Unified Communications UC SSL Certificates

A Unified Communications certificate, or UC Certificate for short, is a new type of certificate developed primarily for use with Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 products. The defining feature, and really the only thing that makes a UC Certificate different from a normal certificate, is the use of the Subject Alternative Name field in the certificate. In the Subject Alternative Name field, or SAN for short, any number of different domain names or common names can be entered enabling the certificate to work on any of the included domain names. This allows one certificate to secure both internal network names as well as external domain names.

For example, you could get one UC SSL Certificate to cover all of the following:

  mydomain.com
  mail.mydomain.com
  myservername.local
  autodiscover.mydomain.com
  anotherdomain.com

This can provide significant cost savings in many situations. A UC Certificate is also required for certain features in MS Exchange Server 2007, Office Communications Server 2007, and Live Communications Server 2005. However, even if you aren't using these applications, you can use UC Certificates to secure multiple domain names or sub-domains in one certificate. This can simplify situations that would require multiple IP addresses because one IP address per certificate is normally required. Here is a comparison of the cheapest UC SSL Certificates offered. For a list of all UC SSL Certificates, use the SSL Advanced Search.

Certificate Name DigiCert's Unified Communications StartCom's Class 2 Organization Multiple Domains Entrust's Unified Communications GlobalSign's Multi-Domain DomainSSL
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Certificate Authority
From 43 reviews
From 51 reviews
From 53 reviews
From 5 reviews
Certificate Authority Rating
DigiCert
StartCom
Entrust
GlobalSign
Price For 1 Year
$328
$100
$449
$199
Price For 2 Years $590.00 $99.80 $849.00 $318.00
Number of Certificates Included 1 Unlimited certificates for unlimited domains 1 1
Multiple Year Options Up to 3 Years Up to 2 Years Up to 4 Years Up to 5 Years
Domains Secured 4 Different Domain Names Included - Each additional name is $39/year Unlimited different domain names included 10 Different Domain Names Included - Additional hostnames available at 3/$99. One Domain Name Included + Free mail and autodiscover subdomains + Free internal names + $99 for each additional subdomain
Issuance Speed Within 1 hour 30 minutes to 5 business days once documents are received 1 day Within a few minutes
Validation Required Organization and Domain Validation Organization and Domain Validation Organization and Domain Validation Domain Validation
Notification Level in Browsers Domain Name and Organization Name Shown On Certificate Domain Name and Organization Name Shown On Certificate Domain Name and Organization Name Shown On Certificate Domain Name Shown On Certificate Only
Encryption Strength Up to 256-bit Up to 256-bit Up to 256-bit Up to 256-bit
Browser Compatibility 99% Supported on most major browsers (new versions of IE, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome) 99% 99%
Includes Site Seal Included Included Included Included
Number of Free Reissues Allowed Unlimited until expired 0 Unlimited until expired Unlimited until expired
Server License Unlimited Servers Unlimited Servers Single Server Three server licenses included
Support Options Free Chat, Phone and E-mail, Monday-Thursday 24 hrs., Friday 12 am-7 pm, Saturday 10 am-5 pm MST Free Chat, Phone and E-mail, 24/7 Free E-mail, Phone Monday to Friday 8 AM to 8 PM EST Free phone and email, Mon to Fri - 8am to 6pm EST + limited evening and weekend support
Support Reviews Read reviews Read reviews Read reviews Read reviews
Free Trial Available No No No No
Uses Chain Certificates Yes Yes Yes Yes
Refund Policy Full refund within 30 days of issuance No refund No refund Full refund within 7 days of issuance
Warranty $1,000,000 $10,000 $0 $10,000
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