LONDON, January 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- Global Communications Provider Takes Leadership Role in Driving Open, Secure and Privacy Respecting Digital Identity Management Solutions

Liberty Alliance, the global identity consortium working to build a more trusted internet for consumers, governments and businesses worldwide, today announced that BT has become a member of the Liberty Alliance Management Board. BT joins Liberty Alliance 2008 board members from AOL, France Telecom, HP, Intel, Novell, NTT, Oracle and Sun Microsystems to drive the strategic direction of Liberty Alliance on a global basis.

"Liberty Alliance is the only global identity organization where members representing deployers and vendors of identity management solutions work collaboratively to address the technology, business and privacy aspects of digital identity management," said Robert Temple, Vice President, Security Technologies, BT Group Chief Technology Office. "BT is expanding its role in Liberty Alliance to help drive a secure and privacy-respecting internet identity layer across applications, industries and regions."

BT joined Liberty Alliance as a sponsor member in 2006 and participates in the Liberty Alliance Technology Expert Group (TEG), Business and Marketing Expert Group (BMEG) and several of its special interest groups, many of which are open to the public and are formed by members to solve global, regional and vertical-specific identity management challenges. During 2008 BT will also participate in the Liberty Alliance Identity Assurance Expert Group (IAEG) and corresponding public Identity Assurance Special Interest Group (IASIG) to advance trusted inter-federations spanning industries, regions and technologies based on certified identity assurance levels.

About Liberty Alliance

Liberty Alliance membership includes technology vendors, consumer service providers and educational and government organizations working together to build a more trusted internet by addressing the technology, business and privacy aspects of digital identity management. Liberty Alliance works with identity organizations worldwide to ensure all voices are included in the global identity discussion and regularly holds and participates in public events designed to advance the harmonization and interoperability of CardSpace, Liberty Federation (SAML 2.0), Liberty Web Services, OpenID and WS- specifications. More information about Liberty Alliance as well as information about how to join many of its public groups and mail lists is available at www.projectliberty.org

CONTACT: Russ DeVeau Liberty Alliance www.projectliberty.org +1-508-487-6102 - Office +1-908-251-1549 - Mobile russ@projectliberty.org AOL IM (Russ DeVeau): devcommruss

Web site: http://www.projectliberty.org

Russ DeVeau of Liberty Alliance, +1-508-487-6102, Mobile: +1-908-251-1549, russ@projectliberty.org, AOL IM (Russ DeVeau): devcommruss