NW_20010502_en_VASCO Expands Presence in Healthcare Market

Asia/Pacific contract through VASCO partner Horizon Systems Ltd. integrates Digipass strong authentication and digital signature security into electronic healthcare claims processing system

SINGAPORE, May 2, 2001 –VASCO (Nasdaq NM & Nasdaq Europe: VDSI; www.vasco.com), a global provider of security solutions that enable e-business and e-commerce, today announced that ehealthcareasia Limited – EHA (www.eha.net), Asia’s first listed group of e-health businesses (HKSE: 835), has selected VASCO’s Digipass handheld strong authentication and digital signature security platform to protect its Internet-based healthcare administration services. In November 2000, VASCO opened a new sales office in Singapore expressly to leverage existing and new customers and partners to accelerate revenue from the fast-growing Asia/Pacific market. The contract with EHA further confirms VASCO’s capability to provide online security that meets the unique needs of healthcare organizations around the world, following VASCO’s announcement that its SnareWorks software will provide security for the second largest healthcare organization in the US.

EHA is drawing on the security expertise and IT services of VASCO’s partner Horizon Systems Ltd. in implementing a secure, convenient system to serve the needs of Hong Kong’s healthcare administrators, providers, and insurers. Horizon Systems is a growing systems integrator delivering banking, governmental, and e-business application solutions in Hong Kong as well as mainland China. EHA’s Digipass integrated systems allow the secure electronic transmission of healthcare billing, claims, and patient eligibility data between providers and payers in the health and insurance industries in a convenient and secure manner.

“Since we are making healthcare information available online, the security and privacy of our customers and their patients are of paramount concern to us,” said Philip Callender, Chief Technology Officer of EHA. “By incorporating Digipass security as well as advanced encryption into our systems, Horizon Systems addressed these issues to our complete satisfaction. Healthcare providers, payers, and other participants can only access the information that they are authorized to view.”

According to Jan Valcke, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for VASCO, “our work with Horizon and EHA further establishes our ability to support the business goals of healthcare organizations by safeguarding the integrity and privacy of patient information, and demonstrates our commitment to building our business in the Asia/Pacific region with the help of our extensive and growing network of partners and resellers. We expect many more companies to follow EHA’s lead in enabling their e-business initiatives with VASCO security.”

Vincent Huang, Sales & Marketing Manager of Horizon Systems, concurred. “VASCO’s advanced authentication solutions are ideal for securing Internet applications such as the one developed by EHA,” he noted. “We and our customers are constantly impressed at how easily and affordably Digipass security is integrated into core business processes, providing top security at a low total cost of ownership.”


About VASCO
VASCO secures the enterprise from the mainframe to the Internet with infrastructure solutions that enable secure e-business and e-commerce, protect sensitive information, and safeguard the identity of users. The Company's family of Digipass® and SnareWorks® products offers end-to-end security through strong authentication and digital signature, true Single Sign-On, access control and advanced entitlements, web portal security, and PKI enablement, while sharply reducing the time and effort required to deploy and manage security. VASCO's customers include hundreds of financial institutions, blue-chip corporations, and government agencies in more than 50 countries. More information is available at www.vasco.com.

About Horizon Systems
Horizon Systems Limited, based in Hong Kong, is a key Asian distributor of VASCO’s security products in Hong Kong and mainland China. The company’s extensive knowledge of operational and managerial considerations adds to their technical capacity to define e-business and e-commerce solutions that are the right fit for their customers today, and in the long term. With banking, government, and corporate customers, Horizon Systems is a leading technology firm in the region. More information is available at www.twohs.com

About ehealthcareasia Ltd.
Listed in Hong Kong, ehealthcareasia – EHA (HKSE: 835) is Asia’s only public group of e-health companies. From its Hong Kong headquarters and its offices in Singapore, Australia and Taiwan, EHA provides tailored services that offer greater efficiency to the Asian healthcare services community.

The company focuses on:
-Connectivity and Transaction Services - allow health scheme operators and healthcare professionals to show and check a patient’s health scheme coverage and eligibility. Provides systems that construct and submit claims for payment to managed care and health insurance companies.
-Business and Health Professional Technology Solutions - Clinic Management, Clinical Decision Support and Mobile Point-of-Care solutions to help healthcare professionals operate their businesses and increase efficiency.
-Specialist Medical Equipment - distributing advanced medical equipment.
-Business Partnering Services - service and product marketing for healthcare insurance companies and financial services for healthcare professionals.

Visit EHA’s regional web sites www.eha.net (South East Asia) and www.medweb.com.au (Australia), which deliver further information and healthcare content for medical professionals and the general public.

Forward Looking Statements
Statements made in this news release that relate to future plans, events or performances are forward-looking statements. Any statement containing words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” and similar words, is forward-looking, and these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations. Consequently, actual results could differ materially from the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements.

Reference is made to the Company's public filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for further information regarding the Company and its operations.

For more information contact:

VASCO Americas:
Mike Lange
+1 630 932 8844
[email protected]

VASCO EMEA:
Ariane Bosmans
+32 2 456 9810
[email protected]