QuoVadis has become the second provider in the world to gain an important government accreditation in Switzerland.

The seven-year-old Bermuda company is only the second provider after telecoms giant SwissCom to pass the stringent certification audit laid out in the one-year-old Swiss electronic signature law, known as ZertES.

QuoVadis has been a Bermuda Authorised Certification Services Provider since 2002 and already provides security services to the Bermuda Government and many of the Island?s international financial services firms. It?s certification for compliance by KPMG acting for the Swiss Government regulator BAKOM is expected to dramatically boost sales in European markets where the base already includes a major aviation manufacturer to a brewery, and from a book publisher to several metal works and foundries.

Roman Brunner, CEO of the QuoVadis Group, said, ?We are extremely proud to be one of the first providers in the world to achieve qualified status in multiple countries. These certifications are vital to our international customers who are using digital certificates to conduct meaningful online transactions.?

The new certification includes compliance with the various Swiss laws and regulations for qualified certificates and time-stamping, as well as corresponding standards from the European Telecommunications Standards Initiative (ETSI) which are recognised under multilateral agreement by more than 25 countries worldwide.

QuoVadis digital certificates may be used to securely authenticate users working online, to encrypt data for privacy, and to create electronic signatures that protect data integrity. A time-stamping services provide tamperproof seals for time-sensitive data and transactions.

Carl Rosenast, managing director of QuoVadis Trustlink Schweiz said, ?Electronic signatures are only valuable when they are built into real business applications. QuoVadis brings together the technical infrastructure and know-how, the regulatory certifications, and the partnerships to make this technology valuable for our customers.?

QuoVadis opened a Zurich-based office in early 2005 to better service its customers in the European financial services and insurance community. The Swiss operation has particular expertise in deploying security in document management, workflow, and data archive systems.

In addition to the Swiss certification, QuoVadis also completed an audit with Ernst & Young for the important WebTrust for Certification Authorities seal, an important credential for its large corporate customers.