Baltimore Technologies and its industry partners recently published a working draft XML Key Management Specification Bulk Operation (X-BULK). The new specification "extends the XKMS [XML Key Management Specification] protocol to encompass the bulk registration operations necessary for interfacing with such systems as smart card management systems. X-BULK is defined in terms of structures expressed in the [W3C] XML Schema Language and Web Services Description Language (WSDL). The specification enables the bulk issuance of digital certificates on devices such as smart cards, cable modems and next-generation wireless SIM cards. XKMS is designed to simplify the integration of enhanced Internet security features such as authentication, encryption and digital signatures into Web applications. The ability to have these features embedded in Internet applications and devices, and therefore `invisible' to the user, will be a key factor in mass adoption of the technology. However, proprietary interfaces between device factories and PKIs are currently limiting the ability for devices to be manufactured with digital certificates. The X-BULK extension to XKMS will eliminate these proprietary interfaces and replace them with an open, industry-backed interface. This will result in much speedier implementation times for financial institutions, wireless operators, enterprises and governments who are actively rolling out smart cards with PKI to enable a host of value added services aimed at increasing revenue and decreasing administration costs."

XML Key Management Specification Bulk Operation (X-BULK). By Baltimore Technologies, Gemplus, Oberthur Card Systems, and Schlumberger. Draft Version 1.1 draft 4. July 6 2001. 18 pages. "This document extends the XKMS [XML Key Management Specification] protocol to encompass the bulk registration operations necessary for interfacing with such systems as smart card management systems. X-BULK is defined in terms of structures expressed in the [W3C] XML Schema Language and web services description language WSDL."

"X-BULK defines a batch element that can contain registration requests, responses and status requests. The basic idea is that a single batch can contain a number of independently referencable requests or responses. Batches are produced both from the requestor and responder. A responder will process an entire batch and produce a single batch of responses after processing."

From the FAQ document: "Baltimore Technologies is a participating member of the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) and has granted the W3C a perpetual right to copy, publish, and distribute the contribution. X-BULK will be presented to the XKMS Working Group of the W3C at its next meeting on July 19, 2001. X-BULK has been endorsed by VeriSign who are one of the original authors of XKMS. Unlike other proposals to solve the problem of bulk issuance, X-BULK does not require proprietary, vendor specific code to be present in a device factory."