Abstract

The BESTS study was one of the first to explore the business realities, market opportunities and economic implications of the European trusted services (TS) market, especially where certificate authorities (CAs), registration authorities, time stamping authorities – and the digital signature-based public key infrastructure that support them – are concerned. Trusted services are essential for Europe’s growth into the information society, Europe should have native competence in trusted services, but Europe is perceived as lagging behind. We outline the problems European players face when trying to become (and remain) profitable in TS, provide predictions for the future (using four scenarios: growth/explosion, stagnation, maturity and decline/crackdown), and rate the feasibility of the various possible business models. Pervasive myths and misunderstandings surrounding trusted services are clarified. Included are the top 10 findings and predictions from the study in the following areas: business opportunities, branding, infrastructure costs, product differentiation among CAs, user education, alliance education, degradation of consumer confidence, finance, regulation, and market stimulation by government.

Author Keywords: Electronic commerce; E-commerce; Trusted services; TTP; Certificate authority; Internet commerce; I-commerce; Branding; Economic implications

¹ http://www.bests.org

Corresponding author; email: dkueter@ip.lu