Under the agreement, SAFE-BioPharma and Identrus will cross license certain intellectual property, including business and technical specifications related to electronic identity and digital signatures. The agreement expands on previous discussions in which Identrus Participant financial institutions are working with SAFE-BioPharma to issue Identrus digital credentials to SAFE-BioPharma sponsors and identified end users. SAFE-BioPharma accredits certified issuers to provide credentials compliant with SAFE standards to support strong authentication and legally enforceable digital signatures across healthcare industry business applications.

Both Identrus and SAFE-BioPharma seek to reduce the cost of electronic identity management through the standardization of legal, business and technical policies. Under this agreement, digital credentials, issued by SAFE accredited Identrus Participants and by pharmaceutical companies that are Members of SAFE, will be seamlessly interoperable within the SAFE user community.

"The Identrus partnership allows Identrus to extend the SAFE concept, model, and standards across multiple industries beyond biopharmaceuticals," said Gary Secrest, director of World Wide Information Security at Johnson & Johnson and Chairman of the SAFE initiative. "As other industries begin to use the SAFE standard approach we anticipate an increased supply of commercially ready, SAFE-enabled applications; making digital credentials more ubiquitous and cost efficient for our sponsors, and for other user communities."

"SAFE is a user community with applications requiring digital credentials. Identrus is a community of suppliers of digital credentials seeking users and applications. This collaboration creates enhanced synergies between these communities. It will stimulate demand for Identrus credentials, both within the SAFE biopharmaceutical community, and in other industries," said Karen Wendel, CEO, Identrus LLC. "Identrus will be aggressively marketing new implementations of the SAFE concept using Identrus credentials into other industry communities."

The SAFE digital credential standard was developed to simplify business partner interactions across the biopharmaceutical industry through a policy and technology framework for digital signature and authentication. This allows the SAFE community to eliminate the need for multiple identity credentials when interacting with each other and business partners. Going forward, Identrus, its member banks, and SAFE look forward to a strong partnership as this concept is applied to other industries. "What is clear," added Ms. Wendel, "is that Identrus and SAFE-BioPharma have a common goal: to make interoperable digital credentials the preferred credential approach for commercial applications across a base of multiple industries."