Eric Dean, the chief information officer of United Airlines, is to step down as president of the Liberty Alliance management board.

Until a new president is elected the board will be chaired by Michael Barrett, vice president of internet strategy for American Express.

The Liberty Alliance was formed last September to create technical specifications that would permit single sign-on and decentralised authentication based on open standards, a rival to the Passport system developed by Microsoft.

Dean has decided to step down because of the ongoing problems at United. "Unfortunately, the challenges that United Airlines is currently facing prevent me from devoting the amount of time and energy necessary to perform the duties of president.

"I am confident that with the depth of experience and talent on the management board and within the various expert groups, the Liberty Alliance will be successful in its mission," Dean said.

The group will continue its work to develop open specifications for what it calls a "federated network identity", and has reaffirmed that it is on track to deliver its next set of specifications in the first quarter of 2003.

"With almost 100 members, it is clear the Alliance has a continuing role to fill in developing an identity standard that will meet the needs of both consumers and businesses. The management board and members will continue to move the Alliance forward," said Barrett.