HID Global has teamed up with Fidesmo to improve the utility of wearable devices. The partnership specifically concerns HID Global’s Seos credentialing technology, which Fidesmo will be integrating into secure element (SE) chips that can then be deployed in wearable devices to enable a variety of different applications.

In that regard, the two companies called particular attention to access control. A wearable device outfitted with the Seos solution could be presented at a touchpoint to gain contactless entry to a physical location like a parking lot or a building, or to log into a workstation or a cloud application. Other potential uses include attendance tracking and contactless payments.

According to the two companies, the joint solution is especially well suited to environments like healthcare and food production, where sanitary requirements and bulky uniforms limit the appeal of traditional alternatives like swipe cards. Seos supports many different form factors, including watches, wristbands, and rings, and will allow employees to use their own personal devices to gain access to work materials.

“As wearables grow in popularity, organizations will be confronted with the need to support new form factors for physical access and other popular applications,” said HID Global VP Steve Currie. “Working with Fidesmo to bring more use cases delivers on the promise of Seos to provide users the freedom to use their preferred device.”

“We are forwarding our vision to enable people to choose their favorite wearable and connect it with any contactless service they need – anytime, anywhere,” added Fidesmo Co-Founder and CEO Mattias Eld.

Seos has previously been used to allow students at Clemson University to gain access to school facilities using a digital ID stored on an iPhone or an iPad. HID Global has also released a new Signo line of access control readers, and launched a new mobile access platform in collaboration with VMware.