Network security company VeriSign has announced that it has been selected by the WiMAX Forum to provide public key infrastructure (PKI) security services to all WiMAX Forum-Certified solutions based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 Fixed WiMAX and ETSI HiperMAN 1.2.1 standards. This partnership allows for industrywide equipment compatibility and interoperability by using a single, trusted device authentication standard across broadband wireless networks.

“VeriSign has proven experience creating interoperable trust models, and demonstrated a deep understanding of the WiMAX requirements, giving us the confidence that they are the best choice to secure the millions of WiMAX devices that will be deployed,” said Ron Resnick, president and chair of the WiMAX Forum, in a statement. “VeriSign met the WiMAX requirements for a PKI Trust Model and can provide scalable, robust PKI trust services to our more than 350 member corporations worldwide.”

Under the agreement, VeriSign will operate the WiMAX root certification authority used to create an authentication standard for WiMAX networks. The VeriSign Custom Device Certificate Service (CDCS) allows embedding X.509-standard digital certificates into all WiMAX Forum-Certified hardware devices based on IEEE 802.16-2004 and ETSI HiperMAN 1.2.1 standards, according to VeriSign.