Dear members and friends of the Alliance,
It seems that there is nothing better than a successful conference
to restore vigor and enthusiasm back into the smart card industry.
We broke a number of records last week at the 3rd annual “Smart
Cards in Government Conference.” With more than 360
pre-registered attendees and scores of walk-ins who came for
the open Federal Smart Card Project Managers meeting and exhibit
floor, the main ballroom was filled to capacity and people
were overflowing into the hallway. That is nearly double the
size of the crowds at last July’s government event!
The twenty exhibitors who filled every available space in
the conference room hallway and the adjoining hall were often
overrun by the government and industry crowds, especially
during breaks, lunches and networking receptions. Even the
pre-conference workshop was a big success, with over 120 people
registering for this all-day Educational Institute event.
My lesson learned for next year – get a bigger space!
So why did this event draw so much excitement?
Well, it starts with the featured topic - the adoption of
smart cards in the federal government. Not only has the government
market energized the industry with its check-book, but more
noticeably it has energized the industry with its people.
I started planning for this event back in November when I
sat down with key government leaders like Mary Dixon at DoD,
Bill Holcombe at GSA, Jack Cassidy at TSA, Jim Zok at DOT
MARAD, and Bob Donelson at DOI/BLM (and IAB chair). I asked
them what they wanted us to cover at the conference and how
to make it fresh, so it would not be the same people talking
about the same issues over again. What resulted was a fresh
new approach to many discussions we have heard before. We
decided to shelve individual talks and schedule moderated
panels made up of a mix of government and industry. We shortened
presentations to allow for more question and answer time with
the audience. We also set the room up with round tables close
to the stage to draw the whole room together as one group.
To illustrate how all of these things came together, I will
single out one session - Jack Cassidy's panel "Implementing
TWIC - a Stakeholder's Perspective." This was the last
session on the last day of the conference. Not only was it
nearly full, but Jack and his panel stayed for another 30
minutes after the session (and the conference) was supposed
to close to answer each and every question from the audience.
That is the kind of openness and accessibility that illustrates
the government commitment to be in partnership with the smart
card industry. This was a common theme that ran through every
panel. My only regret was that many other panels, also full
and with eager questioners, were forced to end before the
last question was asked due to scheduling. The disappointment
of not having Steve Cooper, CIO of Department of Homeland
Security, available to deliver the keynote address was overcome
by the quality of the rest of the program agenda. We hope
to have Steve again at a future date.
There are so many people to thank besides those named above
(I sound like I won an Oscar). First, I want to recognize
the conference committee who were responsible for selecting
the topics and filling the panels with great speakers: Bryan
Ichikawa, Unisys (event chair); Bill Holcombe, GSA; Craig
Diffie and Paul Beverly, Axalto; Gilles Lisimaque, Gemplus;
Greg Garback, WMATA; Kevin Gillick and Chuck Baggeroer, Datacard
Group; and Bob Merkert, SCM Microsystems. I also want to thank
our sponsors: Axalto (Gold sponsor); Atmel; Bank of America;
First Data Corporation; Thomson Media; and our many exhibitors.
But the real thanks go to government members of the Alliance
and the many non-members from government who traveled across
the river to Arlington to attend this Smart Card Alliance
conference and sent the scores of industry people who attended
home with pockets full of business cards and new insight into
how the government market will grow in the months and years
to come. The roughly 40% government - 60% industry mix of
attendees is a healthy sign that the Alliance is fulfilling
its mission of bringing both sides together in an open forum.
In other Alliance news, we have completed
our first Alliance member survey and our Marketing Committee
is busy digesting the input we received. Over 10% of the members
contacted responded to the online survey. This is the first
of several surveys the Marketing Committee has planned to
measure the awareness of and value placed by our members in
the services and activities the Alliance delivers. For example,
81% said that this monthly newsletter was valuable. (I guess
the other 19% have already hit the “delete” button.)
Thanks to Julie Kruger, JCB (committee chair), Colleen Kulhanek,
Datakey, Joseph Schuler, ImageWare Systems, and Cathy Medich
for their work putting the survey together. Also, congratulations
to Maggie Buffler at Datacard Group, the drawing winner for
the digital camera offered as a reward for completing the
survey.
The Secure Personal ID Task Force, chaired
by Cathy Medich, has published its much anticipated report,
Secure Identification Systems: Building a Chain of Trust.
The report has been highly praised for its clear and concise
executive-level approach to describing the business and technology
decisions that go into a secure ID system and the role smart
cards have in the important “chain of trust” necessary
to achieve true security. The report is free to all members
and government employees and can be electronically downloaded
by all others via the Alliance online store for $95. Cathy
and the Task Force met last week to discuss ideas for its
next project. Also, the new GSA Government Smart Card Handbook,
with contributions from Leadership Council members of the
Smart Card Alliance, is completed and available at no charge
at http://www.smartcardalliance.org
or at the government smart card web site at http://www.estrategy.gov/smartgov/whats_new.cfm.
In late February, I had the opportunity to
attend the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco and speak
on a panel with Teresa Schwarzhoff and Ray Snouffer of NIST
about the great standards work the government is doing. During
my stay, I attended a keynote address by Stratton Sclavos,
Chairman and CEO of VeriSign, who announced the formation
of OATH, an industry collaboration group formed to define
and recommend to standards bodies an open authentication architecture
based on secure tokens, including smart cards. VeriSign recently
joined the Alliance as a Leadership Council member and is
joined in this effort by other Leadership Council members
Axalto, Gemplus, and IBM. Such industry outreach and leadership
defines the types of organizations that make up the Leadership
Council of the Alliance. You will be hearing more about OATH
and the Alliance’s involvement in its efforts in the
future. For more information about OATH, please go to http://www.openauthentication.org.
Another interesting example of industry collaboration
on open standards and operating rules definition is the Electronic
Authentication Partnership (EAP). This new organization is
led by Helena Simms of NACHA. Helena spoke during the government
project managers’ session at our conference last week
and described the four working committees and vision of the
organization. EAP has a web site http://eapartnership.org
where you can join the organization and get more information.
The next meeting is April 7-8 in Washington, D.C.
All the news this month can’t be sunny
and bright. There has to be a stray cloud to remind everyone
that smart cards are still a complicated and challenging industry,
especially when it comes to the general public. Of course,
I am referring to the announcement this month that Target
will stop issuing chip cards in the future as part of its
Target Visa program. The reason given was lack of consumer
demand. As one of those consumers who signed up for a card
and reader and eagerly loaded the software and started surfing
the Target.com site for exciting rewards, I must confess I
was not enamored by the benefits Target offered to me as a
consumer. A 10 cent coupon off my next purchase of a new toothbrush
or $1 off a family-size box of Tide detergent did not get
my consumer juices pumping. But the technology did its job.
The software loaded easily; the reader worked the first time
I plugged it in; and my smart card came to life on my PC for
the first time in my career as an ordinary consumer. I am
not a department store shopper so I never tried to use my
card in the neighborhood Target store (I get my tooth brushes
and detergent at the grocery store, thank you), so you can
blame me in part for Target’s decision. However, how
about giving credit to Target and Visa USA for putting their
reputations and resources on the line to try to make this
work. Pioneers rarely receive the recognition they deserve,
only the critics’ labels that unfairly judge their achievements
as failures.
Looking ahead this month and into April are
four significant industry vertical conferences where the Alliance
will have a presence. Starting next week, I visit New York
City to attend the transit industry’s APTA Fare Collection
Workshop, where I will participate in a panel discussion on
fare payments standards. This is followed by ISC West, the
big security industry conference and expo in Las Vegas, March
31 – April 2, The Alliance will have a panel session
and a booth there as well. Next, the Electronic Transaction
Association (ETA) annual conference runs from April 20 –
22nd, also in Las Vegas. I have been invited to attend to
observe and suggest ways that the Alliance can provide smart
card knowledge and possible educational content to the ETA
members, who consist of payment processors and terminal service
providers to the retail industry. April ends with the much
anticipated CardTech/SecurTech conference, April 26 –
29, returning to Washington, D.C. for the first time in several
years. This needs to be a turnaround year for this event.
The new event management team at Thomson has been promising
big things to this conference’s traditional card industry
support base, so we are all anxious to see the results. One
correction I would like to make is that the “Foundations
in Card Technology Workshop,” that is being produced
entirely by the Alliance’s Educational Institute team,
is scheduled for Monday, April 26th, and not the 29th as was
listed in an earlier email announcement. If you missed this
full-day course that was offered last week at the Smart Cards
in Government event, this is another chance to get educated
by the best in the industry. Early registration discounts
are available up until March 31st. For details, visit http://www.ctst.com/conferences/CTST04/conference.html.
So until next month, keep listening and participating
as you have been and I hope to see many of you at one of these
upcoming events.
Randy Vanderhoof
Executive Director
rvanderhoof@smartcardalliance.org
609-587-4208.
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