Allegion PLC (NYSE: ALLE), a leading global provider of security products and solutions, today announced that BadgePass is the first member of its aptiQ™ Developer Network to be fully integrated with aptiQmobile and able to take orders today. Instead of using the aptiQmobile online portal and then programming the credential information into their own access control software, BadgePass customers can now easily issue mobile credentials directly from BadgePass software.

“BadgePass customers will find aptiQmobile to be an easy, friendly way to deliver mobile credentials to their users by going directly to their BadgePass software,” emphasizes Jeremy Earles, Allegion portfolio manager, credentials and readers. “Uniting the aptiQmobile cloud-based service along with the BadgePass software, BadgePass customers can use their employees’ own smartphones in the same way they use smart cards today.”

“While we do specialize in credential issuance, we understand that there are times when users forget their ID,” comments Lindsay Martin-Nez, vice president of sales for BadgePass. “Even if people forget their physical credential, they never seem to forget their phone. Adding the aptiQmobile integration to our software allows our customers to not only produce Photo ID badges, but also to download virtual credentials to their mobile devices, essentially guaranteeing they always have easy access to their facility. It really is the best of both worlds.”

As Near Field Communications (NFC) technology is being added to a growing number of mobile handsets to enable access control as well as many other applications, more and more organizations are considering joining the “bring your own device” (BYOD) trend, having their users deploy their own smartphones as their access control credentials. It is reported that over 285 million NFC-enabled smart phones were sold in 2013 and over half the phones sold in 2015 will be NFC-capable.

Membership in the aptiQ Developer Network provided BadgePass with access to Allegion resources that worked closely with BadgePass to help them write the appropriate interface between their software and Allegion’s cloud-based aptiQmobile service. As a result, BadgePass was able to give their current software programs the ability to issue mobile credentials. From this point on, BadgePass customers can quickly and conveniently use their smartphones in the same way that they use smart cards – with the open architecture functionality and the high security of MIFARE, used by governments to enhance protection.