HID acquires software provider

IRVINE, Calif.—Seeking to take advantage of a market that HID Global executives say is “grossly under-penetrated,” HID has acquired EasyLobby, a provider of visitor management software and visitor-badge printing solutions.

Terms of the deal, which was announced Jan. 3, were not released.

HID Global and EasyLobby believe that the total addressable market for visitor management “represents a very large market opportunity for the combined company and its integrator partners,” Tony Ball, SVP of Identity and Access Management for HID Global, told Security Systems News in an email interview.

Ball declined to quantify more specifically the market opportunity, but noted that “most buildings today still either use paper and pen or nothing at all and, with the increase in regulatory and compliance pressure, more and more organizations are seeking a software-based visitor management system to improve visitor tracking, safety and security audit capabilities.”

This acquisition will give integrators “the benefit of an expanded customer base, and increased sales opportunities since most facilities with access control also need visitor management and these customers highly value the benefits of an integrated solution,” he said.

In business since 1997, EasyLobby's products include enterprise-class registration visitor registration, tracking, reporting, badge printing, asset and packaged management, Web-based pre-registration, as well as employee/contractor time-and-attendance functionality.

Contacted by SSN, EasyLobby CEO Howard Marson referred questions to HID. According to the EasyLobby site, the company's products integrate with more than 35 access control systems. As of January 2011, the company reported that it is “badging upward of 250,000 people [daily].” Its customers include Fortune 500 companies, federal and local government agencies, multi-tenant buildings, hospitals, universities and K-12 schools.

EasyLobby, which is privately held, has issued statements in January the past several years announcing double-digit growth.

In a statement, HID Global CEO Denis Hebert said EasyLobby's “product suite, large installed base and strong customer engagements will enable us to broaden our offering to include trusted solutions for a wide range of visitor management applications. Additionally, this acquisition brings us a talented team with a highly complementary skill set.”

“With this acquisition, the combined companies now offer a single source for comprehensive visitor management solutions that are tightly integrated with HID Global's physical access control and secure card issuance systems,” Ball said.