HID confers new Genuine label

IRVINE, Calif.—One of the bigger announcements at next week's ASIS International show in Anaheim will come from HID, a company situated just down the road here in Irvine. The company will unveil a new program whereby technology partners will display a new Genuine HID Technology trademark, helping end users and integrators discern third-party products that utilize HID technology. Further, integrators will be able to take advantage of a new Advantage HID Channel Partner program, which will validate training and partnership efforts.

“We've built a strong and loyal based of partners,” said Tony Ball, senior vice president, Identity and Access Management at HID. “We want to enable them further so as they go out and expand their capabilities, leveraging the HID technology.”

For example, Ball said, there have been a number of counterfeit products on the market, making claims regarding HID technology, along with a number of “me too” companies, claiming the same performance. This Genuine HID program is designed to help end users and integrators cut through the chaff.

“They say they can do many of those things we can do,” he said, “but we have a very strong belief that our install base and portfolio of products and services is something that's unique.” For example, he said, “The way the HID card can expand beyond physical security to IT, or to what we call identity services, is very unique. And we believe that no one else out there can extend that value in the same way.”

Having the Advantage program in place, with as many as 50 integrators trained on both the physical and IT side of the application, now allows the company to begin extensive end user training in the fall. “The first step is training the integrator,” he said. “We can't afford to have anything other than the product working right the first time.”