Avid Share Discussion Threads

[maywillow] 20/10/2002 16:15

Livestock,

Very interesting postings regarding Activcard. i believe that Smart Card Co.s will be in vogue in 2003. i know a little about Gemplus, Oberthur,IDD and Schlumberger,but very little about Activard although have followed from afar.

Due to the general market sentiment i have been less active in the sector recently.

i feel there is change in the air. i am trying to understand the specific areas in whic each company operates. The huge potential in this sector gives me the impression that it is big enough for a number of big players.

Good luck with Activcard
enjoy your weekend

ps at present i post on the ACTI and IDD threads.

[livestock] 20/10/2002 13:35

up up and away.....

[livestock] 10/10/2002 21:06

ActivCard ActivPack(TM) AAA Server 5.1 Advances LDAP-Centric...
October 8, 2002: 5:44 p.m. EST



FREMONT, Calif. (PRNewswire) - ActivCard(R) (EUROPE: ACTI) , the leader in IDentity Management (IDM) software, today announced the worldwide availability of ActivPack AAA Server 5.1, enabling enterprises to more cost-effectively control and manage remote access to corporate network resources.

ActivPack is a RADIUS and TACACS+ strong authentication, authorization and administration (AAA) server that protects critical enterprise assets by ensuring and tracking user identity across a network infrastructure that is accessible any time, from anywhere. ActivPack is the first authentication server to plug directly into any enterprise's existing LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) directory.

ActivPack fully integrates with all LDAP-compliant directories, enabling users and their access rights to be managed centrally without the need to modify the existing corporate directory infrastructure. This eliminates costly dual administration of remote access users. It also prevents an increasingly common security risk that occurs when administrators remove an employee from the corporate directory and mistakenly leave their record open in a separate remote access database. ActivPack verifies user identities using static passwords, synchronous authentication or challenge/response authentication, offering companies a complete range of authentication methods.

ActivPack provides organizations using password authentication with legacy systems or tokens for remote access with a wide choice of digital credentials. It offers a clear migration path to more advanced authentication technologies, such as smart cards and public-key authentication (PKI).

"ActivPack maps neatly onto our existing LDAP directory, thus strengthening our corporate security without adding an additional layer of administration," said Thibault Lepine, Corporate IT Infrastructure Engineering Manager, STMicroelectronics, the world's third largest semiconductor company. "ActivPack's directory integration directly lowers our costs of administering authentication services."

ActivPack AAA Server now offers more flexibility in deployment options. ActivPack 5.1 now runs on Solaris(TM) 8 operating system as well as Windows(R) 2000(TM). It also newly supports ActivCard's complete line of authentication devices, including ActivCard One(TM) Keychain Token, ActivKey(TM) and ActivCard 32K Java Card.

ActivPack offers a high performance, scalable solution that provides around-the-clock uptime for an enterprise's critical remote access services. Companies with multiple offices and a highly mobile workforce can authenticate more easily to their remote servers using their existing credentials. ActivPack's roaming capability facilitates access by allowing traveling users to connect locally while ActivPack transparently retrieves their credentials from the user's home server.

"ActivPack's compliancy with open standards, like RADIUS and TACACS+, means it can be combined with virtually any market-leading network access solution," said Ed MacBeth, Senior Vice President of Marketing, ActivCard. "ActivPack delivers a compelling ROI for customers who can use funds designated for maintaining legacy token deployments to upgrade to non-expiring tokens or beyond to smart cards, USB keys or PKI authentication."

ActivPack also includes a fully automated suite of PC clients: ActivCard Gold(TM), ActivPack Client for Check Point(TM) FW-1, ActivPack Client for Check Point VPN-1, ActivPack for Microsoft(R) RAS-Telnet Client, and ActivPack SSO Client. These clients contribute to lower help desk costs and ensure the authentication process is transparent to the end user. They provide simple Personal Identification Number (PIN) entry and an ATM-like user experience.

ActivPack also can be deployed as part of ActivCard's Corporate Access Card(TM) (CAC) solution, a modular suite of software products for enterprise identity badge deployments. The Corporate Access Card solution allows users to securely access business applications, including network log-in, e-mail encryption, remote access and single sign-on. Users simply insert their CAC into their computer, enter their PIN, and gain secure access to a wide range of services. The Corporate Access Card is based upon ActivCard's experience with the world's largest scale smart identity badge deployment, the DoD Common Access Card (CAC), and provides a compelling return on investment (ROI) for enterprise business.

Test ActivPack Free of Charge

ActivCard is currently offering a free trial of ActivPack AAA Server 5.1 as part of the Smart VPN promotion running until December 31, 2002. This enables VPN users with an LDAP directory to install, test and evaluate the benefits of ActivPack together with the ActivKey(TM) USB key.

For further information please visit:

[livestock] 01/10/2002 21:29

Another brick in the wall.........

ActivCard Debuts Corporate Access Card(TM) (CAC) Solution
October 1, 2002: 2:45 a.m. EST



FREMONT, Calif. (PRNewswire) - ActivCard(R) (EUROPE: ACTI) , the leader in IDentity Management (IDM) software, today announced that the ActivCard Corporate Access Card(TM) (CAC) solution -- based upon proven technology developed initially for the U.S. Department of Defense -- is now available for the enterprise.

The Corporate Access Card solution is a modular suite of software products for enterprise identity badge deployments. After six years of R&D and standardization work with leading standards bodies, including Java Card Forum and Global Platform (formerly Visa(R) Open Platform), ActivCard is now providing the CAC solution to enterprise customers worldwide. ActivCard Corporate Access Card solutions fully leverage the multi-functionality of the DoD CAC standard, the Java Card(TM) platform and other smart card-based platforms.

"Consider all the credentials a company has to manage for just one user -- a picture ID card, remote authentication token, identity PKI certificates, biometrics and any number of static passwords -- each requiring a separate management system and staffing resources to administer them," said Ed MacBeth, ActivCard Senior Vice President of Marketing. "With the ActivCard Corporate Access Card, enterprise organizations can issue a consolidated smart card-based employee badge -- with a single management system -- delivering a strong ROI for the bottom line."

The Corporate Access Card solution allows users to securely access business applications, including network log-in, e-mail encryption, remote access and single sign-on. Users simply insert their CAC into their computer, enter their PIN, and gain secure access to a wide range of services.

When activated with ActivCard applets, a CAC solution allows enterprises to conduct business in new ways. Along with secure storage on the card of employee records and benefits -- like healthcare entitlements -- companies also can use the card for cashless payment systems, such as in the company cafeteria and vending machines. ActivCard IDM software lets companies add new applets to the card post issuance for new services.

With ActivCard Identity Management System(TM) (AIMS) software, the CAC can be integrated with existing corporate directory structures. The system administrator can easily assign and manage user's credentials cost effectively leveraging the current network infrastructure.

Corporate Access Card solutions strengthen enterprises' physical and network security while at the same time reducing IT costs. The CAC provides Return On Identity(TM) -- an ROI based on reduced costs, user convenience, and the increased security that comes from knowing with certainty who is accessing the company's systems and services.

The U.S. government's recent "National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace" has called on business leaders to share in the responsibility of securing the Internet -- starting with the perimeter of the corporate enterprise with a charter to develop infrastructure protection plans that address both cyber and physical security.

"The CAC solution is exactly the type of private sector leadership the government had in mind when it challenged corporations to take action to assure critical operations will not be disrupted by cyber attacks," MacBeth added. "Our customers are adopting solutions that bridge physical and logical security to prove user identity."

About the ActivCard Corporate Access Card(TM) Solution

The Corporate Access Card solution is a modular suite of software products for enterprise identity badge deployments. This solution has been designed to securely issue, use and manage multiple types of digital identity credentials, i.e. PKI keys and certificates, biometrics, one-time passwords and static passwords. The modular components of ActivCard CAC solution:

-- Begin inside the smart card microchip with ActivCard Applets and secure

framework.

-- Extend to the user workstation with ActivCard Gold(TM) smart card

middleware software

-- Extend to the network with the Trinity(TM) single sign-on server and

ActivPack(TM) AAA remote access secure server.

-- Are managed by ActivCard Identity Management System (TM) (AIMS), a

Web-based, centrally managed, distributed software enabling

cost-effective deployment of smart cards anytime, anywhere.

-- Are based upon open systems support for all leading platforms,

directories and smart cards.

The Corporate Access Card is based upon ActivCard's experience with the world's largest scale smart identity badge deployment, the DoD Common Access Card (CAC).

-- ActivCard developed the specifications for the DoD CAC card

infrastructure, including secure channels for issuance, post-issuance,

usage and future applications

-- ActivCard is the only provider whose technology is deployed throughout

the CAC infrastructure -- in the data center, on client workstations

and inside the CAC ID badge.

To contact ActivCard about Corporate Access Card solutions please call: 1-800-529-9499 or 510-574-0100 to speak with a direct sales person.

[mr ashley james] 01/10/2002 12:24

Vanilla,

Thanks will spend some time plodding around on ACTV/ACTI tomorrow.

Cheers

Ash

[vanilla] 01/10/2002 12:15

Ashley: In short, they are beginning to realise their potential.
They have a new head honcho, have a great deal with the DOD, have recently secured Microsoft as a client, have had a steady stream of deals appearing (check out the activcard site), have exceeded earning expectations in the last two quarters, have a comfortable cash pile, with no debt and have reiterated their assertion of break even in Q4.
Its still a medium/long term story, but I do feel there is a definite sense of momentum building here.
Vanilla
PS: Still waiting on AQP. BTW astonished to find its still a residual stock and thus Schwab wont let you trade it. Luckily I also have an account with Charles Stanley who have no such qualms.

[mr ashley james] 01/10/2002 12:01

Livestock,

I made more money out of month trading ACTV on EASDAQ than anything.

Why will this share go up, tell me in a quick post, well out of touch sold it last at US$98 in Feb 2000

Cheers

Ash

[livestock] 01/10/2002 11:00

Ashley

Welldone...That was two years ago and a lot has happened since then.
ACTI are now world leaders in smart card based products...they have @$6 per share in cash...This is a medium term buy as momentum has started .

[livestock] 30/9/2002 21:14

Well. Yet another positive day on the Nasdaq for ACTI.
A strong performance in such a terrible market is a good sign...

Datacard Expands Indian Operations

'..BANGALORE (Smart Card News Ltd.) - Datacard has announced that it is to expand the development staff at its Indian software centre in Bangalore by nearly 50% within the next ten months. Datacard said the new recruits would work on a range of Smart Card projects, including enhancements to its Affina life cycle management solution. Martin Kearsley, senior vice president and general manager of Datacard's software and solutions group, said the expansion was necessary to deliver on current commitments to a "significant international financial card issuer" and to respond to long-term demand for the Affina solution. In addition to Smart Card solutions, software engineers in Bangalore are also expected to collaborate with Datacard technical staff in US and the UK on software solutions for high-volume card operations and secure identity programmes...'

link:


DATACARD SIGNS AGREEMENT TO LICENSE, INTEGRATE AND DISTRIBUTE ACTIVCARD DIGITAL IDENTITY SOFTWARE - March 7, 2001

[tricky] 27/9/2002 15:47

ridgeback
From the latest results, aprox $245m cash and aprox 41.2m shares giving aprox $5.91 per share in cash. Most recent guidance is cash flow break even by q4 2002

[ridgeback] 26/9/2002 21:42

whats the cash per share and burn rate please?

[fse] 26/9/2002 21:38

I dont think the DOD and Microsoft would be using them if they were not ?

[livestock] 26/9/2002 21:31

YES.. But are they THE market leaders in what is probably the fastests growing tech sector...Smart ID.

[fse] 26/9/2002 21:24

live stock .... you have the message please show the mirror to the rest of the Indians.
There are some solid Tech plays around like this that are funded.

[livestock] 26/9/2002 21:19

FSE

I think they have @ $200 million left...They are about one Quarter away from breaking even....Lets just see...They forecast growth at @30% a little muted i know but not bad... makes for an excelent growth stock if you ask me.

[fse] 26/9/2002 21:08

Its mega news from activcard this company are the best in the business and the French (now based out of ca) are the leaders in the world in this technolgy which is essential.
It would be a sad day if they did not make it... unless I am wrong they have buckets of cash to survive.

[livestock] 26/9/2002 21:05

This company.... the story just gets better and better.....

Microsoft Deploys ActivCard Identity Management System(TM) (...
September 23, 2002: 2:45 a.m. EST



FREMONT, Calif. (PRNewswire) - ActivCard(R) (EUROPE: ACTI) , the leader in IDentity Management (IDM) software, today announced that the ActivCard Identity Management System(TM) (AIMS) has been adopted by Microsoft Corporation for their employees and contractors. Microsoft(R) has deployed the solution -- including a corporate, smart card-based identity (ID) badge -- to more than 25,000 employees in this initial deployment phase.

As a component of its overall corporate security strategy, all Microsoft employees, contractors, and authorized users will carry the ID smart card for physical access to on-campus facilities and remote access to Microsoft's corporate network. The AIMS solution met Microsoft's requirements for secure issuance and distribution of smart cards and user credentials in a large-scale enterprise -- and performed under the demands of Microsoft's rapid deployment schedule.

"The ActivCard AIMS solution integrates smoothly into our current network infrastructure, leveraging the built-in authentication and digital certificate management capabilities of Windows .NET Server and Windows XP," said Greg Wood, general manager, Microsoft Corporate IT Security. "We have chosen ActivCard as our digital identity management partner for smart cards."

Much like the ActivCard solution adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense, the system enables Microsoft to achieve the highest possible return on investment while providing tightened corporate security and ease-of-use for badge holders.

"Network security and employee identity are critical issues for organizations today, and a high priority for IT managers and CIOs," said Steve Humphreys, chairman and CEO of ActivCard. "Microsoft's adoption of our AIMS solution is recognition of ActivCard's leadership. Using their corporate access card, Microsoft employees are able to access company networks remotely with the ease of use of an ATM card and their IT managers can rely upon the strong authentication infrastructure that identifies users."

This deployment is a major step in building upon a long-term partnership with Microsoft. ActivCard is committed to providing the performance, ease-of-use and cost effectiveness of Digital IDs in the Microsoft environment with technology that supports Active Directory(R) and leverages the emerging .NET architecture. The synergy of the two companies enables customers to use Microsoft Active Directory for identity management of large-scale user populations inside and outside corporate firewalls -- with a lower total cost of ownership and the accelerated return on investment of consolidated physical and logical credentials. As Web Services expand, the need for security continues to grow. ActivCard is in a position to offer comprehensive digital identity solutions meeting Microsoft standards and Microsoft customer requirements.

A little update on, the US DoD contract.
Activcard announced that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) today issued the one millionth smart card-based Common Access Card (CAC) enabled by the company's digital identity management (IDM) system and standard-setting, secure card applets.

Regards

[kermit] 25/9/2002 14:46

There wa also some block trades over the last couple of days i think one was 50k and the other 40k. I can only assume they were buys as it picked up the price a little.

[tricky] 25/9/2002 14:37

For anyone still interested, acti today announced their intention to re-locate their domicile from France to the usa. Check out the news room at activcard.com, interesting release re microsoft.

[livestock] 04/3/2002 20:06

An Annoucement on the USnavy smart biometrics card contract is very close ,i am told.
I should not get too worried about the Laying off of people . The recent purchase of Ankari, a US BASED smart biometrics card provider has made this a wise move by spreadind themselves around the globe a bit more.

ActivCard plans to integrate Ankari's authentication, policy management, biometrics and single-sign-on technology with its market leading smart card and digital identity solutions. The combination will result in a standards-based, highly scalable, easily deployable framework for managing multiple authentication methods, including, biometrics, passwords, smart cards and tokens.

A key benefit of the combined system is its ability to enable a customer to bridge and migrate from legacy authentication solutions to a smart card-based, multi-application solution that directly supports a wide range of native authentication credentials. For example, the system specifically addresses customers' requirement to migrate away from existing, single function tokens to more flexible and cost effective authentication methods. The solution allows customers to continue using the tokens while, in parallel, deploying the next generation. This combination of multiple devices and authentication methods, reduces the cost of digital identity management, while enabling unprecedented ease-of-use for the user combined with centralized, but delegated and federated administration.

Ankari's current customers include vertical market leaders such as JP Morgan Chase, TD Securities, the Federal Reserve Bank and U.S. and Canadian government departments. ActivCard is committed to embracing these new customers and partners and welcomes them to its list of customers including, British Telecom, Cable & Wireless, Citibank, Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, the U.S. Department of Defense and VeriSign.

Regards

[grimbo] 03/3/2002 18:27

I'm also a fan of this share long term although I must admit I sold most of my holding before the results. The recent results were not as inspiring as one might have wished. Laying off people gives confidence that costs are being trimmed and they may make it towards breakeven next time round. However it doesn't lend credence to the previous impression of a mega growth story. Theres also a lot more competition around. I also think the cash position is closer to $6 than $7. Nevertheless, at this level the upside has got to be much greater than the downside. It must be a takeover target for some big players and I suspect theres quite a few former shareholders waiting to jump into this one should it show signs of life. Having said that one should never assume a share cannot get any cheaper (although below $6 - on no news - I think I would be adding).

[fse] 03/3/2002 17:43

I agree that Activcard value is beyond absurdity.
I hold this company and have bought more.
This French Company is now based out of California but has significant influence in the USA and Europe.
The French lead the world in smartcard design/application.
Unless I am incorrect they are in poll position still with significant contracts with the US military and DOD.
The move towards ID contained on smartcards is probably going to gain momentum thanks to the WTC attacks and significant pressure on companies and governments etc to have their workers and citizens carry more information.
Civil rights dont like it though......understandably.

This is only a bit of what Activcard do and its best to look at their site.
I am sickened by the price but maybe when the economy recovers people will look at this company in a different light !
Interesting to also see N cipher as a DOD supplier .. another absurdly valued company.

[livestock] 03/3/2002 15:20

Cash position @ $6.5 per share

N. American Smart Card Shipments Jump

There were 31.2 million chip cards shipped to the U.S. and Canadian markets in the first six months of 2002, more than double the 14.8 million cards shipped during the same period in 2001, according to a survey by the New York-based trade association Smart Card Alliance. Nearly 25 million of those cards were the sophisticated microprocessor-based cards typically used in banking, network security and mobile phone applications. That was an 87% increase over 13.3 million such cards shipped during the first half of 2001. Shipments of memory cards, which cannot be altered after manufacture, increased to 6.2 million, compared with 1.5 million in the year-earlier period. The Alliance plans to release the results for all of 2002 in February 2003. The organization did not break down the shipments in detail, but says much of the shipments were in financial, retail, pay TV and government, as well as mobile phones, which remains the largest single segments. Alliance executives did not point to individual programs in explaining the growth. But much of the increase surely came from big retailer Target Corp. issuing more than 7 million Visa-branded smart credit cards since last fall, most of them during the first two quarters of 2002. The U.S. Department of Defense also accounted for some of the microprocessor card volume, as it recently topped the 1 million mark on its way to issuing smart cards to 4 million employees and contractors for physical and computer network access.( 2002-10-10 )

link :-

.

Smart card Business for nothing!!!

Deals signed with Departement of Defence.etc...

Rollout of millions of cards as i type!
Check it out .

Share price will not stay this low for much longer.

Shares listed on; Nasdaq(ACTI),Easdaq(ACTI) :-)