The combined capabilities of v-GO and Crescendo have particular benefits in a healthcare environment. Hospitals and other facilities can implement v-GO to enable fast and secure application sign-on without manual password entry. Crescendo access cards can then be used to provide parking lot, building and department door access; cashless vending; two-factor authentication to the computer network; and single sign-on to both individual and shared workstations through v-GO.

v-GO’s ability to mix and match authentication methods, including the proximity and smart card capabilities of Crescendo, also makes it possible to use different methods with different user groups such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists and accounting personnel based on their needs and preferences.

“Healthcare enterprises must satisfy the demand for rapid access to clinical information meeting the security requirements of regulatory mandates like HIPAA. These two needs have accelerated adoption of single sign-on and strong authentication technologies in the healthcare industry,” said Stephane Fymat, Passlogix vice president of strategy and product management. “Our support for HID’s Crescendo card is part of our ongoing effort to offer the broadest possible choice of strong authenticators so that any device rolled out to enhance network logon security can also be used with our v-GO platform.”

“Passlogix’s support for our Crescendo card enables organizations of all kinds to use Crescendo for single sign-on as well as for initial network logon and physical access,” said Phil Scarfo, vice president of Identity and Access Solutions, HID Global. “This advances our strategy of offering a multi-purpose card that simplifies identity-related security solutions by combining HID’s industry-leading proximity technology with an embedded smart chip on a single card platform.”

The announcement complements new Passlogix strong authentication initiatives for the healthcare industry that were unveiled separately today, including new consulting services for strong authentication implementations. Details can be found at http://www.passlogix.com/cms.php/press_releases/detail/strong_authenti cation_for_healthcare_organizations_to_be_discussed_in_feb_2/ (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

Product Background

Crescendo is an off-the-shelf smart card that can be easily and cost-effectively deployed for both logical and physical access control and other secure identity-related applications. It provides out-of-the-box, standards-compliant support for thousands of logical access applications, is supplied pre-initialized with the required on-card software as well as required drivers and middleware, and needs no additional per-seat middleware license, significantly reducing lead times and costs.

In addition, Crescendo is designed to work with existing physical access control systems incorporating different types of magnetic stripe, proximity or contactless 13.56 MHz smart card technologies. It supports the Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007 (ILM 2007) and the Windows Smart Card Framework; scenarios such as Windows Domain logon, VPN, Microsoft Office Outlook, secure Web access and wireless LAN authentication; and third-party security applications including single sign-on, pre-boot authentication, disk encryption and digital signatures.

The v-GO Sign-On Platform is built around v-GO SSO (v-GO Single Sign-On), a solution that automatically and securely signs the user into enterprise applications after a single network logon without requiring users to remember and manage multiple users IDs and passwords. v-GO SSO and six add-on products offer broad functionality, scalability, rapid wizard-based deployment and low total cost of ownership, with more than 10 million licenses sold to organizations around the world.

v-GO interfaces with Crescendo cards through v-GO AM (v-GO Authentication Manager) and with shared workstations through v-GO SM (v-GO Session Manager), add-on modules that extend v-GO’s single sign-on capabilities to any form of strong authentication and to kiosk environments, respectively.

Other components of the v-GO platform provide the industry-first ability to control shared password access to privileged accounts through the ESSO infrastructure; enable user credentials to be automatically injected into the v-GO database from the leading identity management systems for zero-touch provisioning; permit self-service reset of forgotten Windows passwords; and centralize management of strong authentication devices in any format and from any vendor.

About Passlogix

Passlogix is the developer of the v-GO Sign-On Platform, the market's most robust, scalable and easy-to-deploy enterprise single sign-on platform with successful installations in hundreds of organizations of all sizes and in all industries around the world. The company's patented intelligence-based technology eliminates lengthy and expensive implementation cycles, and provides rapid return on investment, by adapting to any existing infrastructure without the need for custom coding or replacement of legacy hardware or software. Founded in 1996, Passlogix is headquartered in New York City with sales offices throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Singapore. For more information please visit http://www.passlogix.com/

About HID Global

HID Global is the trusted, worldwide leader in providing solutions for the delivery of Secure Identity. The company is focused on creating customer value with product, service and know-how solutions for access and identification-related applications. Headquartered in Irvine, California, HID Global has over 2,000 employees worldwide supporting customers in more than 100 countries. HID Global is an ASSA ABLOY Group brand