According to Hewlett-Packard (HP), the National Identity System (NIS), which is built on Microsoft’s .Net platform, also allows governments to build and deploy a technologically agile infrastructure that meets their changing security and identity management needs.
In addition, the NIS is designed to enable national and regional governments to more easily plug in additional elements, such as biometrics, to customize and balance the level of security and privacy as defined by their policy and requirements.
The need to securely identify people moving across national and international borders has never been more important than it is today, said Jim Ganthier, worldwide leader, Defense, Intelligence and Public Safety, HP. HP and Microsoft are working together to provide government agencies the ability to access the integrated data streams needed to securely identify people both in the physical and virtual worlds.
HP and Microsoft said they are investing in the program through initiatives such as joint training programs and the establishment of specialist centers around the world to further develop, demonstrate and sell national identity system solutions.
The introduction of the NIS comes as HP reveals its partnerships with the Italian Ministry of Interior, set up to provide smart electronic national identity documents for all Italian citizens, and with citizens in Israel, Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria, who are being issued with new identity and entitlement documents such as passports, driving licenses and identity cards.
