AMSTERDAM - 13 May 2003: Baltimore Technologies (London: BLM), a global leader in e-security, together with Getronics, the global ICT service provider, today announced that Baltimore SelectAccess(tm) is providing secure, centralised web access control for BKWI, the Dutch Agency supporting information exchange between the departments of Employment and Social Security. SelectAccess enables over 17,000 Dutch public sector employees, from multiple departments, with immediate, centralised online access to Dutch citizens' records relative to employment, benefits and welfare entitlements. It also provides strong protection for citizen's privacy in accordance with Dutch Law through its centralised policy management and audit capabilities.
"This solution has effectively streamlined operations, simplified procedures and enables us to guarantee that employees can only access information they are entitled to, as required by privacy legislation," said Mr Olf Kinkhorst, Director at BKWI.
The information databases are set up in an extranet environment across multiple web servers and BKWI has reduced the costs associated with web services access control by implementing the consolidated authorisation and identity management that SelectAccess provides. The unique SelectAccess matrix-style graphic user interface (GUI) also enables control to be delegated from the central administrator to individual department heads. This greatly improves both the ease-of-use and efficiencies of managing 17,000 users. Information is exchanged more efficiently and cost-effectively across departments, offering a far superior level of service and privacy protection to citizens. In addition, SelectAccess enables BKWI to scale to a full web services operation that will securely interconnect applications from one department with databases from others. "We chose Baltimore because we felt that SelectAccess was the only web access security product with the right combination of ease-of-use, security, flexibility and cost-effectiveness for the BKWI project. Baltimore was selected as a partner on whose expertise and commitment to the global government sector we could rely to deliver this critical project. Over the last year our decision has proved to be correct - user and policy management has been integrated into the business processes of the different departments, usage has grown from 1,000 to over 17,000 registered users and overall security has improved," said Koos van der Straaten, General Manager, Infrastructure Integration and Remote Services at Getronics Netherlands.
"Baltimore is pleased to be working once again with one of the world's leading e-Governments. We have extensive experience in securing online government data and services while at the same time protecting a citizen's privacy," added Patrick Jourdas, Senior Vice President EMEA at Baltimore Technologies. "SelectAccess enables strong security for e-government projects as it establishes the identity of users, what they are entitled to do and also verifies transactions and manages security resources. Deploying this level of web access control protects critical e-government infrastructure and streamlines operations while ensuring a citizen's privacy."
Getronics provided the system integration services on this project. The architecture is fully scalable and therefore in time could be used to give third party organisations, particularly private sector recruitment agencies, access to specific information they are legally entitled to. Baltimore's leading e-security technology also means that access could be made available to citizens using identity credentials issued by the State to access information directly online.
About BKWI (Bureau Keteninformatisering Werk en Inkomen)
BKWI is a Dutch government agency that is set up to facilitate the cooperation between the various public organisations that are responsible for employment opportunities, unemployment benefits and social welfare. These organisations have to cooperate closely in a value added chain to provide the required services to citizens in need of a job and/or benefits. The focus of BKWI is to improve the interaction and electronic information exchange between the business processes of these organisations.
About Getronics
With approximately 23,000 employees in over 30 countries, Getronics is one of the world's leading providers of vendor independent solutions and services to professional users of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Through consulting, integrating, implementing and managing Infrastructure Solutions and Business Solutions, Getronics helps many of the world's largest global and local organisations to maximise the value of their technology investment and improve interaction with their customers. Getronics is headquartered in Amsterdam, with regional head offices in Boston and Singapore. Getronics' shares are traded on Euronext Amsterdam ('GTN'). For further information about Getronics, visit www.getronics.com
About Baltimore Technologies
Baltimore Technologies' products, services and solutions address the fundamental security needs of e-business in distributed environments. Baltimore's e-security technology enables companies to verify the identity of electronic counterparties and securely manages which resources and information users can access through open networks. Many of the world's leading organisations in Finance and Government have deployed Baltimore's e-security technology to enable e-business over fixed and wireless networks. Baltimore also offers worldwide support for its authorization management and public key-based authentication products.
Baltimore's products, services and solutions are sold directly as well as through its worldwide partner network, Baltimore TrustedWorld(tm). Baltimore Technologies is a public company, listed on the London Stock Exchange (BLM). For more information on Baltimore Technologies, please visit http://www.baltimore.com
Media Contacts - Baltimore Technologies:
Irene Dehaene Dan Chappell
Baltimore Technologies Brands2Life
Tel: +353 1 881 6407 +44 20 7386 6200
irene.dehaene@baltimore.com dan.chappell@brands2life.com
Media Contacts - BKWI: Getronics Netherlands:
Paul Schlotter Paulien van Dorst
Tel: +31 20 851 3700 Tel: +31 20 587 9535
pschlotter@bkwi.nl
Paulien.vandorst@getronics.com
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Trademarks
SelectAccess is a trademark of Baltimore Technologies plc. All other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
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