Microsoft Enterprise Customers Gain Speed, Security with Gemalto's Instant Issuance for Converged Badges

Business Wire, June 10, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today announced Instant Badge Issuance (IBI)--a smart card identity badge creation system that complements Microsoft's Identity and Access solutions and enables enterprises to produce employee IDs locally in minutes. In addition to printing graphics and personalizing applications on a magnetic stripe or ISO 14443 compatible contactless chip, IBI works directly with Microsoft Active Directory and Identity Lifecycle Manager (ILM) to load digital certificates directly onto the smart card. The result is a single, converged badge that gives employees secure access to facilities, networks and applications throughout the enterprise.

"Our latest innovation gives enterprises the flexibility to issue locally with very high security," said Jerome Denis, marketing director for Identity Access Management, Gemalto.

Gemalto's IBI consists of a smart card badge printer and a provisioning and personalization system that works seamlessly with ILM. This combination makes issuance a one-step process that is more efficient and more secure. IBI provides ID printing, placement of the Microsoft generated PKI certificates onto the smart card module, and encoding of the contactless chip or magnetic stripe for secure access to facilities and other applications. Graphical design capabilities include photo capture and support for multiple card templates for employees, contractors, visitors and others.

"Being able to personalize badges locally while at the same time have certificates provisioned on them using ILM '2' is a great new option for our customers," said John "JG" Chirapurath, director, Identity & Access Marketing, Microsoft Corp. "Overall it helps to make deploying a converged badge for both physical and information security more cost-effective and much easier to accomplish."

When used with Gemalto .NET smart cards, IBI provides the optimal level of integration for deployment of a secure identity management system because Gemalto .NET smart card technology is supported natively in Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and through the update for the current Microsoft BaseCSP on Windows XP.

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the leader in digital security with pro forma 2007 annual revenues of over EU1.6 billion, more than 85 offices in 40 countries and about 10,000 employees including 1,300 R&D engineers. In a world where the digital revolution is increasingly transforming our lives, Gemalto's solutions are designed to make personal digital interactions more convenient, secure and enjoyable.

Gemalto provides end-to-end digital security solutions, from the development of software applications through design and production of secure personal devices such as smart cards, SIMs, e-passports and tokens to the deployment of managed services for its customers. More than a billion people worldwide use the company's products and services for telecommunications, financial services, e-government, identity management, multimedia content, digital rights management, IT security, mass transit and many other applications.

As the use of Gemalto's software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the company is poised to thrive over the coming years. Gemalto was formed in June 2006 by the combination of Axalto and Gemplus. For more information, please visit www.gemalto.com.

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