Entrust Datacard, a leading provider of trusted identity and secure issuance technology solutions, completed its previously-announced acquisition of nCipher Security, formerly Thales's market-leading general purpose hardware security module (HSM) business.

The general purpose HSM market is growing quickly, driven by global demand for stronger data and application security, increased encryption, and privacy regulations such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the electronic identification, authentication and trust services (eIDAS) regulation. HSMs offer the highest levels of cryptographic security, and are deployed to minimize network and cybersecurity risks from cloud services, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other digital initiatives.

"We are extremely pleased to complete this acquisition and bring nCipher's exceptional talent and technology into the Entrust Datacard portfolio. The need for secure network access and data integrity continues to multiply - from mobile devices and cloud services to connected IoT devices and digital payments. The use of HSMs is expanding across all of these domains. With nCipher now part of our solution portfolio, customers will see benefit from our expanded offerings for the most sensitive, high assurance use cases," said Todd Wilkinson, president and CEO of Entrust Datacard.

General purpose HSMs are a core component of Entrust Datacard's solutions and are an underlying part of the security infrastructure of the company's public key infrastructure (PKI) and secure sockets layer (SSL) offerings. Entrust Datacard will offer the nCipher solution with its on-premise and managed PKI offerings, and its IoT device credentialing, authorization and lifecycle management offerings. By joining Entrust Datacard, nCipher will be able to expand its compliance capabilities from trusted hardware to include trusted identities, and grow its cloud capabilities to offer customers more advanced solutions from Entrust Datacard's secure hosting facilities.

"nCipher is excited to join the talented Entrust Datacard team. This acquisition quickly expands the global footprint for nCipher solutions and accelerates our strategy for ‘as-a-service' offerings," said Cindy Provin, CEO of nCipher Security. "HSMs provide a foundation of trust for business applications such as PKI, blockchain, mobile payments and code signing. As a single company, Entrust Datacard is positioned to effectively secure our customers' sensitive information and business critical applications as they implement new digital initiatives."

More than 300 nCipher employees are now part of the Entrust Datacard team. The nCipher Security business will continue to be based in Sunrise, Fla., with a cybersecurity development center in Cambridge, UK and a sales support center in Hong Kong. Additional terms of the acquisition are undisclosed.