HID Global has announced that it is collaborating with VMware to drive mass adoption of mobile access to digital and physical places by adding HID Mobile Access for opening buildings and doors to VMware Workspace ONE, an intelligence-driven digital workspace platform for managing any app on any device. The collaboration will make it possible for Workspace ONE users, for the first time, to more securely open doors with their smartphones as part of a unified mobile experience that also enables them to access applications, computers, networks, data and cloud-based services.

Workspace ONE is an industry leader in unified endpoint management (UEM) and the collaboration with HID will fuel even broader interest and uptake by enterprise organizations focused on blending physical and digital employee experiences with technology.

“Adding physical access control capabilities to Workspace ONE will bring a unique element to our customers’ digital transformation journeys as we take yet another step in redefining what it means to provide empowering digital employee experiences across any application on any device,” said Tony Kueh, vice president of product management, End User Computing, VMware.

HID mobile credentials are delivered to Workspace ONE through the HID Origo cloud-based access control platform that provides a suite of integration, enablement and developer tools and services that simplify how HID partners and a growing community of new developers and resellers bring mobile access control solutions to market. The platform also streamlines mobile ID replenishment over the air when employees lose or must replace their smartphones and other mobile devices.

“The collaboration between two of the leading companies in the fields of cybersecurity and physical security will help accelerate the use of converged physical and logical access control on mobile devices,” said Hilding Arrehed, Vice President of Cloud Services, Physical Access Control, with HID Global. “The solution underscores HID’s and VMware’s shared commitment to bring to market one of the industry’s first unified access control solution for a user base of this size.”

VMware recently completed a pilot of their platform integration at VMware facilities using Bluetooth-enabled HID iCLASS SE readers and mobile IDs. The HID Mobile Access application programming interfaces (APIs) and software developer kits (SDKs) provided VMware with direct access to HID access control hardware, speeding integration and pilot execution. The incubation of this technology partnership has validated the benefits of converged physical and logical access control on mobile devices including a more seamless, convenient and intuitive experience for users with improved security and administrative efficiency. Users accessed buildings, rooms and other spaces by tapping their mobile device to a reader at the door, and also unlocked doors from a distance using “twist and go” mobile gesture technology or by simply swiping to unlock their phones as they approached.

Workspace ONE integrates access control, application management and multi-platform endpoint management into a single platform and is available as a cloud service or on-premise deployment.