HID Global, the world’s largest manufacturer of card readers for access control and a provider of various identity solutions, has acquired software developer Codebench, providing it with a suite of software products that are integrated with access control systems that meet federal requirements.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Codebench was a small, woman-owned business with 10 employees.
Codebench’s PIVCheck software suite is compliant with Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, which is a policy directive for a common identification standard for federal employees and contractors. The policy spawned establishment of the FIPS 201 standard that specifies Personal Identify Verification requirements for federal employees and contractors used in credential systems across the federal civilian government, including programs such as the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC).
The PIVCheck software is a registration tool for card validation, authentication, and physical access control systems. The software can also be installed in legacy access control systems so that users don’t have to lose their original investment.
In addition to strengthening HID’s position within the federal market, the acquisition boosts the company’s opportunities in certain commercial sectors looking to take advantage of the investment in the standards and technology driven by HSPD 12.
“Because our software is integrated with the federal standards, that not only gets HID more integrated with solutions in the federal government sector but also TWIC cards, which are also FIPS 201 compliant, and also CIV cards, which are Commercial Identity Verification cards,” Geri Castaldo, the CEO of Codebench, tells HSR. Castaldo, who is remaining with the company under HID, says that the CIV cards are being used by commercial organizations that want to take advantage of all the standards work that has been done with the federal government to increase their own security.
“We’re starting to see this pick up now in the financial sector where banks and financial institutions don’t have to comply with FIPS 201 or HSPD 12 but they know the cards that have digital certificates and fingerprints on them are a lot more secure than a regular proximity card,” Castaldo says.
The acquisition also gives HID the ability to market an end-to-end solution for physical access control systems that meet both federal security mandates and increasingly commercial demands, Castaldo says. The pharmaceutical industry is also moving toward CIV cards, she says.
Castaldo sees three key attributes to the value proposition that HID can now offer its customers as a result of the Codebench acquisition. Now HID can offer, and a customer can acquire, off-the-shelf integration with physical access control systems, she says. HID can also offer software for handheld readers, which PIVCheck enables, which meets the demand of customers that want mobile readers. Finally, Codebench also supplies subject matter expertise around HSPD 12 and FIPS 201 applications, she says.
About 50 percent of Codebench’s business is through the TWIC program, Castaldo says. Combining with HID provides the company with access to a larger sales force, she notes. Both companies are private. HID Global has over 2,100 employees worldwide with international offices that support more than 100 countries.