Analysts said Microsoft Corp.'s Monday acquisition of a public-key identity management developer may herald an upsurge in the use of smart cards by enterprises and Microsoft's position in the still-growing security management industry.
Alacris, a small, privately held, Ottawa-based company founded in 1998, makes a security management software product called IDNexus that uses PKI (public key infrastructure) and biometrics in smart-card deployments for large commercial and government organizations that employ Windows-based systems. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
PKI uses public and private cryptographic keys and digital certificates to securely encrypt messages and data over public networks.
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