Security: Wisekey, HP and Microsoft Authenticate Electronic Identity

- From Identity Cards to e-Government Services, This Flexible Solution

Fulfils Government Needs for Security

GENEVA, Switzerland

Security, terrorism, biometrics. To say the least, these concerns were at

the heart of intense activity during the last few days. Early in the week,

Brussels was receiving the first post-election visit of the US Secretary of

Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, who encouraged Europeans to tune their

security controls to US methods, to improve the effectiveness of the fight

against terrorism. On Friday, at the Hewlett Packard (HP) Innovation Center

in Geneva, the international press was invited to a conference that announced

the creation of a new National Identification System (NIS) developed jointly

by HP, Microsoft and most importantly, Geneva start-up Wisekey.

Even if these events were not truly linked, the fact remains that

identity management remains one of the greatest challenges for government.

According to a study carried out by the US based company, Morgan Keegan,

this market represents approximately US$4.8 billion dollars globally and

should reach US$10.7 billion by 2007. In Europe, more than 120 billion Euros

have already been invested in the public sector in this area (government,

police, Lisbon agenda, etc.); the budget devoted to security has doubled to

70 billion Euros; and 8 billion Euros have been directed to border

protection, stated Pascal Detemmerman, HP Vice President of Public Sector, on

Friday. "Today's need for secure identification of individuals on national

and international levels is such that only an alliance between various

partners can guarantee the development of optimal solutions and their

success," added Gilles Polin, director of EMEA e-Government solutions

Microsoft.

Note: The complete Agefi article can be downloaded in French and English

Source L'Agefi:

Sylvie Gardel

Daniel Ybarra

Tel. +41-22-929-57-57