As part of its efforts to build secure and reliable networks based on "Apresia" authentication switches, Hitachi Cable, Ltd., in cooperation with NETTIME Corp. (President and CEO: Seiichi Nakahara; Office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter referred to as "NETTIME"), has carried out the development and trial manufacture of client software that allows a "FeliCa card" to be used to perform network/PC authentication. A prototype of the product will be exhibited at "FeliCa Solutions Fair 2004," which was held at Gate City OHSAKI on October 6 and 7. As for integration of the system, Hitachi Cable is working in close cooperation with Sony Broadband Solutions Corp. (President: Kazuo Ike; Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter referred to as "SBS"), the solution provider for the FeliCa system, to offer better-secured network/PC authentication.


The unauthorized disclosure of customer information held by companies has recently become a serious social issue. Most of these cases are attributable to the illegal taking of information from within companies. With laws to protect personal information established, ensuring computer security through a combination of a device to determine the identity of individuals and a secure network is becoming increasingly important, and is considered an effective countermeasure to information leakage caused by insiders.


By combining "Apresia" authentication switches with various individual authentication devices and "NALogManager" access-log analysis software, Hitachi Cable has been providing solutions that can determine who accessed a network and the time of the access, and, in the case of unauthorized access, identify the unauthorized users by analyzing access logs. On the other hand, "FeliCa", a product offered by Sony Corporation, has already been used in a wide range of applications, such as entry/exit passes, attendance records, and electronic money. As an individual authentication device, "FeliCa" is expected to achieve further growth in the ID-card market chiefly accounted for by employee and student ID cards.


Hitachi Cable and NETTIME have jointly developed a prototype system in which NETTIME's "NSAS" PC login authentication client software operates with the individual authentication system of "FeliCa card" and the network authentication system of "Apresia," to integrate both systems. The new product will provide better-secured network/PC authentication solutions. For companies and universities already using "FeliCa cards" as employee and student ID cards, the entire system can be introduced at low cost due to the fact that this client software does not require modification of the existing "FeliCa card" system.


Hitachi Cable, NETTIME, and SBS will aggressively conduct joint pre-marketing of the prototype system. The companies are widely promoting the product as a new application for "Apresia," "NSAS," and "FeliCa," with the goal of expanding its sales in the markets in which each company specializes.

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*	Apresia is a registered trademark of Hitachi Cable, Ltd. in Japan.
*	FeliCa is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation.
*	FeliCa is a non-contact IC-card technology developed by Sony Corporation.