The board of U.S.-based Identive Group has replaced its CEO, signaling a new direction for the ID, reader and NFC tag supplier toward more authentication services and cloud-based technologies, especially targeting mobile devices. The vendor said it would support NFC for the authentication products or services as well as continued support for tags.

Identive has appointed 42-year-old Jason Hart as its new CEO, effective immediately, replacing Ayman S. Ashour, the company announced Tuesday. Ashour remains on the board, and will serve as nonexecutive chairman.

Hart had headed the company’s Identity management and cloud solutions divisions. He joined Identive in 2011 following the company’s acquisition of idOnDemand, which Hart had co-founded. IdOnDemand, delivered smart card-based identity using cloud technology, said Identive.

The move appeared to take place with little advance notice, at least to employees. An Identive spokeswoman told NFC Times that Ashour’s resignation and Hart’s appointment occurred only two days before the announcement. Identive has not disclosed the reason for Ashour’s resignation. In a statement, he expressed confidence in Hart.

Focus on Access and Identity
Hart said in a statement that he plans to narrow the company’s focus, emphasizing secure access and identity, which he described as “core products and technologies” for Identive. A spokeswoman told NFC Times that “after putting together the technology building blocks to address a broad set of markets, Ayman and the board recognized the need to more tightly focus the company on those areas that support the most significant opportunity.” Those areas, according to Identive, are secure access and identity, especially “cloud- based” identity and mobile authentication, with support for NFC.

It’s unclear whether NFC technology would be involved in the authentication process itself or just act as an interface for Identive’s products or services.

The narrowed focus would mean some changes for Identive, which has failed to turn a yearly profit yet, despite a reorganization last year.

The company spokeswoman would only say that “in the coming weeks, we will be evaluating all of our current projects, budgets and commitments to assure they are aligned with our top priorities and tighter focus.”

It remains unclear whether those changes would alter Identive’s NFC tag business, which former CEO Ashour has credited in recent quarters with helping to offset slower access-control sales during the U.S. federal government’s budget sequestration process.

The company’s transponder production, including NFC and other RFID products, has operated at full capacity for the last two quarters after several large tag orders, and during remarks on the company’s first quarter 2013 results, Ashour mentioned that the company would likely seek ways to increase that capacity.

Identive’s spokeswoman did not comment specifically on those plans, but she told NFC Times, “NFC and RFID technology and sales remain a core focus of the company, and we continue to evaluate the best approaches to ensure we have the capacity to address growing demand for our products.” She did not share details on the future of specific projects like Tagtrail, the company’s NFC and QR tag management platform.

Ashour Continues with Company
Ashour remains with Identive as nonexecutive chairman, and the spokeswoman said he “currently has no plans to leave the board.” He had been CEO of Identive since 2010, when the company was formed by the combination of SCM Microsystems and Bluehill ID. Ashour had founded the latter in 2007.

Identive has operated at a loss since 2010, with the exception of a small quarterly profit reported in the final quarter of 2012.

The company announced restructuring plans in the second quarter of 2012, which included cutting about 50 employees from its worldwide workforce of 436, an 11% reduction, as well as decreasing duplication of operating expenses between Identive and its recent acquisitions–such as idOnDemand, founded by Hart in 2007 and acquired by Identive in 2011.

Since the second quarter 2012 restructuring, the company’s losses have improved, but profit remains elusive.

Hart became executive vice president of Identive’s identity management and cloud solutions division following the 2011 acquisition of idOnDemand.

This marks the second time Hart has made such a transition. In 1993, he founded Protocom Development Systems, which ActivIdentity acquired in 2005. At that time, Hart joined ActivIdentity as its senior vice present of sales, marketing, professional services, and product management. In Feb. 2007, he became CEO of ActivIdentity.

Nine months later, in Nov. 2007, he co-founded idOnDemand, and in Aug. 2009, ActivIdentity bought 10% of the new company, a total of 300,000 shares. The following year, idOnDemand adopted ActivIdentity’s card management system for its cloud services.

In May 2011 Identive acquired 95% of idOnDemand, and then purchased the remaining five percent from ActivIdentity in December 2011.