Online and Digital Identification, Securing Web 2.0, PKI and Digital Certificates

Hirsch organizes for digital identity growth

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Security systems manufacturer Hirsch Electronics has named Rob Zivney to the newly created position of vice president, business development, to enable the Santa Ana, Calif. company to expand its resources in the digital identity market arena.

Zivney serves on the Security Industry Association board of directors, chairs SIA’s Personal Identity Verification Working Group and serves on standards committees for both SIA and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on behalf of the security industry regarding implementation of the PIV card mandated by HSPD-12.


Early this year, Hirsch Electronics merged with smart card reader manufacturer SCM Microsystems. Recently, the combined company announced an agreement to acquire Bluehill ID AG, which consists of a leading group of identification technology offerings and services. Zivney, while vice president of marketing for Hirsch, has pioneered Hirsch’s initiatives in identity, credential and access management using smart cards in vertical markets, especially the federal government sector. Zivney’s new duties will be to increase the company’s position as a global systems provider of smart card-based identity solutions for access control.

“The next generation of physical, logical and network access control security requires the use of trusted digital identities,” said Larry Midland, executive vice president of SCM Microsystems and Hirsch president. “Through the combined use of smart cards, PIN codes, biometrics and certificates, trust can be increased, leading to enhanced security of personnel, facilities and digital information. Therefore, we need to focus our management team on the opportunities for convergence that cross technological, organizational and traditional boundaries.” [end] 

A new report from ABI Research reveals that the security sector is driving growth in the smart card industry, according to esecurityplanet.com.

“New revenues are coming from contactless/dual-interface cards and more applications require the greater security offered by smart cards. There remains a small, but solid, memory-based market, but higher-end secure microcontroller ICs and embedded solutions are driving the new growth. As a result of this and re-stocking inventory, we forecast that IC revenues will grow nearly 14% in 2010,” said ABI Research analyst John Devlin.

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Digital identity can be different things to different people. At the 2010 RSA Conference industry executives gave their definitions of what digital identity is and some of the challenges that exist when it comes to putting a digital ID system in place.

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Announcements and actions taken by various biometric technology developers have suggested to those watching the biometric marketplace that the projected growth in that market could be driven by government spending, according to a Washington Post article.

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Gemalto has announced the launch of its new PROX DUTM smart card reader for physical and logical access control.

According to Gemalto, the dual-interface reader supports a host of applications using both contactless and contact technologies, including employee corporate badge, electronic identity, health care, retail and mass transit ticketing.

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Hirsch Electronics announced the award of $4 million in orders to supply U.S. Department of Justice agencies with Hirsch security systems. The majority of the revenue associated with the orders was recognized within the second quarter 2010. Notice of the awards was first made public by the General Services Administration pursuant to Federal disclosure regulations.

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idOnDemand has partnered with smart card distributor, Tx Systems, to offer its customers SmartID and on-demand services. This partnership enables the reseller to offer both small and large organizations a single identity card with multiple functionalities.

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