Bell ID wins national ID card contract in Qatar

Bell ID, in partnership with ProtechT and QPGI, has been selected to provide the smart card management software to support the life-cycle management of the Qatar national ID cards.

Rotterdam – 22^nd June 2006

Bell ID, worldwide technology leader in the field of smart card management solutions, today announced that it is supplying its ANDiS platform to the State of Qatar Ministry of Interior. The State of Qatar is implementing a new smart identity card and a series of smart card applications as part of the Qatar national identification project. The national identity smart card will be issued to all citizens and residents and will become the standard identification card for the purposes of interaction with all ministries within the government of Qatar.

The project includes the use of digital certificates, finger, face and iris biometrics to provide fast and reliable verification of an individual’s identity. Bell ID joins the ProtechT and QPGI teams, who were recently awarded the contract. Together with ProtechT, Bell ID is providing the ANDiS smart card management platform including its Post-Issuance Personalisation module and ANDiS Key Management System. The platform acts as the central component of the project. In addition to managing the life-cycle of the cards and all cryptographic keys, it informs all appropriate parties as to the status of the cards’ applications.

“This is a major step forward for the State of Qatar’s Ministry of Interior in the implementation of its e-Security strategy. The national identification project is focused on the implementation of a national system for up to a million people, leveraging multiple biometric types for multiple biometrically enabled applications including the national identity smart card, the e-Passport programme, the e-Gate programme and biometric immigration control systems”, commented Col. Saleh El Kubaissi, Head of Computer Systems Department, Ministry of Interior, Qatar. http://www.moi.gov.qa

“Bell ID was selected to be part of our team because of their unrivalled industry experience and market leadership in the fields of card, application and key management”, commented Antoine Chamieh, COO ProtechT. “Bell ID is a highly professional and committed partner of ours and has gone consistently above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the success of our project”.

About Qatar Project Group International (QPGI) LLC

Qatar Project Group International LLC is a joint venture between Sheik Saoud Abdullah M. J. Al-Thani, Hassan Yousuf Al Hakeem and OHI (Oman Holding International Co SAOG), a public joint stock company incorporated in the Sultanate of Oman. QPGI is offering the gamut of information technology solutions to the Qatar market.

About ProtechT

ProtechT is a Middle East-based IT security solutions and services integrator established to assist organisations in the success of their e-transformation by aggregating secure IT solutions covering: network security, biometric identification systems, smart cards, digital signatures, encryption and BS7799 consulting.

For more information, please visit http://www.protecht-me.com.

About Bell ID

From its base in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Bell Identification B.V. has developed ANDiS^©, its open software platform comprising a suite of turnkey products and services for multi-application smart card and key management schemes. Bell ID’s clients include governmental and financial institutions, large corporations, universities and telecommunications companies around the globe.

For more information, please contact:

Bell ID

Oliver Burke

Tel: +31 10 885 1010

E-mail: info@bellid.com

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