Melissa Prosen, director of brand and communications for Datacard Group, tells CARTES Daily News about the acquisition of Entrust, future roadmaps and the Internet of Things
Q Users on the move is the theme of CARTES this year - how does this relate to your company?
A The world is changing. It’s more connected, more mobile and more empowered than ever. And the pace of that change is accelerating. Datacard and Entrust not only understand that change, but we work relentlessly to anticipate it, we determine how it will affect our customers and we have solutions ready and waiting when our customers need them. As an example of this, we identified emerging consumer, citizen and enterprise needs for trusted identity and secure transactions — across both physical and digital realms. This understanding led to the December 2013 acquisition of Entrust. After nearly a year of highly-focused integration efforts, we’ve advanced a portfolio of new solutions. CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS 2014 serves as the debut for several Datacard and Entrust solutions. Our exhibit will be a showcase for new solutions that empower people to make purchases, cross borders, access networks and perform other essential tasks — with exceptional security and reliability.
Q Are there any business areas that you are not in but where you would like to have a presence?
A Datacard and Entrust are preferred brands in the financial, government and enterprise markets. Our roadmap calls for a great deal of expansion and innovation in those core markets. However, as the world becomes more connected and the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes a more pervasive reality, our solutions will quickly find their way into new markets, such as healthcare, critical infrastructure and education. Our solutions are deployed in those markets today, but the concepts of trusted identity and secure transactions will become fundamental in a more connected world. We’ve developed innovation roadmaps that will make our brands essential in those markets.
Q Can you give us a few thoughts about the importance of security, one of the key issues in our industry?
A While there are intriguing developments occurring in each vertical market we serve, the general concepts of ‘computing everywhere’ and the IoT are driving a great deal of change across all markets. The ‘computing anywhere’ concept means there will be a proliferation of intelligent and connected devices. Many of these will take forms that we have not seen, at least in the public mainstream. IT departments will be challenged to maintain security in this ubiquitous world and they will need entirely new security and identity solutions. The IoT concept will arise as intelligent and connected technology becomes embedded in places we never really considered. This will open new doors in terms of flexibility, efficiency and control — but it will also create massive new security and identity challenges. Our combined innovation roadmap addresses a great number of these challenges.
Q Are you revealing any new products or services at CARTES?
A Datacard Group and Entrust will debut several new solutions for enabling trusted identity and secure transactions. We are excited to demonstrate combined Datacard and Entrust solutions for the first time at CARTES in Paris and show how they can improve security, efficiency and flexibility in an increasingly connected world. Highlights of the Datacard Group and Entrust exhibit include card and credential issuance solutions, secure authentication platforms, identity-based solutions for enterprise access and new ideas for EMV issuance, card delivery and instant card issuance.
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