Digital certificate provider QuoVadis is set to expand globally after it announced yesterday that it had been officially approved by Microsoft, in a move that management described as the ?most significant news? the company had ever had.

The new programme that QuoVadis has been accepted into will mean that the company will be in the same league as industry giants such as VeriSign and Thawte.

?It really is such a big thing for us,? said Stephen Davidson, head of marketing and product development at QuoVadis. ?It means we have passed all sorts of tests and it allows us to expand globally.?

QuoVadis, which was founded in 1999 to serve the burgeoning specialty insurance market centred in Bermuda, provides digital certificates.

These are a legally binding form of unique ?signature? sent from one computer to another which can be used to electronically sign all kinds of contracts that used to have to be mailed around the world and then signed by hand.

Mr. Davidson said that the announcement that the company was accepted into the Microsoft Root Certificate Program reinforced Bermuda as a jurisdiction with advanced infrastructure and e-commerce capabilities.

Now, after two years of working on the Microsoft listing, almost every computer in the world would be compatible with QuoVadis after being accepted by Apple about a year ago.

?We will be able to expand into Europe, which is something we have been looking at for some time,? said Mr. Davidson. ?It is a very significant development for both QuoVadis and Bermuda. There are very few countries that have certification authorities. Bermuda likes to claim that it is a sophisticated jurisdiction and this reinforces those claims.?

The deal means that if QuoVadis signs up a large insurance company with subsidiaries around the world, they will be able to hook up immediately for the service. Mr. Davidson said: ?Before we had to help remote users to custom configuration, but now it is a seamless process.?

QuoVadis? public root key will be distributed globally to all users of Microsoft Windows, allowing them to easily use digital certificates provided by QuoVadis for not only electronic signatures, but also encryption and access control.

Tony Nagel, chief operating officer of QuoVadis, said: ?With our inclusion in Windows, users around the world can automatically take advantage of QuoVadis security without changing any settings on their computer.?

Renee Webb, Minister of Tourism, Telecommunications and E-commerce, said: ?We are proud to be the first offshore jurisdiction, and one of only a handful of countries worldwide, to boast a globally-recognised certification service provider.?