WISeKey Contributes its Smrtcty.com technology to Microsoft CityNext a global initiative intended to build “smart cities” around the world

Barcelona, New York – November, 19^th  2015  – WISeKey announced today at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, from November 17-19, 2015 its continued participation in Microsoft CityNext, a global initiative empowering cities, businesses and citizens to re-imagine their futures and cultivate vibrant communities. WISeKey has been working with Microsoft since 2007 in several leading Public Sector projects and now the cooperation is extending to design and implement smart city IoT and Cybersecurity applications.
Today 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) has announced Microsoft as their newest Platform Partner. Microsoft is not only well-established and respected as a global technology leader, but the company is also on the cutting edge of cybersecurity solutions. In the past year, we saw many big-name companies in all industries fall victim to cyber-attacks. At the same time, we are seeing the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT)—the massive connectivity of devices to the Internet. City leaders are starting to use IoT to offer more efficient services, with thousands of sensors, mobile devices, and apps feeding data to the cloud. But often these devices aren’t created with security as the main priority, and data sent and received from many devices may not be safe. While IoT continues to grow, bringing with it opportunities to provide incredible advancements in city processes, the requirements for security and privacy will be more complex and challenging.
As cities think about these challenges, it is more critical than ever that they formally address cybersecurity. By not protecting themselves against hackers and other cyber-attackers, cities leave themselves vulnerable to system failures that can potentially lead to huge economic losses.
Microsoft CityNext is a global people-first initiative harnessing all the ideas, energy and expertise of a city’s people as they create a healthier, safer, more sustainable place to live. Microsoft CityNext empowers cities to make the most of existing investments and find the right combination of solutions, apps and programs to transform cities’ infrastructure and operations, engage citizens and businesses by delivering personalized services and apps that foster real-time dialogue, and accelerate innovation and opportunity through programs and partnerships that empower and nurture the next generation of skilled workers. Combining a vast network of global partners and history of successful education and social programs, Microsoft CityNext helps cities with what’s next
http://www.microsoft.com/citynext.
WISeKey will be contributing 3 solutions:

1. WISeAuthentic: This solution allows manufacturers to build devices that guarantee their authenticity through strong authentication provided by WISeKey combined with OISTE.ORG Trust Model allowing objects on the Internet to be authenticated and monitored real-time. WISeKey’s patented technology is already proven with more than three years’ experience in the luxury watch industry. It can now be applied to product and object segments as diverse as smartphones, cars, alarms systems, semiconductors, industrial sensors, and household appliances. The near future will see all of these objects fully connected to the Internet, enabling intercommunication and autonomous machine-to-machine (M2M) data transfer. WISeKey is championing the ever-changing landscape of cyber-security and how the PKI and cyber-security segment of WISeKey is a leader in reinventing PKI and Trusted Computing as a support to Cyber-Resilience. The number of connected devices via the upcoming Internet of Things requiring digital identification and security in the world now tops 4 billion and continues to rise rapidly to reach 50 billion by 2020. This trend shows that Swiss neutrality provided by WISeKey is a key asset in ensuring protection for enterprises and consumers worldwide. https://www.wisekey.com/products/wiseauthentic/
2. WISecurity: A set of technologies and tools developed by WISeKey to protect your online communications & data with personal, corporate and server (SSL) digital certificates. Protect corporate data with trusted archiving, invoicing & more. https://www.wisekey.com/products/wisecurity/
3. The WISeID Cloud app is a set of online tools to empower the user by providing secure, authenticated, and private digital identification. WISeID’s upcoming version 5 provides secure personal cloud storage of identity and data in WISeKey’s Swiss Cloud storage and enables users to protect and sync their data and passwords across their personal devices. https://www.wiseid.com