Authentidate welcomes postal service RFI on electronic postmark

Authentidate Holding Corp. said on Friday that the U.S. Postal Service had notified the company it was issuing a request for information in an effort to identify other company's interested in providing an electronic postmark service on its behalf.

Authentidate (Nasdaq: ADAT) is currently the sole provider of the postmark, but said that it welcomed the move as a way to accelerate the technology's adoption.

Authentidate's contract with the postal service expires in 2007, but the company said it was encouraged by the postal service to take part in the request for information as a "valued partner with the knowledge and experience to grow the market" for the electronic postmark.

"We believe that a multiple provider model for the U.S. Postal Service electronic postmark is the most viable strategy for supporting what we see as the future growth of this technology," said Suren Pai, the chief executive officer of Authentidate.

The company is headquartered in Berkeley Heights, N.J., but was founded in Troy, N.Y., and continues to have an operation in Schenectady