Self-Managed Certificate Authority Increases Control and Accessibility Lehman Brothers did not want to rely on outside sources for system security, availability, and performance. With Certificate Server, Lehman Brothers can act as its own certificate authority, directly issuing certificates to qualified customers. To enroll, a new customer contacts a Lehman Brothers salesperson, who initiates the certification process. After signing various nondisclosure agreements, the customer can request a certificate through Lehman Brothers' certificate authority, which is outside the firewall. Lehman Brothers then processes the request manually and issues a PIN, which the customer uses to obtain the certificate.
Customers can use the same certificate for a predetermined time.
One of the greatest advantages of Certificate Server is that Lehman Brothers can manage the service itself from one location. We want to be wholly accountable for system maintenance, performance, and uptime. Netscape products allow us to administer services properly and in a timely manner. If we were to use a different type of product and rely on another vendor for administration and management, we would incur a great deal of expense. The new system has given us high availability - and also saved us a lot of money.