eSign Australia Limited, a leading Australian provider of Internet trust services, has been selected by eClinic, an Australian aggregator of online medical services, to provide secure 128-bit public key infrastructure (PKI) services to enable the secure transaction of highly confidential medical results and records for medical practitioners.

In its initial phase, eClinic enables medical practitioners to securely and conveniently receive patients' pathology and radiology test results over the Internet. The initial rollout within Victoria and South Australia has been partnered by the Gribbles Group - who delivers a diverse range of quality diagnostic and analytical information services - with the rest of Australia expected to follow soon.

eClinic's founders and executive directors, Sanjiv Puri and Saurabh Mishra believe that the Internet offers a cost-effective and standardised delivery channel for medical information, but it also brings with it security concerns.

"In supplying sensitive information, online security has been of paramount concern to us in designing, developing and managing our services," said Mr Puri and Mr Mishra.

"We looked at a number of different security solutions, but we were impressed with VeriSign's offering - it is a brand name that people trust and the technology is proven. As VeriSign's Australian partner, we naturally selected eSign Australia. It was important for us to use a local supplier," said Gavan Lim-Joon, Technology Manager for eClinic. "We were impressed with eSign's Regional Operations Centre in South Melbourne and the security measures that it takes in keeping cryptographic keys."

To secure its site, eClinic implemented eSign's 128-bit encryption technology including eSign's OnSite solution - a fully integrated PKI managed service that has allowed eClinic to cost?effectively establish a robust, customised PKI and Certificate Authority (CA) system for issuing client digital certificates; an eSign Global Server ID (128-bit SSL enabling digital certificate) and two special code signing certificates - one for Netscape browsers and the other for Microsoft browsers.

"By implementing eSign's secure PKI services, eClinic's customers can now be assured that both parties know exactly who they're talking to and that the highly confidential information they are dealing with is totally secure," said Gregg Rowley, managing director of eSign Australia Limited.

eClinic plans to offer a greater range of services on top of diagnostic test results, such as purchasing supplies of medical consumables, lodging claims with Medicare, interacting with other practitioners and accessing medical directories, reference information and online training materials. These new services will provide doctors with a one-stop-shop online, and will save them time, money and paperwork.

Medical service providers such as diagnostic labs, pharmaceutical companies and suppliers will also benefit by being able to provide a better level of service through the eClinic website at lower costs to themselves.

About eSign Australia Limited (www.esign.com.au)
eSign Australia Limited was established in July 1999 to provide managed digital certificate services to Australian companies, web sites and individuals. As VeriSign's Australian partner, eSign provides its customers with the world's leading Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and digital certificate solutions. These solutions are used by enterprises, web sites and consumers, to conduct secure transactions and communications over the Internet and private networks. For further information, contact 02 9236 0509.

For further information please contact:
Emma Young/Graham White
Howorth Communications
Tel: 02 9904 4533
Email: pr@howorth.com.au