SAN FRANCISCO--HID Global in February unveiled a new series of smart cards designed not just for physical access control, but logical access and other identity-related applications.

The cards, called Crescendo, support Microsoft's Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007 and the Windows Smart Card Framework. HID officials said it enables organizations to cost effectively and efficiently deploy and manage smart card-based infrastructures with this provided out-of-the-box solution. ILM 2007, also released at RSA, manages the life cycle of a user's digital identity by providing identity synchronization, certificate management and user provisioning from a single solution.

Deb Spitler, HID Global's vice president of HID Connect, explained in a press conference that the company's physical security channel partners have continually heard that end users are interested in using a physical access card for network access.

"End users are asking for physical and logical convergence," Spitler said. "We are starting to see this more and we think the time is right."

In the past, the type of middleware in place determined the chip the end user could buy, resulting in a proprietary situation. Crescendo is unique to the security market, HID said, because there is no additional per-seat middleware license. Rather, it is supplied pre-initialized with the required on-card software and includes all drivers and middleware.

"All end users have their own thoughts about what they like and who they want to buy from," Spitler said. "This gives them a choice without having to change the card."

Spitler noted that this announcement marks HID's move into the converged physical and IT security space. To support the effort, the company recently hired a sales engineer with extensive experience in the IT space.

"The IT-centric people are moving faster," she said. "The landscape is going to change and if we don't make a move, we're going to be left behind."

The view is that a single card for physical and logical access will also be deployed across other departments of an enterprise, such as using a card for cashless vending. Spitler said that universities are primed for such an initiative and possibility also using a card to authenticate a user who is taking online classes.

Although ISC West is right around the corner, Spitler said RSA was decided as a launching point for Crescendo because Microsoft was unveiling ILM 2007 here as well. HID also had booth space in the Microsoft Partner Pavilion on the exhibition floor. But that does not mean that the company is focusing on only marketing Crescendo to the IT channel.

"We'll move quickly to get progressive OEMs and systems integrators certified on this product," she said. "There will be big physical security providers that will get actively involved as well as IT channel partners."