Intercede News

06/09/2007

Intercede Confirms Licence Agreement With Thales

Following last week’s announcement of a new licence agreement, Intercede, one of the world’s leading developers and suppliers of smart card and identity management software, is pleased to confirm that the agreement is with Thales, the international electronics and mission critical systems group.

The agreement reinforces the relationship between Intercede and Thales and supports the growth in demand for identity management solutions currently being witnessed by Thales in the financial services industry and the public sector. This agreement is separate from Intercede’s existing product customisation contract with Thales, signed previously.

Thales first integrated MyID with its SafeSign suite of products over three years ago and has since been offering a unique identity management solution to the market. In response to growing demand within the financial services and public sector markets for sophisticated identity management, Thales is further investing in the solution and has carried out extensive product development to differentiate the SafeSign Management Server from other offerings on the market.

Together SafeSign Management Server and SafeSign Authentication Server provide customers with an end-to-end identity management, user and message authentication solution that unites the issuing and management of a large variety of authentication and identification technologies, including PKI cards, USB tokens, handheld tokens, mobile phones, contact and contactless cards and biometric technologies.

Paul Meadowcroft, head of transaction security for the e-Security activities of Thales, comments:
“In response to customer and market requirements, we have invested heavily in the development of the SafeSign suite of products to ensure that customers are receiving a unique, sophisticated and functionality-rich end-to-end identity management and authentication solution. As a result, our customers in the financial services and public sector markets worldwide can rely on Thales to provide them with an advanced solution which will meet the rigorous demands of their current and future identity management and authentication requirements.”

Richard Parris, Chief Executive of Intercede, comments:
“I am pleased that our relationship with Thales has reached this new level of partnership as the identity and smart card market starts to quickly grow. It is a vindication of our focused MyID product development strategy and long-term approach to working with partners. After a 3-year partnership to date, this order demonstrates Thales’ commitment to Intercede, our technology leadership and the longevity of Intercede’s business model.

“We expect this to be the first of many significant licence orders from Thales as SafeSign is delivered to an increasing number of banks and governmental organisations around the world through Thales’ network of international business partners, spanning the globe from Australia in the east to Hawaii in the west and all points between.”

About Intercede
Intercede Group plc is a leading developer and supplier of smart card and identity management software listed on the London Stock Exchange (IGP LN) (IGP.L). The Group's MyID software manages the secure registration, issuance and lifecycle of digital identities for a wide range of uses. This requires the integration of multiple technologies and products from many different vendors, including smart cards, biometrics, digital certificates, Open Platform applets and physical access control systems.

Intercede works with a number of market leading OEM, re-seller and technology partners that supply MyID technology to the global marketplace including: Athena Smartcard Solutions, Gemalto, RSA Security, SafeNet, Thales, VeriSign and a variety of systems integrators and other security product and service providers.

Intercede and MyID are registered trademarks or trademarks in the UK, US and/or other countries.

For more information on Intercede and MyID visit http://www.intercede.com

About Thales
Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, addressing defence, aerospace and security markets worldwide. Thales’ leading-edge technology is supported by 22,000 R&D engineers who offer a capability unmatched in Europe to develop and deploy field-proven mission-critical information systems. To this end, the group’s civil and military businesses develop in parallel and share a common base of technologies to serve a single objective: the security of people, property and nations. The group builds its growth on its unique multi-domestic strategy based on trusted partnerships with national customers and market players, while leveraging its global expertise to support local technology and industrial development. Thales employs 68,000 people in 50 countries with forecast 2007 revenues in excess of €12 billion.

Thales UK is a major electronics and systems group serving defence, aerospace, security and services markets. Thales employs 9,000 staff in the UK, based at more than 50 locations. In 2006 Thales UK's revenues were over £1 bn.

Press Contacts:

Intercede
Richard Parris, Chairman & Chief Executive
Andrew Walker, Finance Director
Tel. +44 (0) 1455 558111

Pelham Public Relations
Archie Berens
Tel. +44 (0)20 7743 6679

KBC Peel Hunt (Nominated adviser and broker)
Richard Kauffer/Gordon Suggett
Tel: +44 (0)207 418 8900

For Thales:

Thales, Security Solutions & Services
Sarah Milligan
sarah.milligan@thalesesecurity.com
+44 (0) 1844 204181

Hotwire, press agency
Suzanne Hewitt
suzanne.hewittt@hotwirepr.com
+44 (0) 20 7608 4655

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