Now, however, some participants are upset that someone talked about results publicly, violating unspoken bakeoff etiquette and putting the whole PKI industry in a bad light. Nobody likes to have their shortcomings pointed out publicly, so it is easy to understand why some vendors were upset. Participants in interoperability plug fests are doing important work that the buying public hopes will succeed soon. These paying customers recognize this work takes time and faces problems that vendors have to overcome.
Vendors hold bakeoffs in a heady atmosphere of noise, confusion and time constraints.
But the bakeoffs produce enormous gains rapidly. To offer a snapshot of that progress to customers interested in buying PKI equipment is useful, because customers will then know what to realistically expect from the technology as it exists today. So don't get distracted by people keeping an eye on you - they're only looking over your shoulder because they can't wait for you to succeed. Feedback Tell us your thoughts on this article or the issues raised in it. When you click Submit, you'll be taken back to this article.