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Dear members
and friends of the Alliance,
It was great seeing
so many of you last week in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL at the "Smart
Cards in Motion" fall conference. Some of the feedback
I received when asked "What was the best thing about this
event?" elicited the following responses:
- "loved the Bird-of-a-Feather
sessions"
- "quality of
the presenters and presentations"
- "location
and transit sessions – actual implementations and business
case models taking place"
- "the wireless
panel provided a tremendous level of education"
- "David Owen's
presentation was excellent – wish it was available
on tape"
- "open dialog
time"
- "the EI (Educational
Institute)"
- "networking"
- "work of the
task forces"
- "the interaction
between the different organizations"
- "extraordinarily
credible speakers"
- "very insightful,
honest, and educational."
Those are very
powerful statements and mirror many of the comments I've received
from previous events. I have many people and organizations
to thank for making this year's fall annual conference a huge
success. I begin with the major contributions from our board
committee that helped build an interesting conference program
emphasizing contactless technologies and mobility across a
wide spectrum of markets and applications. I thank our event
sponsors in particular Axalto, the overall event
sponsor, along with MasterCard (reception and
dinner complete with World Series action on the 9' x 12' screen),
Atmel (major sponsor and lunch), JCB
(conference bags and giveaways), First Data
(coffee and cookie breaks), and Philips (conference
souvenir card) for allowing our guests to be treated to such
a wonderful resort facility and great food and entertainment.
Also, the great job our speakers did sharing their knowledge
and experience with our conference guests kept everyone's
attention for the full two and a half days. And finally, I
want to thank those of you who attended the event and showed
your support to the organization and the industry with your
time and your engaging participation in what I believe is
the most comprehensive conference for the entire North American
smart card industry.
The conference
marked an important transition for the management of the Smart
Card Alliance as Paul Beverly's two-year reign
as Chairman officially came to an end. Paul led this organization
through one of the most difficult periods in the Alliance's
history and we are all grateful for his energetic, focused
leadership. The newly elected board unanimously voted Kevin
Gillick, Head of Corporate Marketing for Datacard
Group, to be the next Chairman of the Alliance. Kevin brings
tremendous leadership and energy along with many years of
experience with both the Alliance and the Global Platform
organization. Joining Kevin on the new Executive Board are
Bryan Ichikawa, Unisys (Vice Chair); Robert
Wilberger, Northrop Grumman (Treasurer); Linda
Brown, Infineon (Secretary), Keith Saunders,
MasterCard (Assistant Treasurer); Alex Giakoumis,
Atmel (Assistant Secretary); and Gilles Lisimaque,
Gemplus (Technology Vice Chair). Paul Beverly's support of
the Alliance continues as he was re-elected to our board for
another three-year term. The other new member joining the
board is Ellen Endicott, Bank of America. The
board serves as the guiding force behind the Smart Card Alliance
and provides me with invaluable insight and direction to keep
our organization focused on its mission (see the full list
of the 2003-2004 Board of Directors in the box to your right).
So now it is time
to look forward for the year ahead. The new Executive Board
and the full board members are already hard at work discussing
our program options for the coming 12 months. Although the
February mid-winter conference has been dropped from our schedule,
other important initiatives are close at hand. Our Smart Cards
in Government conference and exhibition, our Educational Institute
workshop programs, the ongoing work of our task force groups
producing industry white papers and resource documents, our
SmartTalk teleconferences, and our wide-reaching industry
presentations continue. Watch for announcements about the
dates for these upcoming programs and activities.
As smart card
adoption accelerates across significant market verticals like
government, transit, wireless, and corporate campuses, we
will continue to lead the discussion about the important issues
and obstacles impacting management decisions. As the technology
shifts, vendors emerge and retreat, and the industry repositions
itself to face changing market conditions, the Alliance will
continue to be at the center of the debate. As the public
and internal industry policy discussions intensify about identity
theft, payment fraud, personal privacy, open standards, and
interoperability, the Alliance will be the forum for discussing
those points of view and will be the vendor-neutral industry
voice to respond to both the threats and opportunities. These
are exciting times to be in the smart card industry. I am
happy to be in the position I am today, empowered through
your trust and support at the center of all of this activity.
And I am glad to have all of you along with me to inform and
guide me. My closing thoughts to you are these – stay
active, stay engaged, and stay connected.
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.
SMART MIDDLE
EAST – WHY?
In the Middle East many states are issuing powerful smart
cards, which combine biometric ID with personal information.
The addition of a smart card to this infrastructure means
that the public authorities can have a single view of all
the relationships with the citizen wherever they touch a government
department. This streamlines the delivery of services and
makes it extremely difficult for a citizen to claim entitlements
fraudulently or through impersonation because biometrics are
used to verify identity.
................ Source: The
Smart Card Society of Southern Africa, September 19, 2003
TUXEDOS GET
SMART
Texas Instruments Radio Frequency Identification (TI-RFid)
Systems has encased an ISO 15693 RFID tag in a plastic tag
to be incorporated into garments for rental purposes requiring
frequent dry cleaning.
................ Source: The
Smart Card Society of Southern Africa, September 19, 2003
3rd CHINA SMART
LABEL CONFERENCE TO OPEN MID-NOVEMBER IN GUANGZHOU
Endorsed and organized by Smart Card Forum of China (SCFC)
and Cards Tech & Security Magazine, co-organized by Guangzhou
TECSUN Science Co.,Ltd., the 3rd China Smart Label Conference
will be held in Guangzhou on November 15-16, 2003.
................ Source: Smart Card Forum
of China News, October, 2003
150 PARTICIPANTS
AT eSMART 2003 CONFERENCE IN SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS, FRANCE
The 4th edition of the conference organized by Eurosmart was
a true success both in speakers and attendance quality. Smart
Card market important evolution and future applications were
well described. The conference was attended by journalists
from the general and specialized press.
................ Source: Eurosmart.com,
October, 2003
EUROSMART HAS
ISSUED A POSITION PAPER ON ID APPLICATIONS
The European Union is now launching the second generation
of Schengen Information System and is modifying the uniform
format of the visa to include biometrics features. Eurosmart
recommends the use of a Smart Card visa for a more secure
and privacy respect solution. Visit www.eurosmart.com
to download the position paper.
................ Source: Eurosmart.com,
October, 2003
BEVERLY, ADDISON
GILBERT HOSPITALS LAUNCH HEALTH CARD TECHNOLOGIES' SMART CARD
PROGRAM
Beverly Hospital and Addison Gilbert hospital patients are
receiving medical smart cards as part of a program designed
to make hospital registration faster and more efficient. With
nearly 500,000 cards to be distributed in the next 12 months,
they are the first private hospitals in the United States
to issue smart cards to all of their patients.
................ Source: ICMA
Daily News, September 18, 2003
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