Latin America. HID Global announced that the company has delivered more than 150 million high-tech electronic IDENTITY (electronic ID) solutions to different countries for its citizen credentialing programs around the world.
The company's managers and employees, together with government officials and local businessmen, are celebrating this achievement with a special ceremony in Ireland. The HID Global centre in Ireland is a high-security, state-of-the-art credentialing factory that creates products and applications related to access and identification, such as e-passports and contactless and magnetic stripe access cards.
"We are proud to be a key provider of contactless security technology and electronic credentials to governments around the world," said Anthony Ball, senior vice president of Identity and Access Management (IAM) at HID Global. "More than 150 million people around the world, nearly a third of all citizens are using high-security e-passports and identity cards, taking our technology with them. We are exporting technology and knowledge to every continent and our local workforce, together with entire communities, can be proud of this achievement, as well as our contribution to solving a critical aspect of security in the world."
In this sense, HID Global has delivered more than 100 million components that are used in the electronic passports of travelers in 30 countries, which comprises approximately 28% of the world market, in this segment. According to the International Civil Aviation Association, in December 2011, a total of 355 million e-passports were issued globally. The vast majority of countries in the European Union, as well as numerous countries on other continents, are now issuing e-passports and their reading machines. The company has also delivered more than 50 million micro processors to be integrated into the electronic credentials of citizens in 22 countries. Another notable achievement includes the delivery of tens of millions of units of a wide variety of e-passports to European users.
By 2015, it is estimated that 85% of all credentials issued per year will be electronic, according to a recent report by Acuity Market Intelligence. The number of countries issuing electronic identity credentials is expected to be four times greater than countries issuing traditional credentials. With more airports deploying Automatic Border Control schemes (such as Helsinki, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Portugal, among others), HID Global's e-passports and electronic identity technology enable travellers to cross borders quickly, bypassing long immigration lines and providing high-security authentication and identity validation.
"HID Global is at the center of a major trend," said Craig Sandness, vice president of sales for HID Global Government ID Solutions. "Governments around the world are switching to electronic identity credentials to substantially improve the security, privacy, convenience and confidential authentication needed for border access control, as well as other related identification applications such as national identity credentials, driver's licenses, electronic voting and health care. As a leading producer of e-passports and high-tech electronic identity credential components, we are ready to provide all of these critical components from one source."
