WidePoint Corporation announced its appointment to the Board of Directors of The Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems™ (FiXs), a coalition of government contractors, commercial companies and not-for-profit organizations that are establishing a global secure identity cross-credentialing network. FiXs provides a trusted identity management infrastructure compliant with HSPD-12 and FIPS 201. The FiXs network enables the secure exchange of approved credentials between member organizations and government partners and is modeled after the ATM network, where an individual can use one of any number of bank cards at the ATM of almost any financial institution.
WidePoint Appointed to the FiXs™ Board of Directors
Subsidiary ORC to Issue DoD ECA Certificates on FiXs-Certified Cards
FAIRFAX, VA, May 31, 2007–WidePoint Corporation (AMEX: WYY), a leading provider of information technology assurance and identity management services, today announced its appointment to the Board of Directors of The Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems™ (FiXs), a coalition of government contractors, commercial companies and not-for-profit organizations that are establishing a global secure identity cross-credentialing network.
FiXs provides a trusted identity management infrastructure compliant with Homeland Security Presidential Directive No. 12 (HSPD-12) and Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201. The FiXs network enables the secure exchange of approved credentials between member organizations and government partners and is modeled after the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) network, where an individual can use one of any number of bank cards at the ATM of almost any financial institution. FiXs uses available identity credential technology in conjunction with biometric identification to verify the identity of personnel seeking to enter military installations, government-controlled areas, and FiXs commercial facilities.
WidePoint CTO Daniel Turissini stated, “FiXs allows DoD and its contractors to use a common trust model based on existing security systems that will spread deployment and implementation costs among all participants while providing long-term support for multiple levels of credentials for employees in both the federal and private sectors. WidePoint intends to leverage FiXs’ secure and trusted network by offering the government-compliant PKI certificates of subsidiary ORC on FiXs-certified cards. We intend to capitalize on the successes of FiXs and the ORC External Certificate Authority (ECA) with the U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) in establishing a mutually trusted, interoperable community of DoD contractors, vendors and trading partners. Each member will be able to authoritatively authenticate identities by offering ECA medium hardware assurance certificates issued on FIPS-140-2 Level 3-compliant FiXs cards.”
Dr. Michael J. Mestrovich, FiXs President, stated, “We are delighted to welcome WidePoint as a FiXs member. The FiXs-certified credentials are the optimum tokens to protect and enhance the value of an ORC ECA certificate for physical access authentication and ultimately, as the FiXs Trust Model evolves, to address logical access.”
About FiXs
Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, The Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems (FiXs) is a coalition of government contractors, commercial companies and not-for-profit organizations whose mission is to establish and maintain a worldwide, interoperable identity and cross-credentialing network built on security, privacy, trust, standard operating rules, policies and technical standards. The FiXs network verifies and authenticates the identity of industry personnel seeking to enter military installations, government-controlled areas and commercial sites tied to the network, providing a trusted mechanism for federated identity infrastructure within and between public and private sector organizations.
The coalition currently has 23 member companies, including systems integrators, financial institutions and other organizations that want to promote improved workforce protection and systems security for critical infrastructure markets. The U.S. Department of Defense and General Services Administration are participating government organizations.
The FiXs Network is an authorized link to the U.S. Department of Defense Cross-Credentialing Identification System (DCCIS) and a joint recipient of the 2005 FCW Events Government Solution Center Pioneer Award for “Successful Public/Private Sector Partnership,” representing a premier example of a program managed collaboratively by government and non-government partners that tangibly improved government operations. For more information, visit www.fixs.org.
About WidePoint
WidePoint is a leading provider of information technology assurance and identity management services to the government sector and commercial markets. WidePoint specializes in providing systems engineering, integration and information technology services. WidePoint’s wholly owned subsidiary, ORC, is at the forefront of implementing government-compliant eAuthentication identity management managed services and associated systems engineering and integration. ORC has earned four major U.S. federal government certifications offering the highest levels of assurance for transactions over the Internet.
WidePoint’s portfolio of customers encompasses U.S. Federal Government agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice as well as major U.S. defense contractors and several major pharmaceutical companies. For more information, visit http://www.widepoint.com.
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