Strengthening our partnership with Software602
I.CA has partnered with Software602 to facilitate the issuance of certificates for remote electronic signing and sealing.
Software602 customers will thus be able to use the services of two certification authorities: alongside the Czech Post and the First Certification Authority (I.CA).
The company's partnership with the First Certification Authority (I.CA) will facilitate the availability of qualified electronic signing services and the expansion of Software602 products and services. Through it, Software602 customers will be able to remotely sign and seal with I.CA qualified certificates, including qualified time stamps. Until now, Software602 has cooperated in this area only with the Czech Post. It will continue to use its services, but will now offer its clients the possibility of using two certification authorities on the Czech market.
The partnership will enable Software602 to provide new services
"Cooperation with Software602 is a great opportunity for us to extend our service offer to other customers and together provide them with easily accessible qualified services. Each of us brings a lot of know-how, expertise and years of experience to this cooperation. The combination of our strengths and skills will lead to the creation of a more comprehensive solution in the field of digitization and will enable users to easily access electronic signing," says Petr Budiš, Chairman of the Board of Directors of První certifikační autorita, a.s..
I.CA, as a qualified provider with more than 20 years of experience in the corporate segment and public administration, will offer customers the products of a qualified trust service provider through the Software602 platform in a joint project. "The cooperation with our partner will allow us to expand our reach into the mid-sized business sector, where Software602 has a strong position. By combining Software602 and I.CA, the user will be able to obtain all the necessary elements for securely signed and legally binding documents from one place from which he or she works with the documents at the same time," added Petr Budiš.
"The partnership with I.CA means for Software602 the assurance of delivering professional qualified services with a guarantee of rapid development over the new eIDAS 2 Regulation for the new services of our digitization platform," says Richard Kaucký, co-founder of Software602. "Our vision is a paperless administration, the current novelty is the digitization of labour documentation according to the amendment to the Labour Code and we will also cooperate with I.CA to simplify the issuance of qualified certificates, e.g. for the mass deployment of electronic mortgage and other services," adds Richard Kaucký.
Protection against vendor lock-in
Choosing the right technology to implement remote signing and sealing in an organisation's information systems is key to ensuring effective and secure digital communication. In today's fast-changing digital age, it is important to select services not only based on their quality and vendor reliability, but also to ensure that the flexibility to choose between different certificate providers is maintained. A major risk is vendor lock-in, or a situation where an organisation becomes dependent on a single service provider, which can lead to limited choice in the future and potentially higher costs or lower quality of service.
The way to eliminate this risk is to choose technologies that allow integration with multiple qualified certification authorities. This means that they should be able to support certificates for digital signing and sealing, as well as time stamps, provided by at least two different qualified authorities. This increases the flexibility and independence of the organisation from a particular supplier, while at the same time expanding the possibilities to use digital services in line with different legal and technical requirements.
"To ensure the long-term sustainability and flexibility of digital signing and sealing, it is crucial to choose technologies that are open to integration with multiple certificate providers and that offer robust protection against vendor lock-in. This will not only ensure the independence of the organisation, but also ensure the ability to respond to future developments in digital signing and legislative requirements," said Jan Frk, Director of eGovernment at Software602.
About the First Certification Authority (I.CA)
První certifikační autorita, a.s. (I.CA) is a qualified trust service provider. In 2002, I.CA was the first entity to obtain accreditation for the performance of the activities of an accredited provider of certification services within the meaning of the original Act No. 227/2000 Coll., on Electronic Signature, and began providing services in the field of qualified certificates. Since then, the portfolio of qualified products has been growing steadily. It is currently expanding its activities not only within the EU but also beyond its borders.
About Software602
Software602® is a Czech joint stock company based in Prague, founded in 1991 by the authors of the Text602 text editor. It is engaged in the development, licensing and implementation of software products and services for digitization of processes with electronic signatures and archiving, digitization of forms at counters or portals with automated processing and exchange of data messages in trusted transactions. Software602 a.s. currently has over 130 employees, and the company allocates tens of millions of CZK annually to research and development. The products and services developed are aimed at medium and large enterprises as well as corporations in the commercial sector and large authorities in the public sector. Information about products and services is available on the 602.cz website, and financial results are available in the company's regularly published annual reports.
