Two white papers released today and new 2010 officers and steering committee announced

Princeton Junction, N.J., March 12, 2010–Two new white papers are now available to help transit agencies that are planning to upgrade their fare collection systems, the Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council said today, also announcing new officers and steering committee for 2010.

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., March 2, 2010–The Smart Card Alliance Latin America Chapter (SCALA) today announced its 2010 executive committee including new Chair Fernando Mendez of Visa, Inc. The executive committee leads the organization’s advisory board.

Smart Card Alliance 2010 Payments Summit Highlights

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., MARCH 1, 2010–Contactless payment is now the de facto standard for U.S. transit fare collection systems, and will likely become a principal market driver for the expansion of bank-issued contactless cards. But that is just one of many factors building interest in the United States around chip cards for payments, according to experts presenting at the Smart Card 3rd Annual Payments Summit. The event was held February 23rd–25th, 2010 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Organization strengthens ties with leadership groups across the global ecosystem

Wakefield, Mass., USA, Feb. 9, 2010–The NFC Forum (http://www.nfc-forum.org), a non-profit industry association that advances the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, today announced it has formed liaisons with three industry-leading organizations key to the NFC global ecosystem: EMVCo, the GSM Association and the Smart Card Alliance. These liaisons broaden and strengthen the NFC Forum’s collaborative ties with key associations and standards bodies across the NFC ecosystem. As a first step in the liaisons, the Forum has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with each organization that outlines how they will collaborate to further the development of the NFC market and NFC-based solutions.

Princeton Junction, N.J., February 8, 2010–The Smart Card Alliance Healthcare Council will continue its focus this coming year on educating the healthcare industry on the need for a solid, secure identity management infrastructure, its newly elected officers said today.

Princeton Junction, N.J., January 25, 2010–The Smart Card Alliance has been invited by the organizers of RSA Conference 2010 to deliver a special one-day tutorial for security professionals interested in overcoming identity management challenges presented by new and changing security regulations, compliance considerations, and data breach threats. This is the fifth consecutive year that the Smart Card Alliance has provided an educational workshop on the use of smart card technology for information security at the RSA Conference, the world’s leading information security conferences and expositions.

Princeton Junction, NJ, January 6, 2010–The accelerating widespread acceptance, usage and application of contactless and NFC mobile payments in transit and retail will be the focus of the Smart Card Alliance 3rd Annual Payments Summit. The event is being held February 23rd–25th, 2010 at the Marriott City Center Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Princeton Junction, NJ, December 17, 2009–EMV/chip technology will be the topic of a January 2010 webinar from the Smart Card Alliance, featuring speakers from Aite Group, Bank of Nova Scotia, KeyPoint Consulting and Visa on the reasons behind the global migration to this technology, and the possibilities for U.S. adoption.

The free educational webinar, “Top 10 Reasons for Considering EMV in the U.S,” will take place on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time/10:00 a.m. Pacific time. To register, please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/activities-events-top-ten-reasons-us-should-consider-emv.

Organizations to host webinar to discuss findings

Cartes & IDentification, Villepinte, France, November 16, 2009–Reducing payments fraud is the top driver for issuers and acquirers to adopt EMV/chip in Brazil and Mexico, according to a new study from the Smart Card Alliance Latin America (SCALA), produced in participation with Visa Inc., available for sale today. Other important findings: respondents are also driven to adopt EMV/chip cards in order to position themselves as innovators and technology leaders, and they all expect to have 100 percent of their credit and debit card portfolios migrated to EMV/chip within one to five years.

Princeton Junction, NJ, November 3, 2009–New enforcement laws gave HIPAA privacy and security regulations a big boost under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), and also extended HIPAA regulations to more businesses, attendees learned at the 8th Annual Smart Cards in Government Conference. With the Obama administration and Congress showing they are serious about protecting an individual’s healthcare information, identity and authentication solutions based on smart card technology become a much more attractive proposition for healthcare companies charged with protecting the security of personal health records.