Staff at the Royal Bank of Scotland’s head office in Gogarburn, Edinburgh can now make payments by simply tapping their cards on a reader in a number of outlets on the Gogarburn site.

Munich, October 5, 2006–This summer, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) began conducting a trial using dual interface EMV debit cards, the first financial institution in Europe to do so. The cards were supplied by Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), the world’s second largest smart card manufacturer. The project means that contactless payment cards, which are already a success in the USA, have now made their way to Europe. With their cards, the RBS staff users are able to pay small amounts by merely tapping them past a reader.

Amsterdam, 5th October 2006–Integrated Engineering, a world leading powerhouse in the contactless smart card industry, announced today that its multi-technology reader, SmartTRANS, have been approved by the US General Services Administration (GSA) for the FIPS201 program. The SmartTRANS reader is the first contactless smart card multi-technology reader that is included on the GSA Approved Products list.

State Department, Gemalto, Neville Pattinson receive awards

Smart Card Alliance Annual Conference, San Diego, October 4, 2006–The Smart Card Alliance today announced the 2006 awards for “Outstanding Smart Card Achievement” (OSCA) in the North American smart card industry during its annual conference. Selected for awards were the U.S. Department of State for Outstanding Issuer Organization, Gemalto for Outstanding Supplier Organization and Neville Pattinson, director, technology and government affairs, Gemalto North America for the Outstanding Individual Leadership Award.

Smart Card Alliance Annual Conference, San Diego, October 4, 2006–Trends in contactless, mobile and transit payments were the focus as the Smart Card Alliance kicked off its annual conference in San Diego.

Smart Card Alliance Annual Conference, San Diego, CA, October 3, 2006–Like a great new undiscovered restaurant, contactless payment is a big hit with consumers who have tried it but still not well known, according to new research produced independently by Javelin Strategy & Research for the Smart Card Alliance. Javelin Founder and President James Van Dyke presented the survey results today to industry leaders gathered in San Diego for the annual Smart Card Alliance conference.

SAN DIEGO, CALIF., OCTOBER 3, 2006–Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of San Diego-based Cubic Corporation (AMEX:CUB), has been named as the 2006 winner of the Frost & Sullivan Industry Innovation & Advancement of the Year Award for the company’s advances in smart card technology used in public transit fare collection systems. The award from Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, is given each year to a company whose proven industry leadership has succeeded in moving the state of the industry forward.

Palo Alto, Calif., October 3, 2006–Frost & Sullivan selected Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc., one of two major business segments of Cubic Corporation (Amex:CUB), as the recipient of the 2006 Industry Innovation & Advancement of the Year Award in the smart card mass transit market in recognition of its inventive strategies for the advancement of smart card technology.

LEGIC Identsystems Ltd, the leading supplier of contactless smart card technologies for personal identification applications, is expanding the functionality of its LEGIC advant product line to battery powered applications, while meeting the FIPS 201 US Federal Government’s Personal Identity Verification specifications.

LONDON, September 28, 2006–The 2006 Frost & Sullivan Growth Strategy Leadership Award is presented to Atmel for its outstanding performance in the world smart card IC market in 2005. In particular, the company is commended for its performance in the microcontroller market where strategies designed around price, technology development, constant product innovations, and marketing enabled Atmel to consolidate its second position. An expanding portfolio–both products and applications–as well as a growing presence in the banking market further underline Atmel’s receipt of this award.

Companies Showcase Convergence Technologies in Joint Demonstration at the ASIS show in San Diego

September 25, 2006–ASSA ABLOY today announced a collaboration with the worldwide leader in IP networking, Cisco Systems®, to develop compatible technologies allowing the convergence of physical and logical access. On display in the United States for the first time at the ASIS show in San Diego, the joint demonstration from the two companies features a “network door” solution combining ASSA ABLOY’s new standards-based Highly Intelligent Operation (Hi-O™) lock-technology system with Cisco’s patent-pending IP-based converged access-control technology.