Open Solutions Closes BISYS Deal, Launches Two-Factor Authentication

GLASTONBURY, Conn. - There has been a flurry of news coming from Open Solutions Inc. of late. The company recently announced its plan to handle two-factor authentication for online systems access. Vendors have been tackling two-factor authentication in a variety of ways; some relying on deeper questions to end users, others utilizing unique logos, and still others choosing to issue some type of hardware token. Open Solutions elected to develop the solution in-house, whereas many vendors are using solutions from third-party security firms. Its new Security Matrix Two-Factor Authentication product provides end users with a matrix card, resembling a bingo card, that a user must have each time they sign in to e-Commerce Banker, the firm's Internet banking solution. When a user signs on, they will be asked for their ID, password and to input three digits from randomly selected cells of the matrix. For example, quadrant 1, row four, may be the number six, which they would enter, and so on. The matrix card has more than 59,000 possible combinations. Open Solutions Spokesperson Mickey Goldwasser said that the card does not necessarily have to be printed out and mailed to users - it can be e-mailed out and kept in electronic format. The company went this route, said Goldwasser, because the solution is cheap to implement, highly-secure, and if lost can easily be replaced, unlike hardware tokens some firms are using. In other news, Open Solutions has completed its acquisition of the Information Services group of BISYS. The group provides processing for 220 banks. It also has some 400 financial institution clients for imaging and Check 21 solutions, and another 100 insurance and corporate clients for various other products. This group of BISYS did not provide core processing for any credit unions. BISYS and Open Solutions have had a relationship since 1997, with BISYS reselling a number of Open Solutions' products. Open Solutions acquired the group for $470 million. It is one of a string of acquisitions by the company, which also includes COWWW software, re:Member Data, FiTech, CGI's core processing unit, and others. The BISYS deal was Open Solutions' largest acquisition to date. The company recently reported its fourth quarter and year-end 2005 financials. Fourth quarter revenue was up 65% to $59.7 million. Revenues increased a whopping 81% to $193.8 million. Numbers were up across the board. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for 2005 increased 83% to $41.3 million. Last year's net income rose to $0.85 per diluted share compared to $0.54 in 2004. Open Solutions Chairman and CEO Louis Hernandez noted the company's four acquisitions and the release of the Canadian version of its software, as well as reseller relationships in Canada, India and China as reasons for the strong performance. Its contract backlog for 2005 is valued at $385.3 million, compared to $254.7 million in 2004. Signed contracts totaled $196.5 million, compared to $87.7 million. It has also landed a large new credit union client with the signing of Lansing, Michigan-based State Employees Credit Union for core processing. SECU will convert to The Complete Credit Union Solution later this year. SECU has $774 million in assets and serves 88,000 members. SECU was granted a community charter last year and will be changing its name to NuUnion Credit Union next month. The credit union said it evaluated five core processing systems before deciding on Open Solutions. It will also implement Internet banking, relationship management, and other add-on products from Open Solutions. -pgentile@cutimes.com