News
NFC-Enabled BlackBerry Smartphones Will ‘Open Doors’ with HID Global’s iCLASS® Digital
November 2011 by Marc Jacob
HID Global announced an industry first with plans to support the company’s iCLASS® digital keys and mobile secure identity on NFC-enabled
BlackBerry® smartphones. The new BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900/9930 and BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350/9360smartphones activated
with iCLASS digital credentials will be compatible with the large installed base of iCLASS readers that are used for applications
ranging from physical access systems in buildings, to student IDs, to applications that track time and attendance.
HID Global will be previewing iCLASS digital keys and mobile identity credentials using the Near Field Communications (NFC)
capabilities of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone at the ASIS International 2011 security conference, September 19-22, in
booth #2400 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. In addition, representatives from HID Global and
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) will be speaking about this new platform at ASIS. Register here to attend.
Instead of using keys or smartcards, BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to use iCLASS digital credentials that can be
presented for authentication by simply holding theirNFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphonein front of a reader, just like they do today
with a physical iCLASS smartcard.
“NFC technology will enable many new and exciting capabilities for BlackBerry smartphones and we are very pleased to be working
with HID Global to be the first to bring a host of secure identity and mobile access control capabilities to NFC-enabled
smartphones,” said Andrew Bocking, vice president, Handheld Software Product Management at RIM.
Pilots using BlackBerry smartphones activated with iCLASS digital credentialswill be conducted this year.HID Global expects that its
embedded iCLASS technology will be generally available for the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 and BlackBerry Curve
9350/9360smartphones in early 2012.
