Apriva Enables Government Employees and Contractors to Access Sensitive Information on Tablets

Apriva announced the release of their BT200Z Bluetooth Apriva Smart Card Reader (SCR) and support for Windows 8.1 64-bit OS based devices. The BT200Z smart card reader will maintain all the functionality of the BT200 and BT200-T and expands the use of the product to mobile tablets, enabling secure mobile communications from a new class of devices.

“When smartphones became mainstream, the government saw mass adoption of the devices by employees looking to conduct business while away from their desk,” said Richard Spinella, vice president of government solutions at Apriva. “This required very specific measures leading to Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD 12) being put in place to ensure security wasn’t put at risk with the increase in mobility. We are seeing a second mass adoption play out as employees start to use tablets more and more as they become increasingly powerful, providing functionality similar to laptops. Today’s powerful tablets can bring a lot of value to government employees, however, once again must meet the requirements of HSPD 12, and our new BT200Z has been designed to accommodate this transition.”

Government smart cards, commonly referred to as Common Access Cards (CAC) and Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards are used to identify and authenticate government employees in US government agencies and many private industries doing business with the government. These cards can be used to connect to devices via portable readers to ensure security within these organizations. The Apriva Reader is a compact, wearable wireless Bluetooth capable smart card reader which operates with a variety of devices, enabling secure PKI authentication for mobile government business communications.

The BT200Z smart card reader comes with a three year warranty and supports Windows 8.1 64-bit devices. The reader will continue to support other operating systems including Windows Mobile and BlackBerry 4.x and 5.x. An Android SDK is also available to integrate the reader with Android device applications. The BT200Z will begin shipping in early Q2 2015 and replaces the existing BT200 and BT200-T versions of the smart card reader which will no longer be sold. Support for additional versions of Windows will be available later this year.

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