Standards are good!

Digital Security solutions sound a good idea. Yet, the market is divided between energetic early adopters and skeptic followers? Why so?

We have seen both the sides. In every market, there would be adopters and followers. That’s where some of our projects have taken a better, larger shape. It’s not just factors like networking security but user authentication, access etc too.

Any recent changes?

We are coming up in all verticals. Still in nascent stage in E-security and Icards with two-factor authentication. Some government segments and enterprises have turned keen in the recent past. Banks were not so keen, but now they have woken up to the idea.

Do you agree with the demand around standards?

We are a strong endorser of standards, be it security certification or assurance-certification. Standards are evolving and we have contributed to their formation at a global level.

Does the growing trend around heterogeneity pose a problem?

Customers always have the right of choice. Yes, we have seen such organizations where Unix, Linux, Mac etc operate simultaneously. We focus on ensuring that our products are adaptable to such environments with a good level of adaptability of middleware that would come into picture. Two pieces talk via middleware, so that is crucial. Further, we make sure that organizations based on either heterogeneous IT infrastructures or those which are Microsoft-centric, can effectively use our solutions thanks to specific offerings on Java as well as .NET technology.

How has been the journey so far?

It started three decades back with the innovation around smart card technology. Across 40 countries and a footprint that spans about 1.4 billion smart devices it has been a good road to cover. Innovation has always been the key to us, much more than lip service as can be seen with the 4500 patents and 70 applications last year. Telecom, Security business units, Secure transactions i.e. banks and retail etc are our main verticals. Customers include multi-national companies like Pfizer and Microsoft globally.

What’s happening in the area of enterprises?

Enterprises have different needs from digital to converged security. We deliver solutions and services for that. Government segment entails cards, driving licenses, health cards etc. But we also offer degrees of customization. Gemalto provides solutions to enterprises ranging from corporate badges (for physical and/or logical access) to connected & un-connected tokens based on PKI and One Time Password (OTP) technologies. Our offer also includes software and smart card readers which are well-adapted to provide very high-level of digital security to large and small enterprises. In India, many enterprises (both private & government) have been deploying Gemalto’s secure smartcards, PKI tokens, software as well as readers. Gemalto’s Digital Signature based solutions are also being used in various Indian on-line authentication applications like MCA21, e-Tendering, tax filing etc. In addition, banks in India have been using various Gemalto products for applications ranging from secure on-line authentication to eBanking.

Are these plug-and-play or process-based offerings?

An IT Manager would always look at roll-out issues. We have some solutions that are quite plug-and-play and easy to implement. Some solutions, however, need a higher level of integration, specially if the customer wants a personalized application.