Secure Computing Corporation, today announced that China Telecommunications Corporation, the telecommunications operator headquartered in China, has implemented SafeWord PremierAccess and joins other leading China telecom providers who have implemented a strong authentication solution from Secure Computing.

With the addition of China Telecom, Secure Computing offers the strong authentication solution of choice at four of the five state-owned companies that dominate the Chinese telecom market. China Mobile, China Unicom and China Netcom have also implemented a strong authentication solution from Secure Computing.

According to research firm IDC, China's telecommunications industry will account for 48 percent, or $15.8 billion, of the region's spending on network equipment in 2004. PremierAccess enables telecom providers to protect their internal networks by positively identifying remote users and eliminating the vulnerabilities of fixed passwords. China Telecom selected PremierAccess because it is also highly scalable and provides a lower total cost of ownership.

China Telecom implemented a VPN to accommodate the high mobility of its employees, but realized that the VPN alone, was not secure enough. Secure Computing SafeWord PremierAccess adds another layer of security to the VPN through strong authentication and gives China Telecom the assurance that its internal network is being protected. With the combined VPN and PremierAccess solution, China Telecom has been able to extend network access to remote employees, reducing operation costs and increasing productivity. China Telecom has realized a great return on investment with the implementation of PremierAccess, because its high scalability will accommodate its future remote access security needs.

Secure Computing SafeWord PremierAccess authentication solution provides an effective and manageable solution for the network access security needs of China's telecom providers. The vulnerabilities associated with fixed passwords are eliminated with PremierAccess through reliable passcode-generating tokens, robust authentication servers, and agents that protect Web, VPN, Citrix, wireless and network applications. Organizations realize a lower total cost of ownership with SafeWord's non-expiring tokens and the ease of management offered by SafeWord PremierAccess. With Secure Computing SafeWord PremierAccess, organizations can be assured that only authorized users are accessing the corporate network and the specific business applications for which access privileges have been granted.