HID Global®, a worldwide leader in secure identity solutions, announced it has acquired Codebench™, a leader in physical security identity management particularly for the government sector. The acquisition brings together two award-winning, highly complementary offerings in validation software and solutions for government credentials, and will enable HID Global to offer complete, field-tested solutions that speed and simplify deployment for its federal agency and contractor customers. Additionally, the acquisition positions HID Global to serve emerging government and commercial markets with significant growth potential.

“This acquisition further strengthens the Genuine HID® value proposition while expanding our award-winning solutions for creating, using and managing identity,” said HID Global president and CEO Denis Hebert. “The Codebench acquisition brings key integration capabilities while reinforcing and enhancing our mutual relationships with customers and OEM partners. Additionally, this acquisition positions us for a number of new market opportunities, including extending federal identity technology into the commercial sector, and moving our PKI strong authentication offering beyond the desktop to the door.”

The Codebench offering joins HID Global’s federal identity portfolio and will enable the company to give customers everything they need to upgrade their physical access control system (PACS) in accordance with Federal Information Processing Standard Publication 201 (FIPS-201) guidelines for personal identity verification (PIV). Codebench’s integration capability is a particularly important element for delivering end-to-end, field-tested solutions. The addition of Codebench’s portfolio will also enhance HID Global’s capability to offer Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC) solutions as well as more complete PACS integration capabilities, and to extend these capabilities into HID Global’s identity assurance Card Management System (CMS) appliance. 

The acquisition will also enable HID Global to serve the emerging market for commercial identity verification (CIV) using the same technologies as PIV for broader applications in healthcare, local and state government, first responder groups, and a broad range of other organizations. Additionally, the acquisition positions HID Global at the forefront of industry efforts to move strong authentication beyond logical access control at the desktop, where HID Global already has a leading offering, to include similar capabilities for physical access control at the door. 

“We are very pleased to join the HID Global organization,” said Codebench CEO Geri Castaldo. “Our two companies’ combined offering is unparalleled in its breadth and comprehensiveness for federal and government users as well as commercial applications that require the highest levels of security. The combination of our portfolios plus HID Global’s scale and channel strength also positions us for new market opportunities that neither company could have pursued individually in the near term.”

Codebench remains located in Coconut Creek, Florida, and the company’s products, executives and staff become part of HID Global’s Identity Access Management (IAM) business.   

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