Bermuda IT security provider QuoVadis is to participate in SuisseID, a national e-identity programme being launched by Switzerland next spring.

QuoVadis is one of three digital certificate providers participating in SuisseID, which has been allocated 17 million Swiss francs ($16.9 million) in subsidies from the Swiss government for 2010.

The company's involvement in the project is another feather in the cap of the firm launched in Bermuda 10 years ago that has grown to the point where it has offices in Switzerland, the UK and the Netherlands, as well as on the Island.

Switzerland already has strong adoption of e-business methods, with regulations encouraging the use of secure digital signatures in areas such as tax filings and business records archiving.

The Suisse ID initiative is intended to broaden the adoption of online methods by creating a reliable electronic identity that can be used for transactions between companies, public authorities, and citizens.

SuisseID digital signatures confirm that the correct person is conducting a transaction (authenticity) and that the transactional details have not been changed (integrity). In addition, SuisseID will provide an authorisation register to provide transparency on the role that signers play in transactions (such as corporate authority, affiliations with associations, or professional accreditation).

"The Swiss government sees SuisseID as being a form of economic stimulus for e-commerce," said QuoVadis co-founder Stephen Davidson. "They are looking to get the ball rolling, to get different organisations working together.

"When organisations go into e-commerce business, they have to spend a lot of money on how to ID their online users. With a government-backed programme like SuisseID, they can reduce those costs and it makes it more economical for them to go into e-commerce."

IT security is an expanding business, driven not only by regulations in the European Union, but also by companies looking to save money and behave in a more environmentally friendly manner, Mr. Davidson added.

"Because of the difficult economic conditions, companies are interested in finding ways to do things more efficiently," he said. "Digital certificates are a way of securely transitioning paper-based processes to the online world."

According to QuoVadis CEO Roman Brunner, who relocated According to QuoVadis CEO Roman Brunner, who relocated to Switzerland in 2008 to oversee the company's international growth, SuisseID "builds upon QuoVadis' accreditations as a qualified provider, which are recognised across the EU to provide legal validity for transactions using digital signatures".

Mr. Brunner added: "The use of electronic transactions has advanced very quickly in Europe as means of adopting green business practices and as a way of increasing competitiveness. We estimate that QuoVadis certificates were used to officiate more than 275 million records in the last year alone," he added.

To capitalise on this, QuoVadis has developed an extensive partner network and created software tools to help organisations implement digital signatures that comply with the law. These range from custom t. Sign software for companies that send large numbers of statements and invoices by e-mail, to the CLX. Archive plug 'n' play appliance for mid-size companies that is marketed by leading e-payments vendor Crealogix.

On the web: http:// www.suisseID.ch