1、The act of awarding a document to demonstrate acomputer professional抯 competence in a particular field. Some hardware and software suppliers, such as Microsoftand Novell, offer certification in the use of their products; other organizations, such as the Institute forCertification of Computer Professionals (ICCP), offer more general certification. 2、The actof awarding a document to demonstrate that a hardware or software product meets some specification, such asbeing able to work with a certain other product. 3、The issuanceof a notice that a user or site is trusted for the purpose of security and computer authentication. Often certificationis used with Web sites.