Executive Director's Letter

Dear members and friends of the Alliance:

As we near the end of the first month in the new year, let me summarize some of the major Alliance projects we are feverishly working on in the upcoming months.  My father was quick to say to me “don’t confuse work with accomplishment.”  It may be too early to take credit for a job well done in terms of what we have achieved so far, but I can say with confidence that these next few months will be filled with a number of valuable events, projects and deliverables that will benefit the smart card industry in many diverse ways.

Let me begin by talking about our next conference event, which is still a few months away, but is certainly our biggest event of the year.  The 5th Annual Smart Cards in Government Conference will be held on April 18–20, 2006.  This 3-day conference and exhibition has become the cornerstone event to discuss the Federal government’s HSPD 12 program, the ePassport initiative, and new opportunities on the horizon such as Registered Traveler, DHS First Responder Program, and the REAL ID Act.  The event returns to the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, VA, just outside the DC limits and the site of the 2003 event.  We are expecting more than 400 attendees and 40 exhibitors for this year’s event, plus we have added a full day pre-conference FIPS 201 Implementation Workshop on April 17.  You can visit the Alliance web site for registration and exhibitor information.

Our Contactless Payments Council will soon announce an upcoming free webinar, called Contactless Payments: A New Era of Payments for Retailers, on February 22.  The webinar features guest speakers from KeyBank, Chase Paymentech, and Wawa Food Stores who will discuss their first-hand experience with the benefits of contactless payments.  The Alliance has partnered with the National Retail Federation STORES Magazine to produce and promote the webinar.  The event will be targeted at retailers who may be considering joining in the contactless payments revolution that is spreading across the country.

Member Profile

This month Smart Card Talk spoke with Gerald Hubbard, Government Business Development Manager for Datacard Group.   Mr. Hubbard is responsible for supporting Datacard's government initiatives, working closely with key U.S. government agencies and system integrators to implement Datacard solutions in secure document management and production.

Mr.Hubbard joined Datacard in May 2005, bringing with him more than 17 years of smart card related sales experience.   He was elected to the Board of Directors of the Smart Card Forum, serving as Treasurer, from its inception in 1993 until 1999.   He also served on the Board of Directors of the Smart Card Industry Association.   Mr. Hubbard contributed to the book, "Smart Cards, Seizing the Strategic Business Opportunities," published in 1997 and has appeared on CNN and CNBC representing his company and the smart card industry.

Prior to joining Datacard, Mr. Hubbard held positions at MasterCard International, the credit card payment association;   Bull, a smart card manufacturer and systems provider; and Texas Instruments.   Hubbard holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Feature of the Month

Smart Cards and Parking

Over the last decade, advances in technology have fueled major innovations in electronic payment strategies.   These strategies are revolutionizing the way payments are made in a variety of environments including retail, banking, and transportation.   Transportation in particular has witnessed large-scale investment in the electronic payments infrastructure, with a variety of such programs now reaching the launch stage.

Smart cards are playing an integral role in these new payment strategies.   Smart cards provide increased security, enable more distributed processing, and provide a variety of communications options.   Smart cards that support contactless communication are becoming more prevalent in mass transit programs and are also being used for financial payment, with millions American Express, MasterCard and Visa contactless payment cards now in use in the U.S.   Contact smart cards are seeing continued use in European and Asian financial payment card programs and are also being used for domestic security, on-street parking, and other applications.

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