ASSA ABLOY ITG Names Michael Pilato VP and General Manager

    July 25, 2005
    Will drive commercialization of CoreStreet-enabled products globally

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- ASSA ABLOY Identification Technology Group (ITG), the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of identification components, announces the appointment of Michael Pilato to Vice President and General Manager.

    Pilato will be responsible for leading ITG's Business Development activity in new identity management markets, made possible through a strategic partnership with CoreStreet, Ltd. This partnership provides all ASSA ABLOY companies access to CoreStreet technology under a worldwide license, and serves as the framework for funding and managing a portfolio of CoreStreet- enabled products.

    The partnership between ASSA ABLOY and CoreStreet was established in 2004 in order to strengthen ITG's position in the identity management and smart card arenas. The partnership leverages the combined technical and business development resources of both companies to conceive and develop breakthrough identity management solutions and establish the key partner relationships needed to deliver complete solutions to end-users.

    "We always expected that our partnership with ASSA ABLOY's ITG would be one of the most effective ways to extend CoreStreet's early successes with large government IT programs to broader markets," says Phil Libin, President of CoreStreet. "Michael's appointment is a key step in establishing closer cooperation with ITG as new CoreStreet-enabled products are rolled out from ITG companies to their OEMs and integrators."

    Over the past 12 months, the companies have focused on market research and concept validation and, more recently, have worked closely with security systems integrators and large end-user organizations to ensure product functionality aligns with customer needs.

    "We are now moving into real-world applications, deploying credentials across multiple systems, from ID cards to e-passports," comments Ayman Ashour, Co-CEO of ITG. "Identity management is the key challenge today, from security to commerce. We're integrating CoreStreet's patented technology to deliver complete solutions covering both physical and logical access to our OEM customers in order to help them meet the critical needs of their public and private sector customers."

    The first products from the collaboration are planned for release in Q4 2005.