Baltimore says the Telepathy Registration System - which is scheduled for release on NT in the second quarter - will enable operators to extend their existing 'wired' Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) systems to new wireless systems. A prototype of the system is currently being used in limited pilot trials.

The mass scale registration and authentication of mobile Internet users has proved a huge challenge to the burgeoning mobile commerce market. Baltimore claims its new Registration module overcomes this problem by enabling users to obtain digital certificates from wireless CA services provided by a range of organisations, including network operators, enterprises, banks, brokerages, trusted third parties or any commercial mobile commerce player.

The product works with standard WAP 1.2 phones and uses low bandwidth certificate URLs to allow quick and easy registration, says the vendor. It also supports the latest WAP Forum security standards for Wireless PKI (WPKI), Wireless Identity Module (WIM) and SignText (WAP digital signature standard).

Baltimore previewed the new product as it reported a widening in fourth quarter net losses to £55.2 million compared with a loss of £6.9 million in the year-earlier period. Charges related to acquisitions for the quarter reached £45.4 million as the vendor expanded into new markets. Sales rose to £28.4 million. The full-year net loss widened to £92.5 million compared with a loss of £31 million in 1999, but full-year revenue more than tripled to £74.2 million from £23.3 million.

Baltimore reported significant demand in the financial services sector with Citibank, Visa and Chase arriving as new customers. Baltimore further strengthened its relationship with Identrus during the period by becoming the first interoperability compliant Identrus Express partner. In addition, Baltimore was chosen by Identrus member banks, including ANZ Bank and Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH).