WidePoint Corporation Achieves Another Credential Certification

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- WidePoint Corporation (NYSE Amex: WYY), a specialist in wireless mobility management and cybersecurity solutions, today announced its subsidiary Operational Research Consultants, Inc. (ORC) has been authorized to issue Personal Identity Verification-Interoperable (PIV-I) as a certified Non-Federal Issuer (NFI). ORC adds this certification to its long list of accredited credentialing offerings that include the U.S. External Certificate Authority (ECA), Access Certificates for Electronic Services (ACES) and Shared Service Provider federal issuer program. As a NFI vendor, ORCs identity credentials, currently issued to government contractors, state and local governments, first responders and health care providers, are extended additional interoperability for our customers who wish to conduct E-Government and E-Commerce transactions with other entities across the "Federal Bridge" that was established to allow for the interoperability of these various credentials.

"We are proud that our NFI credentials were the first to support the Key History / Retired Key Management objects; and to our knowledge, the only NFI credential to achieve 100% interoperability testing," commented Daniel Turissini, WidePoint's CTO. "We did not rush into the NFI process because of the dynamics of the PIV-I requirements, and we wanted to ensure that our NFI solution offered the best option to our growing customer base."

Four of WidePoint's state credentialing deployments will achieve FEMA interoperability capability from this certification as will our over-arching deployment of contractors and trading partners under the Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems (FiXs) certified credentialing program that converges both Physical and Logical access control through a direct trust relationship with the Department of Defense.

"Deploying a PIV-I solution integrated with RAPTOR^TM attribute management systems positions us to provide the same level of identity, credentialing and access management services necessary to meet Federal interoperability requirements; as well as, provide accurate information about the credential holder essential to effective incident management," said Bobby Kagel, Director for Emergency Management at County of Chester, Pennsylvania.

"We are deploying ORC's NFI within our FiXs interoperable infrastructure because they provide the PKI technology that not only secures transactions with the DoD but also enables FiXs and its strong chain of custody governance process to extend out beyond the DoD community of interest," said Dr. Michael Mestrovich, President of FiXs. "Adding PIV-I acceptance extends our goal of providing a true Federated infrastructure, while avoiding the costly and redundant development efforts of siloed credentialing systems. FiXs certified identity credentials can now be trusted by Federal government clients outside of DoD with confidence."

Approval as the first certified PIV-I issuer means organizations can now rely on ORC's Non-Federal SSP PKI to issue and manage fraud-resistant and cost-effective credentials that will federate across numerous communities of interest. ORC makes it easy for small and midsize organizations to issue high assurance credentials for trusted and seamless E-Commerce transactions and compete in an environment that might otherwise be restricted to much larger organizations.

About FiXs

Incorporated in 2004 and based in Fairfax, Virginia, the Federation for Identity and Cross-Credentialing Systems (FiXs) is a not-for-profit, certified 501(c)6 trade association comprised of commercial companies, including government contractors, and not-for-profit organizations. FiXs is registered in the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom to support the development of identity authentication standards and to provide authentication of personal identity across a secure network. FiXs provides the only end-to-end globally-accessible network that is interoperable with the U.S. Department of Defense. The FiXs Network delivers a secure, scalable capability that allows trusted identity verification and credential authentication for network users desiring access to a range of government and commercial facilities and systems. The FiXs Network meets current federally-mandated requirements, supports physical and logical access applications, and may be integrated with existing organizational personnel and access control systems, while fully leveraging the concept of federation and the FiXs Network's economies of scale. For more information on FiXs and a list of the federation's more than fifty members and participating government organizations, please visit: www.fixs.org.

About WidePoint

WidePoint is a specialist in providing wireless mobility management and cybersecurity solutions utilizing its advanced information technology products and services. WidePoint has several wholly owned subsidiaries holding major government and commercial contracts including, Operational Research Consultants, Inc., iSYS, LLC, Protexx, Advanced Response Concepts Corporation, WidePoint Solutions Corporation/AGS and WidePoint IL. WidePoint enables organizations to deploy fully compliant IT services in accordance with government-mandated regulations and advanced system requirements. For more information, visit http://www.widepoint.com.

SOURCE WidePoint Corporation