2 Minn. Vendors in Alliances To Satisfy Corporate Networks

DataCard Corp. and Datakey Inc., two Minneapolis-based vendors active in card security, have announced separate alliances to meet corporate network needs.

DataCard is combining its photo identification technology with Litronic Inc.'s ProFile Manager software to create a line of identification and authentication products for government agencies, corporations, banks, and other large enterprises.

The result, said Paul Johnson, director of special projects at Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Litronic, is token-based security with digital certificates in smart cards that is superior to simple password systems and draws on the two companies' respective competencies.

"A bank can make financial records available to specific employees and customers without compromising security," said Renee Garpestad, vice president of DataCard Enterprise Co.

Datakey said its SignaSure smart card technology will be compatible with the Intraverse intranet-extranet authorization system from Dascom of Santa Cruz, Calif. "Combined, these products offer authentication, encryption, access control, management, secure communication ... and portability of digital credentials, whereby users can digitally sign documents from multiple workstations," the companies said last week.

Users of public-key-based authentication "can now choose SignaSure, knowing it is fully supported by Intraverse," said Tom Lister, director of Intraverse product marketing. "Our goal is to provide authorization via any authentication method available."