The UK is actually a bit behind the rest of Europe, which is leading the way. One of the challenges of PKI, as with so many security technologies, is making the authentication process portable. The digital certification can be downloaded to the desktop, but portability demands something like smartcard technology, which does not enjoy terribly high user penetration. What is needed are credit cards with embedded smartcard functionality to make PKI an acceptable portable form of security. Some are touting the idea of a virtual smartcard that enables users to download a certificate of authentication.
Portability is definitely an issue for the security conscious.
Some influential voices are warning that even attempting to involve mobile devices in a world where security is paramount, is foolhardy at present. Organisations should be restricting their access rights until at least 2001, when the prospects of a standardised security infrastructure will be better. It is the ability to make sense of complex issues like the safe integration of mobile technology that makes the reseller so vital to the security process. There can hardly be another technology market where so much information is needed by so many but delivered by so few. IT departments are experiencing an average staff turnover of between 12 and 20 per cent a year.