CounterPath Teams with PGP Founder Phil Zimmermann to Increase VoIP Softphone Security with Integration of Zfone's ZRTP Protocol
April 04 2007 - 12:51PM
PR Newswire (US)
VANCOUVER and PALO ALTO, USA, April 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
CounterPath Solutions, Inc. (OTCBB: CTPS), a leading provider of
VoIP (Voice over IP) and Video over IP SIP softphones, and PGP
(Pretty Good Privacy) founder Phil Zimmermann, industry leader in
IP communications security, privacy and compliance solutions, today
announced an agreement that would see Zfone, the secure VoIP media
encryption software, integrated as an option into CounterPath's
softphone solutions including eyeBeam(TM) 1.5 and X-Lite 3.0(TM).
This agreement adds a new level of security to CounterPath's VoIP
softphone solutions and increases their importance for the
enterprise market. Zfone media encryption for VoIP communications
uses a new protocol called ZRTP to achieve risk-free security
without reliance on a PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), key
certification, trust models, certificate authorities or key
management complexity. Zfone performs its key agreements and key
management in a pure peer-to-peer manner over the RTP packet stream
and interoperates with any standard SIP phone. CounterPath's SIP
softphones and softphone SDKs (Software Development Kits),
including the eyeBeam 1.5 softphone, provide VoIP, Video over IP,
IM (Instant Messaging) and Presence functionalities, and offer
flexible VoIP solutions for some of the world's largest service
providers and equipment manufacturers including Cisco, Lucent,
AT&T, British Telecom and Deutsche Telekom. The integration of
Zfone media encryption into CounterPath's softphones will
significantly increase VoIP security levels for CounterPath's
customers and end users. Enterprises, service providers and
infrastructure manufacturers deploying these softphones will
benefit from protection from security threats such as Spam,
Denial-of-Service attacks, eavesdropping, spying and wiretapping,
while enjoying the same level of security and convenience that they
have come to expect from email. "As communications-over-IP
proliferates, there is increased concern over security of
information, especially in enterprise environments where incidences
of corporate espionage are becoming more prevalent," said Donovan
Jones, President and COO of CounterPath. "We expect this
collaboration to positively impact the commercial viability of
softphones and play an important role in how corporations protect
their intellectual property." "The ZRTP protocol turns
CounterPath's popular soft VoIP clients into serious secure
telephones," commented Phil Zimmermann. "With Zfone built into
X-Lite and eyeBeam, they will now be secure telephones for the
masses, and will be welcomed into the ever-growing interoperable
ZRTP user community." CounterPath is seen at the forefront of SIP
softphone manufacturers integrating high-level media encryption
into its technology. About Zfone Zfone is a new secure VoIP phone
software product which lets you make encrypted phone calls over the
Internet. Its principal designer is Phil Zimmermann, the creator of
PGP, the most widely used email encryption software in the world.
Zfone uses a new protocol called ZRTP, which achieves security
without reliance on a PKI, key certification, trust models,
certificate authorities, or key management complexity. ZRTP does
not rely on SIP signaling for the key management, performs its key
agreements in a purely peer-to-peer manner over the RTP media
stream, and interoperates with any standard SIP/RTP phone. To learn
more about Zfone, please visit http://www.zfoneproject.com/. About
CounterPath CounterPath Solutions, Inc., formerly Xten Networks,
Inc., is a developer of award-winning, carrier-grade VoIP and Video
over IP SIP softphones for telecom and Internet telephony service
providers, cable operators, IP-PBX manufacturers and infrastructure
manufacturers. CounterPath's SIP softphones and softphone SDKs
(Software Development Kits), which provide VoIP, Video over IP, IM
(Instant Messaging) and Presence functionality and can be
preconfigured to our customer's VoIP service, are predominantly
licensed on a per seat or per subscriber basis, either co-branded
or private labeled. CounterPath's technology is deployed by over
250 customers in more than 50 countries. Additional information
about CounterPath and CounterPath's products and services is
available at http://www.counterpath.com/. CONTACT: Rob Brown,
Director of Marketing, (604) 320-3344 x.120, DATASOURCE:
CounterPath Solutions, Inc. CONTACT: Rob Brown, Director of
Marketing, (604) 320-3344 x.120,
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