By Jae-won Kim

Several digital signature solutions are being released for PDAs.

Industry sources announced on April 27, 2003, that Connectrix, Pidian Hi-Tech, Mizi Research, MMi Group, and ToBe Tech are about to release commercial digital signature products, determined that PDA digital signatures will be widely used in e-commerce and corporate infrastructure access.

Connectrix's Cyber Sign stores the bio-characteristics of individual signatures made on screens of PDAs, Web Pads, e-Books and Web Phones using vector compression technology. This makes files 15 times smaller than regular image files, and an average signature data file is only about 230 bytes. In addition, Cyber Sign was designed to read, store, and transmit signatures made on any touch sensor device, without separate hardware.

Steven Baker, a director of Pidian Hi-Tech Co., Ltd., said that they had developed a digital signature engine some time ago. However, lack of demand prevented them from actively marketing the product. They expect an expanded market starting next year and plan to release a commercial version of Cyber Sign in October to lead the market.

Mizi Research has a strategy of linking sales of its digital signature solution 'Sign Wise' with Linuette, an embedded version of Linux developed by Mizi. Mizi explained that Sign Wise supports Java and Active X, facilitating the implementation of signature verification systems on the web. Furthermore, since it examines not only the signature shape, but also speed and pressure change values, more accurate signature comparison is possible, the company added.

MMi Group has developed 'SignQ,' which provides a 7-level security configuration. Its signature data is 1kb per person and the engine size is a mere 8kb (32kb for Windows, 6kb for Java).

ToBe Tech has also developed its digital signature solution, PDA Sign, and the company plans to release a commercial version next month. It looks like the competition will be fierce to take the leading position in the digital signature market.