Many Federal agencies are using credentials like the PIV or Common Access Cards to access secure portals using mobile devices.  At Smart Card Alliance’s Government Conference, representatives from Silanis and Juniper Networks demonstrated  solutions for the use of smart cards on Apple iOS devices.

In response to federal pilots using mobile devices, Silanis has developed an extension to its enterprise signing solution. “We are enabling those pilots to extend productivity applications like signing your document, picking up documents via email, signing them, and automatically triggering an email to the next person in the queue,” explains Anthony Moncada, Federal and DoD Client executive with Silanis.

Moncada demonstrated the secure authentication solution using a CAC card and an Apple iPad.

Also exploring the marriage of smart card and Apple iOS devices is Juniper Networks with its own smart card reader.

We are demoing the integration with Juniper Pulse VPN client and smart card reader,” explains Jay Dineshkumar, systems engineer with Juniper Networks. “We support smart card readers from Thursby and others.”

Apple iOS support is a new concept to the mobile authentication market, especially on the Federal front. “This is the first time you can use a smart card on an iOS device to connect to the Juniper VPN appliance,” says Dineshkumar.