27 Mar 2008

Efficient security for global operation

Merrill Lynch, one of the world’s leading finance companies, needed to renew its access control system. With offices worldwide, the company has 50,000 employees and 20,000 regular visitors. There were many out-of-date access cards in circulation, so Merrill Lynch turned to HID Group for a tailor-made access control solution.

The decision to assign new credentials to its users, however, spawned a larger project within Merrill Lynch. The goal would be to work towards a centralized access control system that could link to the company’s IT infrastructure so that users could use a single card for all their access needs, whether to buildings or computers.

This of course necessitated a solution that:
• was multi-technology to assist in the migration to smart cards;
• could be used anywhere in Asia, the USA or Europe;
• was operational around the clock;
• would be capable of future expansion into network
log-on, biometrics and other smart-card applications;
• was suitable for all user groups.

HID Group proposed a new system that would deliver multiple layers of protection by standardizing procedures for issuing new and updating existing employee identity cards. Key components of the successful implementation were HID iCLASS® smart card technology and the advantages of HID Group’s Corporate 1000 program, which assigns customers a product with a unique format, giving them full control over its use, rather than using open domain formats. As Merrill Lynch already had Corporate 1000 national formats, it was a matter of merging them into a single format, enabling users to access any Merrill Lynch facility, anywhere in the world, with the same card.

The next step was to generate and issue new user credentials, valid across nine locations, in three different categories depending on each user’s access rights. HID Group’s Card Personalization Service had the capacity, ability and experience to handle Merrill Lynch’s extensive requirements. Paul Martin, Vice President, System Security Group at Merrill Lynch, says the sheer volume of the project made it impossible to achieve in house.

“We felt confident that HID was geared up to do the job. And it was. HID Group quickly delivered secure, branded cards with visual security features and a design that clearly shows the user’s access rights.”

Published 27 Mar 2008

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