Baltimore Technologies Provides Secure Infrastructure for Italian Government's New Electronic Identity Card Project.

Business/High-Tech Editors

MILAN, Italy--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2001

Ministry of Interior chooses Baltimore's e-security technology to

issue electronic ID cards to Italian citizens to ensure trusted

authenticated electronic communication

Baltimore Technologies (Nasdaq:BALT)(London:BLM), a global leader in e-security, today announced that the Ministry of the Interior, in cooperation with Getronics Italy, have chosen Baltimore UniCERT, the award winning PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) system, to issue and manage digital certificates as part of the Government's plans to issue Electronic Identity cards to all Italian citizens over a five year period.

The first 100,000 cards will be issued by June 2001 and a further one million cards will be issued by the first Quarter of 2002. It's estimated that over 60 million new cards containing digital certificates will be issued over the period of the project.

Using Baltimore's e-security products, the Ministry of the Interior will issue electronic ID cards containing a digital certificate, to Italian citizens to enable secure, authenticated electronic communication. This security infrastructure will allow Italian Public Authorities and Private Service Providers to communicate electronically with the general public and deliver new e-Government services, achieving cost savings and efficiency improvements by reducing the overheads and time associated with current paper-based systems.

In addition, the adoption of Baltimore e-security will be used to improve communication internally, accelerating the processing and administration of Government proceedings in a trusted and secure electronic manner. Baltimore TrustedWorld partner Getronics, a leading systems integrator, will be responsible for the integration and implementation of the Ministry of the Interior's PKI system.

According to Maurizio Bruschi, the Head of the Identity Card Project of the Ministry of the Interior, "Ours is the first project in the world which substitutes the conventional identity card and contains the individual's tax code and identity details, issued on-line from front offices (Town Halls). After an extensive examination of providers, we have chosen the security solutions of Baltimore Technologies as they fulfill all our e-security requirements. Such technology will greatly enhance our e-services and will provide the essential security foundation which the Italian Public Administration requires for building trusted e-services."

According to Oronzo Berlen responsible for eSecurity Infrastructures, part of Network Integration and Security Practice at Getronics Italy, "Our partnership with Baltimore Technologies provides the essential security foundation to develop Italian Government trusted services. The Italian IdCard project confirms Getronics' leadership in providing System Integration services covering all aspects of security management in eBusiness, and delivering an important foundation to build trusted e-services both for the Public Authorities and the Private Sector."

According to Pietro Riva, Business Development Manager, Baltimore Technologies in Italy, "The Public Sector has always been a very strong and strategic market for Baltimore. This win underlines our capability to design and provide robust, scalable and innovative electronic security solutions for Governments worldwide."

About Baltimore Technologies

Baltimore Technologies develops and markets security products and services to enable companies to develop trusted, secure systems for e-business, the Internet and mobile commerce. Its products include a wide range of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) products and services, access control and authorisation solutions, content security (MIMEsweeper) products, wireless e-security solutions, cryptographic tool-kits, security applications and hardware cryptographic devices. Baltimore's global professional services organisation offers a wide variety of consulting, training and deployment support to its customers worldwide. Baltimore Technologies markets and sells its solutions worldwide directly and through the TrustedWorld partner program. Baltimore TrustedWorld includes many of the world's leading technology companies and a wide variety of global, regional and local business alliance partners.

Baltimore Technologies plc is a public company with dual listings on NASDAQ (BALT) and the London Stock Exchange (BLM).

For further information and press releases on Baltimore Technologies, please visit www.baltimore.com.

About Getronics

Getronics is one of the world's leading providers of solutions and services to professional users of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). With over 29,000 employees in 36 countries, Getronics works with many of the world's largest companies to help them maximise the value of their technology investment.

Getronics headquarters is in Amsterdam, with regional head offices in Boston, Singapore and Washington DC. Getronics shares are traded on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange ('GTN'). Further information about Getronics and its solutions and services can be found at www.getronics.com.

Certain statements that are not historical facts including certain statements made over the course of this document may be forward-looking in nature. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance and achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements implied by such forward-looking statements.