movianVPN Addresses Health Insurance Portability Act (HIPAA) Compliance by Providing End-to-End Security 

HAYWARD, Calif., February 20, 2001 - Certicom (Nasdaq: CERT; TSE: CIC), a leading provider of mobile e-business security, and Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), the largest Catholic hospital system in the western United States, today announced that CHW - Phoenix ITS, a functional department of CHW, will use Certicom's movianVPN as an integral part of its mobile health care research and development initiative, ROAM (Remote Operation of Applications for Mobile-healthcare). ROAM is an experimental initiative to cost-effectively provide the most cutting-edge wireless technology for CHW's ITS management to conduct a realistic and hands-on evaluation of emerging technology for potential future deployment of mobile devices in the CHW network of hospitals and physicians. movianVPN allows healthcare companies to use their existing virtual private network (VPN) infrastructures to provide end-to-end HIPAA-compliant security for physicians and healthcare professionals using handheld devices.

"CHW - Phoenix ITS is at the forefront in exploring the latest in mobile healthcare technology for consideration of future deployment. By getting the most cutting-edge technology in the hands of ITS managers, this real-life experience will more effectively enable informed decisions in future enterprise-wide deployment for hospitals, doctors and other health care professionals in the CHW network," said Jim Sanderson, senior systems engineer- special projects, CHW - Phoenix ITS. "Certicom's movianVPN is a perfect fit in our ROAM strategy because it will provide critical high level end-to-end encryption required for HIPAA compliance when using mobile devices in healthcare."

Catholic Healthcare West is the largest Catholic health care system based in the western United States with 47 hospitals and five medical practice groups in California, Arizona and Nevada. The ROAM project enables Phoenix-ITS to provide innovative, cost-effective educational opportunities for ITS leaders to learn about the latest emerging technologies in a relaxed atmosphere while leveraging productive time-management. The overall purpose of ROAM is reflected in the following statement: 

More informed and educated ITS leaders will be better equipped to proactively meet the challenge in the adoption of next generation mobile solutions for CHW healthcare professionals. 

AvantGo's Enterprise for Microsoft Exchange (for wireless email and calendar) and Certicom's movianVPN are the first applications to be adopted for the ROAM project. Healthcare applications pose unique challenges to developers aiming for broad industry adoption. To satisfy the needs of busy healthcare professionals, the applications must be mobile and provide an immediate and intuitive user experience. In addition, to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations, the applications must provide for confidentiality, data integrity, and strong client authentication for access to sensitive medical data and patient records. 

Certicom has become a leader in the mobile healthcare market by providing advanced security solutions that address HIPAA compliance and by spearheading industry initiatives. Certicom is a founding member of the Mobile Healthcare Alliance (MoHCA), a group of leading technology companies and key players in the healthcare industry focused on the acceptance and proliferation of secure mobile and wireless computing solutions for the e-healthcare market. In addition, Certicom provides the industry with cutting-edge solutions such as digital signatures for secure electronic prescriptions at the point of care. movianVPN allows healthcare companies to use their existing VPN infrastructures to extend end-to-end security to physicians and healthcare professionals using handheld devices.

"CHW has displayed great vision for recognizing the cost and productivity benefits that handhelds bring to Healthcare and the significance of having HIPAA compliant security in mobile solutions," said Jennifer Vancini, co-managing director, Certicom. "They provide an excellent profile of an IT manager's needs to have wireless VPN client solutions that interoperate with existing network security investments so critical applications can be easily extended to users of small computing platforms."

About Catholic Healthcare West
Catholic Healthcare West is the largest Catholic health care system based in the western United States and one of the leading not-for-profit health systems in the country. Its network of more than 8,000 physicians, nearly 40,000 employees and 47 acute care facilities in California, Arizona and Nevada provides 1.4 million patient days of care annually to more than 327,000 people in the communities we serve. In addition, in fiscal year 2000, CHW contributed more than $400 million in community benefits and care for the poor. For more information on LifeBlood and CHW, log onto its Websitehttp://www.CHWhealth.org. 

About Certicom
Certicom is a leading provider of information security software and services, specializing in solutions for mobile e-business. The company's products and services are specifically designed to address the challenges imposed by a wireless data environment. Certicom's solutions incorporate its proprietary encryption technology and are based on industry standards for information security that utilize public key cryptography. Certicom's products are currently licensed to more than 150 customers including ePocrates, Inc., Motorola, Inc., NeoPoint, Inc., Nortel Networks, Openwave Systems, Inc., Palm, Inc., Pixo, Inc., QUALCOMM, Inc., Research In Motion Ltd. and Sony International (Europe) GmbH. Certicom's headquarters and worldwide sales and marketing operations are based in the Silicon Valley in Hayward. For more information, visit Certicom's Web site at 
http://www.certicom.com/.

Certicom movian and movianVPN are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Certicom Corp. All other companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. 

Except for historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. Factors that might cause a difference include, but are not limited to, those relating to the acceptance of mobile and wireless devices and the continued growth of e-commerce and m-commerce (mobile e-commerce), the increase of the demand for mutual authentication in m-commerce transactions, the acceptance of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) technology as an industry standard, the market acceptance of our principle products and sales of our customer's products, the impact of competitive products and technologies, the possibility of our products infringing patents and other intellectual property of third parties, and costs of product development. Certicom will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect Certicom's financial results is included in the documents Certicom files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities including Certicom's current Annual Report on Form 10-K.

For further information, please contact: 

For Certicom 

For Catholic Healthcare West