K R Nambiar, 22 June 2009, 1600 hrs
HID India has launched HID-on-Desktop which enables enterprises to allow IT workers to access their computer workstations using their physical access control cards. The company is wooing the channel community to sell its solutions.
“The HID-on-Desktop is a suite of authentication products that include a USB card reader, software and license that allows an IT worker to access his personal workstation or even corporate server. We are driving the convergence between physical and logical access controls,” explained Craig Sandness, Managing Director, HID Asia Pacific.
Priced at approximately $59 per workstation, the solution will be offered through channels. “Traditional IT systems integrators can offer this solution to existing HID customers and build value-added services surrounding identity management and security,” added Sandness.
The company recently organized a seminar for 100 solution providers in Bangalore, and will shortly kick start an education drive in other cities.
HID stressed that the username and password-based security management solutions have a number of hidden costs and loopholes. “A latest Gartner study puts the cost of traditional password management solutions at between $70 and $200 per user per year, and the cost of a lost password or a security breach is even more expensive,” said Tim Phipps, Director Identity and Access Management, HID Asia Pacific.
Currently the solution only offers access to physical computers, however HID said that future versions may support more abstraction layers and even a single sign-on. |