|
Dear members
and friends of the Alliance,
Bon Jour from
Cartes! (I am in France so I must work on my limited
French vocabulary). Being here reminds me how just one year
ago, I was fielding questions from reporters and analysts
whose position was that the US was being left behind in the
wake of the adoption of smart cards in Europe and Asia. Certainly
if one only scanned the headlines about EMV in Europe and
parts of Asia, SIM sales in China, or national ID and transit
projects elsewhere, you might draw the same conclusions. However,
I have seen a big change in the (mis)perception that
North America has been napping while the rest of the world
is converting to chip. It is true that payment cards still
lag behind other developed nations, but other segments are
on the move – mostly due to changes in the telecom and
broadcast industries and the wake-up call we experienced following
9/11.
Based on the volume
of requests for information about North American adoption
of smart cards I have received from the foreign press, international
trade publications, foreign conference organizers, non US-based
companies, and even foreign government officials, the United
States has something the rest of the world is looking for
– newfound credibility. In 2003, I have spoken
about the US adoption of smart cards at Europe's eSmart conference
and now at Cartes - IT Security. I declined other invitations
to speak in Asia, India, and most recently in Korea. Bylined
articles or reprints of our Alliance white papers have been
shared for publication in numerous foreign publications including:
CardsNow Asia, Smart World, Global ID, Card News, Cards International,
European Card Review, Card Forum International, plus our US-based
Card Technology Magazine and IDNewswire which have an international
audience.
In the past year,
the Alliance has experienced a 400% increase in membership
from foreign-based companies. Additions include Samsung (South
Korea), Integrated Engineering (Netherlands), Hitachi (Japan),
Precise Biometrics (Sweden), NDS Technologies (Israel), OTI
(Israel), TDK Electronics (Japan), and X-Ident Technology
(Germany and US). On a broader scale, our web site has been
regularly exceeding 1 million hits per month (nearly 50,000
per day), with a large percentage of those coming from foreign
visitors.
The increasing
attention on the US market is not just hype. Past market survey
reports show the adoption rate for high end, secure microprocessor
cards makes up nearly 85% of all shipments. With total chip
card shipments from 1999 through 2003 estimated at 230 million
units, North America now ranks third, trailing only China
and the United Kingdom in microprocessor card shipments. This
is very good news not only for chip suppliers and card system
providers, but also for the infrastructure providers like
the reader manufacturers, middleware developers, card perso-management
suppliers, system integrators, and industry consultants.
All of these stakeholders
are well represented in the Smart Card Alliance organization
as are the financial payment processors and issuers, government
agencies, retail associations and transit operators. Collectively,
we have made a big difference in accelerating the adoption
of smart cards in North America – our core Alliance mission.
Correcting this
misconception in the media and the international business
community has been a major focus of the Smart Card Alliance.
Member resources have been key to making this successful.
We still have plenty of work to do and there is a need for
even deeper representation of the many user and supplier organizations
that make a difference in how fast smart card adoption will
happen here. The North American market is "open for business,"
so make the Smart Card Alliance your first stop and become
an active participant.
On a final note,
please take a look at the upcoming events calendar section
of this newsletter. I would encourage all of our readers to
sign up to attend the InsideID Mega Conference coming up shortly,
December 8-10, 2003 at the Washington, DC Convention Center.
The Alliance will be there supporting the card technology
information portal and we will be assisting the attendees
with information and answering questions about the role of
card technology in the important Identity Management market.
Alliance members will receive $100 off the 3-day registration
fee. Also, please mark your calendars for the next Smart Card
Alliance conference, Smart Cards in Government - 2004. The
dates are March 9-10, 2004 at the Hilton Crystal City, VA.
More details to come shortly.
Randy
Vanderhoof
Executive Director
Smart Card Alliance
rvanderhoof@smartcardalliance.org
Each week the
latest news, press releases, and articles are made available
at your Alliance web site. To include your company's articles,
news, and releases in this great industry resource, send electronic
submissions to news@smartcardalliance.org.
Click on the headline to read the full text of these articles–currently
"showing" at the Alliance site.
Each month,
the international smart card associations who are members
of the ISCAN network share smart card industry news with the
Smart Card Alliance. Below are some of the highlights from
recent ISCAN member newsletters.
BIOMETRICS ARE
COMING TO CANADA, MINISTER SAYS
The Canadian government is exploring the use of biometric
identifiers on a variety of ID cards and documents, according
to Denis Coderre, minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
"One thing is certain, the biometric train has left the station,"
Coderre said yesterday at a forum on biometrics he had convened.
"We have to ask ourselves: where do we want to sit on that
train? Status quo is unacceptable."
................ Source: ACTion
News from ACT Canada, October, 2003
ACTIVCARD DIGITAL
SIGNATURE & SMART CARD-BASED ID SOLUTION RECEIVES EEMA AWARD
FOR EXCELLENCE IN SECURE ELECTRONIC BUSINESS
ActivCard announced that EEMA (the independent European association
for e-Business) has honored ActivCard with its 2003 Award
for Excellence in Secure Electronic Business. The award recognizes
the Spanish Ministry of Public Works', Colegio de Ingenieros
de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (CICCP), implementation of the
ActivCard Gold™ multi-application smart card-based authentication
and digital signature software solution.
................ Source: ACTion
News from ACT Canada, October, 2003
INTERNATIONAL
SECURITY CERTIFICATION INITIATIVE (ISCI) LAUNCHED IN EUROPE
Eurosmart together with certification bodies and evaluation
laboratories launched a common initiative to define and promote
a universal framework for security evaluation and certification
methods, tools and procedure based on internationally accepted
standards.
................ Source: Eurosmart
EUROSMART ANNOUNCES
WORLDWIDE SMART CARD FIGURES AT CARTES
Eurosmart will hold a press conference on Tuesday where the
announcement of worldwide smart card figures is an awaited
event not only for the press but also for market analysts.
................ Source: Eurosmart
|
Top
