Crossmatch - Experts & Thought Leaders

HID Global, a worldwide provider of trusted identity solutions, announced that it has acquired Crossmatch, a provider of biometric identity management and secure authentication solutions, from Francisco Partners. Crossmatch’s portfolio of products includes biometric identity management hardware and software that complement HID’s broad portfolio of trusted identity products and services, making HID Global one of the world’s major providers of fingerprint biometric technologies. Identity Management Solutions “Our acquisition of Crossmatch strengthens HID Global’s ability to offer innovative biometric identity solutions to hundreds of millions of users worldwide,” said Stefan Widing, President and CEO of HID Global. “Adding Crossmatch to our company will extend HID’s market leadership in the trusted identity space and allow us to fulfill the promise of biometrics in critical identity applications.” Founded in 1996 and based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Crossmatch employs over 270 professionals across a global network of development hubs and strategic sales offices. With the acquisition, HID Global gains advanced biometric identity management solutions for civil government, defense and commercial applications, as well as a secure multifactor authentication software solution. Crossmatch’s public-sector biometrics business enhances HID’s reach into immigration and border control Crossmatch’s Public-Sector Biometrics Crossmatch’s public-sector biometrics business enhances HID’s reach into immigration and border control, law enforcement, and military and defense markets with products and solutions that include criminal booking, rapid mobile identification, background checks, security clearance processing, military base access, counter-terrorism and mobile intelligence gathering, visa processing and citizen services. The Crossmatch commercial biometrics business extends HID’s portfolio to include a broad array of single finger readers, modules, sensors and software developer kits (SDKs) for multiple vertical markets including – retail, financial, healthcare and OEM markets. This is a global business supporting a large volume of integrated partners. Crossmatch is also a provider of single fingerprint sensors to point-of-sale (POS) terminal manufacturers and is integrated with the major POS software applications. Behavioral Biometrics For Frictionless Access HID also gains a unique secure authentication solution, DigitalPersona, that goes beyond the traditional multifactor approach to cybersecurity. DigitalPersona adds an array of risk-based factors, including behavioral biometrics, for secure, frictionless access to Windows and cloud, web, mobile and traditional applications. “I am very pleased that Crossmatch is joining the HID family. Countering today’s advanced security threats requires innovative, comprehensive identity management solutions incorporating both biometric and non-biometric components. Our market-leading biometric identity management solutions and unique composite authentication solution perfectly complement HID’s already robust offerings. This will enable us to provide our global customers with an even broader range of trusted identity solutions, and our employees with increased opportunity for professional growth,” said Richard Agostinelli, CEO of Crossmatch. 

Their combined experience in enterprise software and security markets supports Crossmatch’s sales initiatives Crossmatch, a leading provider of identity management enrollment and authentication solutions, announced the appointment of John Atkinson as vice president of global enterprise sales and Eduardo Parodi as vice president of government sales for Europe, Africa and Latin America. “We are pleased to have Eduardo and John as part of the Crossmatch team,” noted Lance Roncalli, senior vice president of global sales. “Their combined experience in the enterprise software and security markets as well as broad range of industry relationships, support our go to market initiatives.”  Eduardo Parodi Eduardo has over 20 years of experience in driving sales, growing partner relationships and managing global sales activities with foreign governments. He was most recently vice president of sales & business development for Smiths Detection where he coordinated and supervised the regional strategy and sales efforts for both government and commercial customers in the aviation and critical infrastructure markets. Eduardo holds a degree in History from the University of Texas with specialization in Latin American studies. Eduardo served in the military and spent over 8 years in law enforcement before turning to the private sector, establishing his own security integration company targeting projects in Latin America. John Atkinson John has a long history of leading and growing global sales organizations for enterprise software solution and information technology companies. He most recently was the chief sales and marketing officer at Widepoint where he was responsible for building out an enterprise mobility management solution for the commercial marketplace and driving a cloud-based IDaaS solution for government customers. John holds a BSc Honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from The Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Appointments “These critical appointments are consistent with the direction and growth plans that Crossmatch is undertaking with a strong focus towards solving both the US & international identity management challenges, as well as commercial and government IT security issues,” stated Richard Agostinelli, Crossmatch CEO.

Cross Match's VP of Global Business Development will speak on "Biometrics in the 21st Century Battlefield" Cross Match Technologies, a leading global provider of biometric identity management solutions recently served as a platinum sponsor of the Connect:ID exhibition and conference being held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC March 17th through 19th. Cross Match, in coordination with the event hosts, have worked to convene a number of globally recognized experts on identity management and border control technologies to address critical issues and cutting edge applications throughout the world today. "We are pleased to be a sponsor of this important and timely identity conference and exhibition in Washington, DC," said John Hinmon, head of marketing for Cross Match. "Global events continue to remind us of the urgent need for greater cooperation between nations and further adoption of proven biometric technologies to verify individual identity and combat fraud—several speakers will be addressing these timely topics." The upcoming panels at the conference will feature leading experts from a wide array of disciplines and stakeholders from around the world. Cross Match Vice President of Global Business Development and former Senior Fellow and Director of the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Rick "Ozzie" Nelson, is scheduled to speak on "Biometrics in the 21st Century Battlefield", addressing the changing nature of global warfare and the role that biometrics are playing in it.  For more information about the conference program and featured panels, please visit www.connectidexpo.com. Cross Match has a long history of partnering with government, defense, and law enforcement agencies with innovative, industry leading biometric capture and enrollment solutions. The Company has fielded over 80,000 Guardian® ten-print livescan devices, a number of which support the Department of Homeland Security's US VISIT program and the Department of State's visa program. 

Consolidation persisted in the physical security industry in 2018, and big companies such as Motorola, Canon and UTC continued to make moves. Also among the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) news in 2018 was a high-profile bankruptcy (that ended well), continuing consolidation in the integrator market, and the creation of a new entity called “LenelS2.” Here’s a look at the Top 10 M&A stories in 2018: 1. Motorola Acquires Avigilon Motorola Solutions announced in February that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire video surveillance provider Avigilon in an all-cash transaction that enhances Motorola Solutions’ portfolio of mission-critical communications technologies. Avigilon products are used by a range of commercial and government customers including critical infrastructure, airports, government facilities, public venues, healthcare centers and retail. The company holds more than 750 U.S. and international patents. 2. UTC Climate, Control & Security Buys S2 Security UTC Climate, Controls & Security agreed in September to acquire S2 Security, a developer of unified security and video management solutions. UTC subsequently combined S2 with its Lenel brand to create LenelS2, “a global leader in advanced access control systems and services” with “complementary strengths.” 3. Costar Technologies Acquires Arecont Vision After Bankruptcy Arecont Vision, the provider of IP-based megapixel camera and video surveillance solutions, announced in July that the acquisition by Costar Technologies, Inc. of its assets had been approved by the bankruptcy court. After the closing of the sale, the company began operating as Arecont Vision Costar, LLC and is part of Costar, a U.S. corporation that designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes a range of products for the video surveillance and machine vision markets. 4. Allegion Acquires Access Control Company ISONAS Allegion plc, a security products and solutions provider, agreed in June to acquire ISONAS through one of its subsidiaries. ISONAS’ edge-computing technology provides access control solutions for non-residential markets. ISONAS' devices – like its integrated reader-controllers – utilize power over ethernet, making them easy to install and cost effective as they utilize existing customer infrastructures. The company is based in Boulder, Colo. 5. HID Buys Crossmatch for Biometrics HID Global announced that it had acquired Crossmatch, a provider of biometric identity management and secure authentication solutions, from Francisco Partners. Crossmatch’s portfolio of products includes biometric identity management hardware and software that complement HID’s broad portfolio of trusted identity products and services. 6. BriefCam Announces Acquisition by Canon BriefCam, a global provider of video synopsis and deep learning solutions, announced its acquisition in May by Canon Inc., a global digital imaging solutions company. The addition of BriefCam to Canon’s network video solutions products portfolio complements the Canon Group’s previous acquisitions of Axis Communications and Milestone Systems. 7. Allied Universal Acquires U.S. Security Associates Allied Universal, a security and facility services company, finalized its acquisition of U.S. Security Associates (USSA) in October, further building on its position in the security services industry. This acquisition includes Andrews International (including its Government Services Division and Consulting and Investigations and International Division) and Staff Pro. 8. Johnson Controls Acquires Smartvue Corp. Johnson Controls announced in April that it had acquired Smartvue, a global IoT and video provider that empowers cloud video surveillance and IoT video services. The addition of the Smartvue cloud-based video platform will enhance Johnson Controls’ offering of an end-to-end, smart cloud-based solution that can provide superior business data and intelligence to customers and added value to partners. 9. ADT Acquires Red Hawk Fire & Security (and Others) ADT Inc.’s acquisition of Red Hawk Fire & Security, Boca Raton, Fla., was the latest move in ADT Commercial’s strategy to buy up security integrator firms around the country and grow their footprint. In addition to the Red Hawk acquisition, announced in mid-October, ADT has acquired more than a half-dozen security system integration firms in the last year or so. 10. Convergint Technologies Continues to Acquire Convergint Technologies announced in August the acquisition of New Jersey-based Access Control Technologies (ACT), bringing further electronic security systems experience to Convergint's service capabilities. Convergint has strategically grown its service footprint across the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia Pacific through strong organic growth and the completion of 18 acquisitions since early 2016. And it continues: Convergint announced acquisition of SI Technologies, Albany, N.Y., in November and Firstline Security Integration (FSI), Anaheim, Calif., in December. (And Convergint itself was acquired in February by private equity group Ares Management.)

The Global Security Exchange (GSX) seems smaller this year, which is not surprising given the absence on the show floor of several big companies such as Hikvision and Assa Abloy (although their subsidiary HID Global has a big booth). A trend affecting the number of companies exhibiting at GSX 2018, and other trade shows, is industry consolidation, which is impacting the show even beyond the fewer exhibitors this year in Las Vegas. GSX is the new branding for the trade show formerly known as ASIS. There was an impressive crowd of visitors waiting for the show floor to open Tuesday morning; the conference part of the program began on Monday. After the attendees filed through the doors, the foot traffic seemed brisk throughout the morning, and was somewhat steady until the end of the first day. Exhibitors as a whole seemed pleased with the first day and cautiously optimistic about the rest of the show. Acquisitions And Consolidation HID Global announced on the first day that they will acquire Crossmatch - emphasizing the impact of consolidationEmphasising the impact of consolidation on the industry as a whole, and on this show, was an announcement from HID Global on the first day that they will acquire Crossmatch, a biometric identify management and secure authentication solutions provider. It’s a comparatively large acquisition for the company specializing in trusted identity solutions.   Just days earlier, another acquisition also seemed to confirm the trend when UTC Climate, Controls and Security — the owner of Lenel — announced an agreement to acquire S2 Security. The fruits of another recent acquisition was on display at the GSX 2018 hall, where Isonas took its place near the front entrance as part of the Allegion booth, just three months after the global security provider acquired the ‘pure IP access control company.’ Isonas is well positioned in two of the three fastest growing segments of the access control market — IP hardware, which is growing 41 percent per year globally, and access control as a service, or ‘cloud’ technology, which is also outpacing the overall access control market. Allegion also has the third fast-growing segment, wireless locks, covered with its Schlage brand. "New Avenues Of Growth" The early days of new ownership is opening fresh opportunities for both organizations as Allegion seeks to leverage Isonas’ intellectual property and the smaller company finds new avenues of growth in the larger organization, says Rob Lydic, Isonas Global Vice President of Sales. Motorola joined Avigilon in a higher profile role at their booth, emphasizing consolidation in the industry Lydic sees a likelihood of additional acquisitions in the near future in the security space, given the large amount of capital currently available to be deployed, and the large number of entrepreneurial companies looking to make the leap, as Isonas did, from a small booth at the back of the hall to front-and-center as part of a big industry player. Another reflection of consolidation: Motorola Solutions is taking a much higher-profile role in the Avigilon booth. In addition to signage, ownership by Motorola is also impacting the Avigilon product offerings. For example, the Motorola Ally security incident management and communications system has been integrated with Avigilon’s analytics-based event detection, and is being positioned to serve the enterprise market. The system simplifies security operations with a single platform that allows access to critical data, including video and access control systems, directly from any web-enabled device. Another reflection of consolidation: Motorola Solutions is taking a much higher-profile role in the Avigilon booth Avigilon is displaying Motorola Solutions’ CommandCenter Aware integrated with Avigilon’s systems for use with public safety applications to provide dispatchers and intelligence analysts with video feeds, incident details, alerts, data mapping and responder location. Avigilon has also integrated its AI-driven Appearance Search technology with its Access Control Manager system, so video searches can be performed based on a badge credential. The system can automatically pull up any information, whether video or events in the access control system, based on the badge information. It can also be used to search for lost badges, or to view where a person is located in the building. Avigilon introduced an AI appliance that allows existing cameras to be integrated with Appearance SearchThe company introduced an AI appliance that allows existing (non-Avigilon) cameras (up to 20 two-megapixel cameras) to be integrated with Appearance Search. Also, the next generation of analytics allows detection of more things, such objects a person may be holding, or detection based on what they are wearing. The Growth Of The Cannabis Market Although attendees at GSX are generally understood to be more end users than integrators, Joe Grillo, CEO of ACRE, the parent company of Vanderbilt Industries and ComNet, says he sees little difference in attendees at GSX compared to the ISC West show in the spring. “We see all our resellers here,” he says. Grillo noticed that Day One booth traffic was “not consistently busy, but steady.” Grillo says ACRE expects to be active again soon in the mergers and acquisitions market. The company has grown through six acquisitions since its founding, and has had one divestiture (when it sold Mercury Security to HID last fall). Since selling Mercury, ACRE has been ‘back in the buying mode,’ just looking for the right opportunity, says Grillo. New markets are a theme at GSX, and one of the biggest new opportunities is the cannabis industry. Marijuana has been legalized in dozens of U.S. states, and Canada is on the verge of legalizing the drug. March Networks works with multiple cannabis operators to provide video solutions, point-of-sale transaction data, and customer analytics March Networks is among the companies targeting the cannabis industry in a big way. Already across the U.S., March Networks works with multiple cannabis operators to provide video solutions, point-of-sale transaction data, and customer analytics. The business intelligence solutions also aid compliance in the highly-regulated industry. March Networks provides radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to track plants throughout the channel, and tracking is integrated with video systems to provide correlated video views. A couple of exhibitors mentioned to me the need for commercial companies to deploy a comparable level of automation as their employees are accustomed to in the smart home environment. That suggests a need for things such as smartphone integration and voice commands. One exhibitor putting its toe in the water is Hanwha Techwin, which showed an Amazon Echo device used to control a video management system (VMS) with voice commands. Could the simple integration be a preview of the future of control rooms, where security officers merely talk to their equipment rather than operating controls? We’ll be talking to more companies (and maybe a few machines) on Day Two of the show, and will be reporting what we hear.