Smart Cards In Government Conference/Washington

RSA, The Security Division of EMC (NYSE: EMC), and Hirsch Electronics, a leading provider of physical security management systems, today announced that they will be demonstrating the interoperability of their physical and logical access systems at the Smart Cards in Government Conference – to be held April 10-13 in Washington, DC.

The interoperability of the RSA® Card Manager smart card management solution with Hirsch’s Velocity physical access control system (PACS) and SCM Microsystems Physical Access Control Terminals (PACT) will help enable government agencies to enhance efficiency, increase security and reduce costs by consolidating multiple credentials onto a single device that is designed to enable employees to access both secured areas and electronic resources.

“As federal agencies make the necessary investments – in time and money – for deploying HSPD-12 / FIPS-201 PIV cards and infrastructure, it is vital that these organizations have solutions at their fingertips that can actually facilitate end-to-end access,” said Shannon Kellog, director, Information Security Policy, EMC. “With RSA Card Manager and solutions from Hirsch, a major player in the physical access market with a considerable installed base in the U.S. government, we collectively are providing our customers with a converged security solution that will help them to optimize the benefits of their HSPD-12 investments.”

The demonstration, in Booth 10, will show how organizations can create, issue and manage smart card credentials that may be used for building- and network-access. In a single workflow, RSA Card Manager is engineered to automatically pass the required identity information -- both cardholder and credential info -- into the Hirsch Velocity physical access server, setting up the user’s physical access permissions while simultaneously issuing a smart card that can be used as photo ID and network access. The Hirsch RUU-201 Verification Station then verifies the card and cardholder prior to turning over the card to the cardholder at issuance to ensure interoperability in the federal space.

Once the credential is issued, its designed use extends well beyond the typical flash-pass functionality for physical access. The card’s contactless physical access interface can be used for multi-factor authentication and access to controlled areas, managed by the Hirsch Velocity PACS system. RSA® Authentication Client (also FIPS-201 certified) smart card middleware is designed to be used for logical authentication and access to machines, networks, domain controllers and applications. It is also engineered to facilitate access to card credentials used for message encryption and digital signing.

The demonstration utilizes card reader terminals from SCM Microsystems to authenticate card holders and provide secure access at each physical point of entry within a system. The terminals are linked together and managed by the Hirsch Velocity physical access server. SCM’s PACT terminals support both the 3.8 million contact interface Common Access Card (CAC) cards that have been distributed to U.S. military personnel and contractors since late 2002, as well as new contactless interface CAC cards planned for distribution in the next few months, bridging the gap from initial CAC cards to transitional CAC to the new PIV II cards currently being deployed. SCM’s PACT terminals also support other cards such as “FRAC” First Responder Authentication Credential, as well as MiFare and DesFire cards for nongovernmental employees.

“Although HSPD-12 and FIPS 201 are a tremendous catalyst for the federal space, we see much greater opportunity for identity management solutions in the state and local, and corporate enterprise sectors,” said John Piccininni, vice president of Sales at Hirsch Electronics. “Now that the federal standards are in place, we see even more rapid acceptance and deployment in the non-federal sectors.”