UK police force buys smart card keyboards
ZF Electronics Ltd - formerly Cherry Electrical Products Ltd – was awarded a contract for 8,000 of its smart card keyboard products which are being used as part of an ambitious security project being undertaken by the West Midlands Police in the UK. The company’s G83-6644LUAGB-2 smart card keyboard was an part of the tender documentation for the Gateway Program.
Smart cards are being issued to every member of staff in the organization and the smart card keyboards will be used in more than 150 different police buildings across the region. All personnel can use their smart card to logon to their computer and access applications with Single Sign-On, and in 38 sites staff will additionally use their smart card to gain access into the buildings.
ZF Electronics’ Cherry G83-6644LUAGB-2 keyboard incorporates a class-2 chip card reader. It is approved for digital signatures, PKI and Single Sign-On and supports USB 2.0 interconnection, secure PIN entry, and CT-Api.
The Cherry keyboards have been supplied via Nottingham-based Ergo Computing, which has been the principal computer hardware contractor for West Midlands Police since early 2006, supplying desktop and notebook PCs to the force. Each G83-6644LUAGB-2 works in conjunction with software from ActivIdentity. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/secureidnews-4.gif)
