This is a copy of the C2Net Press Release from 19 Dec 1996

Bundled With Thawte Certificates

Additionally, C2Net and Thawte Consulting cc, a certificate authority based in South Africa, jointly announced a bundled product: a Stronghold webserver and a Thawte server certificate. The bundle will sell for $545; Stronghold alone lists at $495. Thawte's main competitor, Verisign, sells web server certificates for $290; similar certificates are $100 when purchased separately from Thawte.

"We can now offer our customers the convenience of one-stop shopping when setting up a secure web site," said C2Net President Sameer Parekh. "Thawte is now poised to be a significant competitor to VeriSign, and we think that competition in this area is very healthy and will bring greater value to the entire Internet"

Certificates are used for secure connections to authenticate the server to the client. People using Netscape and Microsoft browsers can connect to sites using both Thawte and VeriSign certificates because the "root certificates" for these companies come pre-loaded with the Netscape and Microsoft browsers.

New Features in Version 2.0

Stronghold 2.0 is adding a number of new features users have been asking for.

"We've redesigned the security interfaces and built on the new Apache 1.2 code base," commented Mark Cox, Stronghold product manager at UK Web. "Stronghold has had many productivity and performance enhancements and it is now fully compliant with the new HTTP/1.1 standard." The HTTP/1.1 standard is a significant update to HTTP/1.0, the protocol that governs how web browsers and web servers communicate.

HTTP/1.1 brings many new features to the table, including improved content and language negotiation, improved persistent connections, and better recovery from interrupted transfers. (For more information on HTTP/1.1, see http://www.apacheweek.com/features/http11)

Stronghold 2.0b1 also incorporates a number of popular features from the Thawte webserver, Sioux, including more flexible directives for specifying security properties and improved certificate-based authentication. A subsequent beta version of Stronghold 2.0 will contain a full-fledged grapical configuration manager, based on the one in Sioux, as well as support for the latest version of the SSL protocol, known as SSLv3.

Merged With Sioux

Along with the bundling agreement, Thawte and C2Net have merged their webserver products, Sioux and Stronghold. "This gives us a chance to focus more of our energy on our certificate business," said Mark Shuttleworth of Thawte Consulting. "By doing this, our two companies will be better able to compete in both the web server and certificate- issuing markets."

Existing Sioux customers will be able to upgrade to the new version of Stronghold for $95.

Upgrade Policy

Starting today, users who purchase Stronghold will be guaranteed a free upgrade to 2.0 when it gets out of beta testing. Other existing Stronghold users will probably need to pay a $95 upgrade fee, depending on when they purchased the product.

Stronghold is developed outside of the United States, and is distributed within the US and Canada by C2Net and in the rest of the world by UK Web. All versions of the product use uncompromised, full-strength cryptography.

Background

C2Net (previously known as Community ConneXion, Inc.) is the leading provider of uncompromising security on the Internet. In addition to Stronghold, C2Net also markets SafePassage Web Proxy, a product that allows users of popular web browsers to use full-strength cryptography worldwide.

UK Web Limited is a leading Internet services company specialising in server technology, Internet security, business solutions and effective site design. They are the international distributors for both Stronghold and SafePassage products.

Portions of Stronghold were developed by the Apache Group, and were taken with permission from the Apache Server http://www.apache.org/. Stronghold also includes software developed by Eric Young (eay@mincom.oz.au).