CorporateRA: GlobalSign's outsourced PKI solution

For early implementers of PKI with huge budgets and sufficient IT and administrative capacity, deploying an infrastructure on an in-house basis was most appropriate. However, as PKI attracts increasing interest from a larger number of large and medium-sized companies and organizations, the case for outsourcing PKI becomes favorable. Outsourced PKI solutions provide a multitude of benefits for business. Although the underlying idea is to transfer the burden of implementation and management of the PKI solution to a service provider, there are undoubtedly important strategic and financial advantages in outsourcing trust as well. As an expert in outsourced PKI since 1996, GlobalSign presents CorporateRA, the premier outsourced PKI solution in the market.

The principal argument against outsourced PKI was the loss of control at the customer site. Today, outsourced PKI experts such as Globalsign are transferring control almost entirely to the customer. The customer manages the entire lifecycle of certificates and PKI regulations while Globalsign provides the infrastructure, training and support. Other main parameters that will define an organization's needs related to this crucial decision are: time to market, size of population, application, financial and human resources, legal framework, etc.

ASP-style PKI service providers such as Globalsign spares the customer of a huge investment in PKI software and the integration services required to implement a solution. Still it allows the customer to control certificate issuance and management, while the service provider maintains the back-end system. CorporateRA is the standardised PKI solution for a business-to-business environment, mainly used for Extranets and Intranets.

CorporateRA is GlobalSign's immediately deployable, low-cost managed PKI Solution for delivering digital certificates (PersonalSign2, PersonalSign3, SSL, DocumentSign Digital IDs for Adobe PDF) directly from the customer site. It allows customers to issue, defer and revoke GlobalSign Certificates, and manage Registration Authority tasks via an easy-to-use secure web-based interface. CorporateRA delivers the capabilities of a fully-fledged GlobalSign-accredited Registration Authority (RA) directly to the customer, without requiring the customer to invest in its own infrastructure. As a CorporateRA customer, you benefit from GlobalSign practice standards as followed by all GlobalSign customers. Moreover, certificates issued by a CorporateRA customer carry the same level of trust as those issued by GlobalSign itself.