has licensed Symbian OS to the world's top handset manufacturers including Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. In total, Symbian OS licensees account for more than 80% of worldwide mobile phone sales. 

Symbian's mission is to create a mass market for Symbian OS mobile phones by enabling Symbian OS licensees to build winning products. Publicly announced Symbian OS phones include the Sony Ericsson P800 Smartphone, Nokia 7650, 3650 and N-Gage. Currently, there are 20 Symbian OS phones under development (December 02). For more information, please visit www.symbian.com.

About Certicom
Certicom is a leading provider of wireless security solutions, enabling developers, governments and enterprises to add strong security to their devices, networks and applications. Designed for constrained devices, Certicom’s patented technologies are unsurpassed in delivering the strongest cryptography with the smallest impact on performance and usability. Certicom products are currently licensed to more than 300 customers including Texas Instruments, Palm, Research In Motion, Cisco Systems, Oracle and Motorola. Founded in 1985, Certicom is headquartered in Mississauga, ON, Canada, with offices in Ottawa, ON; Herndon, VA; San Mateo, CA; and London, England. Visit www.certicom.com.

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