Smart Card Talk

January 2007 • Volume 12 Number 11

Council and Task Force Report

Alliance Members: Participation in all current councils is open to any Smart Card Alliance member who wishes to contribute to the council projects. If you are interested in participating in any of the active councils, please contact Cathy Medich.

Transportation Council

Voting is now underway for 2007 Transportation Council officers and open Steering Committee seats. The Council will be electing a new chair, vice chair - transit, vice chair - parking, and vice chair - tolling, as well as 7 open Steering Committee seats.
The Transportation Council has launched a new white paper project. This white paper will provide an overview of an approach for transit/financial payment convergence that leverages conventional co-branding affinity card business models and the multi-application capabilities provided by smart card technology. Please contact the project co-leads, David deKozan (david.dekozan@cubic.com) or Brian Stein (bstein@scheidt-bachmann-usa.com), or Cathy Medich (cmedich@smartcardalliance.org) if you'd like to participate in this project.
An in-person Council meeting is being planned for March 7-8, 2007 in Salt Lake City, UT. The final agenda and location will be announced to the Council mailing list later this month.
If you are interested in participating in the Transportation Council, please contact the Council chair, Paul Korczak (pakorcz@nyct.com), vice chairs, Chris Cipperly (ccipperly@wmata.com) and David deKozan (david.dekozan@cubic.com), or Cathy Medich.

Physical Access Council

The Smart Card Alliance Physical Access Council, International Biometrics Industry Association (IBIA) and Security Industry Association (SIA) were invited to participate in the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) Transportation Worker Identity Credential (TWIC) Working Group to assist in developing the specification for a contactless biometric reader that protects the privacy of the biometric data in an operationally efficient way. As a first deliverable, members developed a briefing presentation to educate the NMSAC on the choices for key management and the impact of the choices on operations, cost and risk. If you would like to participate in this Council project, please contact Walter Hamilton (whamilton@saflink.com), who is leading this effort.
If you are interested in participating in the Physical Access Council, please contact Council chair, Dwayne Pfeiffer (dwayne.pfeiffer@ngc.com), vice chair Bob Merkert (rmerkert@scmmicro.com), or Cathy Medich.

Healthcare Council

The Healthcare Council is working on a new white paper that describes the benefits of smart cards for all healthcare stakeholders - patients, providers and payors. Target completion is February 2007.
The Council is soliciting members who would like to write case studies or implementation profiles of smart card implementations in the U.S. healthcare industry. Members would write these case studies, with the Council and Alliance editing and publishing the final documents. If you would like a copy of the case study template, please contact Cathy Medich.
If you are interested in participating in the Healthcare Council, please contact Council chair Frank Avignone (favignone@healthmeans.com), vice chair Chuck Wilson (chuck.wilson3@verizon.net), or Cathy Medich.

Contactless Payments Council

Voting is now underway for the 2007 Contactless Payments Council Steering Committee. The Council Steering Committee is composed of 1-2 representatives from each of the following categories: card issuers, card associations, merchants, financial payment processors, terminal vendors, card manufacturers, chip vendors, systems integrators/consultants and personalization bureaus.
A contactless payments news feed has been added to the Smart Card Alliance web site and to the Contactless Payments Resources page. As a member benefit, any Alliance member with news relating to contactless payments can send the news release to news@smartcardalliance.org for posting on the Alliance web site.
The Council is working on an extensive contactless payment question-and-answer document. Publication is targeted for February 2007.
The Council will be publishing the merchant implementation guide that covers infrastructure requirements and best practices, training and education and that was developed by the Merchant Roll-out Work Group. A companion white paper is also being developed.
The Issuer Work Group is finalizing a briefing document to educate issuers on the benefits of contactless payments and on key considerations for issuers who would like to issue contactless devices. The group plans to hold a web seminar, with issuers as the target audience, in early 2007.
If you are interested in participating in the Contactless Payments Council, please contact the Council co-chairs, Francine Dubois (f.dubois@oberthurcs.com), Wendy Humphrey (wendy.humphrey@firstdata.com) or Mohammad Khan (khanm@vivotech.com), or Cathy Medich.

Identity Council

The Identity Council has completed 2 new documents, "Best Practices for the Use of RF-Enabled Technology in Identity Management" and a companion FAQ. These are high-level documents targeted to policy makers and the media that state the Smart Card Alliance recommendations for best practices when implementing an identity verification system with RF-enabled technology. The documents will be published later this month.
If you are interested in participating in the Identity Council, please contact the Council co-chairs, Neville Pattinson (Neville.pattinson@gemalto.com) or Marty Dugan (mdugan@viisage.com), or Cathy Medich.

Other Councils

A members-only council web site is available at http://www.sca-councils.org. This is a password-protected site that contains council working documents and contact lists. Each Council area has a separate password since Councils may have different membership policies. If you are a Smart Card Alliance member and would like access to the council site, please contact Cathy Medich.
If you are interested in forming or participating in an Alliance council, contact Cathy Medich. Click here to download a description of the council structure, proposal process and council interest feedback form.

New Members

Supercom, Inc., McLean, Va www.supercom-inc.com
Membership Level: General
Member Contact: Kevin Michael, COO
Company Description: system integrator and manufacturer of disaster card incident management systems

Transport for London, London, United Kingdom www.tfl.gov.uk
Membership Level: Government
Member Contact: Will Judge, Project Director
Company Description: operator of the London Transit Authority Oyster transit smart card scheme

Parkeon, Inc., Moorestown, NJ www.parkeon.com
Membership Level: General
Member contact: Ian Newberg
Company Description: parking meter and fare collection systems

Keane, Inc., McLean, VA www.keane.com
Membership Level: General
Member contact: Adam Nelson
Company description: business and IT services for financial services, healthcare, insurance, transportation, micropayments, and the public sector

Web Site News

New content includes:

Information about the Smart Card Alliance 6th Annual Smart Cards in Government and Exhibition 2007 [ click here ]
Contactless payments news feed [ click here ]
Access to new Aberdeen Group report, "Retail Contactless Payment Systems Benchmark Report: Improving Customer Retention and Loyalty" [ click here ]
Updated Contactless Payments Council position paper, "The What, Who and Why of Contactless Payments" [ click here ]
New white paper, "Contactless Payments: Consumer Attitudes and Acceptance in the United States," summarizing the results of the consumer market research conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research in August 2006 [ click here ]
Contactless Payments Council statement and Q&A document on contactless payment security [ click here ]
Identity Council response to the Department of State Federal Register notice on the WHTI passport card [ click here ]

December 2006 web statistics

63,665 visitor sessions for the month
2,053 visitor sessions per day
245,598 total page views for the month
38,741 Industry News items viewed
2,424 Card Reader Catalog items displayed
3,934 PDF downloads

If you have any suggestions on content that you'd like to see on the Alliance web site, please send them to info@smartcardalliance.org.

Alliance in the News

The Alliance has an active communications program to promote industry messages in business, vertical market, and technology publications. Coverage results from both Alliance press releases and interviews with publications writing articles about smart cards. Selected recent coverage is shown below with links to online articles.

Baseline, 12/15/06, Senators Question Use of RFID in E-Passports [ link to article ]
Card Technology, 12/6/06, Sen. Schumer Calls For Better Contactless Payment Security [ link to article ]
CardLine, 12/8/06, "Sen. Schumer calls for better contactless payment security " [ link not available ]
Computer Business Review, 12/6/06, "Smart Card Alliance slams RFID use in US passport card program" [ link to article ]
ComputerWorld, 12/6/06, "Industry group urges caution on US plan for RFID-enabled ID cards" [ link to article ]
CRM Buyer, 1/2/07, "RFID Use Continues to Fuel Privacy Fears " [ link to article ]
CSO Online, 12/6/06, "Smart Card Alliance Cautions Feds on RFID Cards " [ link to article ]
Dallas Morning News, 12/25/06, "Uses of radio frequency ID raise doubts " [ link to article ]
Datamonitor, 12/5/06, "Smart Card Alliance slams RFID use in US passport card program " [ link not available ]
E-Commerce Times, 1/2/07, "RFID Use Continues to Fuel Privacy Fears " [ link to article ]
EE Times, 12/7/06, "Smart Card Alliance criticizes passport card plans " [ link to article ]
eWeek, 12/15/06, "Use of RFID in ePassport and National ID Cards Coming Under Fire " [ link to article ]
Federal Computer Week, 12/11/06, "GPO makes millionth e-passport " [link to article]
Government Technology, 12/6/06, "US Urged to Reconsider Long Range RFID Technology " [ link to article ]
Information Week, 12/11/06, "Track and Trace -- RFID On The Borde" [ link not available ]
Information Week,12/8/06, "TState Dept. Seeks More Comments On RFID Passport Cards " [ link to article ]
Information Week, 12/6/06, "Smart Card Alliance Criticizes Passport Card Plans " [ link to article ]
Intelligent Enterprise, 12/8/06, "State Dept. Seeks More Comments On RFID Passport Cards" [ link to article ]
IT News, 12/7/06, "Smart card alliance criticises passport card plans " [ link to article ]
Journal of Commerce, 12/11/06, "Fasten your seatbelt " [ link not available ]
PC Advisor, 12/9/06, "US struggles with RFID plan" [ link to article ]
RFID Solutions, 12/11/06, "Passport RFID Solution " [ link to article ]
RFID Update, 12/6/06, "Smart Card Firms Challenge US on RFID" [ link to article ]
Secure ID News, 12/4/06, "Industry group asks gov to reconsider RFID as Pass Card technology" [ link to article ]
Security Document World, 12/11/06, ", Smart Card Alliance urges US government rethink " [ link to article ]
Technology Daily AM, 12/6/06, "Tech Alliance Questions Standard For New IDs " [ link not available ]
Technology News Daily, 12/9/06, "RFID Technology for Passport card program " [ link to article ]
TechNewsWorld, 1/2/07, ", RFID Use Continues to Fuel Privacy Fears " [ link to article ]
TechWeb, 12/7/06, "Smart Card Alliance Criticizes Passport Card Plans " [ link to article ]
Techworld.com, 12/6/06, "US government warned off RFID passports " [ link to article ]
The Record, 12/22/06, "Trains, buses to have automated fare" [ link to article ]
ZDNet News, 12/8/06, "State to extend comment period on RFID in border cards " [ link to article ]

SCA Latin America News

The Smart Card Alliance Latin America project kicked off on October 19, 2004 with the presentation of the Department of Commerce Market Developer Cooperator Program (MDCP) award totaling $288,000 that forms a partnering effort between the International Trade Administration and SCA to develop international trade and support education, training, and resource development for smart cards in Mexico, Brazil, and the Caribbean Islands. The Alliance staff has held organizing meetings with ITA field office personnel in Mexico and Brazil to discuss ways to bring smart card awareness and education to the government and commercial markets in those countries. The Alliance has also met with ITA personnel based in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and Miami who are in support roles and are prepared to assist the Alliance's Latin American project.

In July 2005 the Latin America Chapter was launched. Organizations with smart card-related business interests in all Latin American countries and the Caribbean, plus any organization based in North America or internationally with interests in the Latin America markets, should contact Edgar Betts, Manager Business Development - Latin America at 1-954-590-3795 or ebetts@smartcardalliance.org. Memberships are available for Leadership Council, General, Government, and Associate levels.

A recent report released by Frost & Sullivan called The Americas Smart Card Market Analysis projected microprocessor smart card shipments of 136.4 million in 2005, and with over a 59 percent annual growth rate projected through 2010. The Latin American smart card market growth is due to many market factors including the migration of mobile telecommunications operators to GSM technology, the migration to EMV in the financial sector, the move to smart transit fare cards and new government and commercial secure identification initiatives. Responding to these market factors, the Smart Card Alliance today announced the formation of a new Latin American chapter to bring together smart card suppliers, partners and customers in order to address the challenges facing smart card deployment in the region.

“The Latin American smart card market is now emerging and could develop more rapidly than other markets by effectively learning from similar smart card initiatives and by forming business partnerships that can quickly deliver successful implementations,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance.

The main mission of the Smart Card Alliance Latin American chapter is in line with the overall goal of the Alliance: to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart cards. The Alliance plans to use specific projects such as bi-lingual education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums to keep Latin American chapter organization members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought.

“The Smart Card Alliance has played a valuable role in developing the U.S. market in both the public and private sector. Our organization provides an educational and collaborative forum in which all of the stakeholders—manufacturers, issuers and end users—can work together to develop the cross-industry real-world solutions needed to deploy smart card systems. Our organization is uniquely positioned to bring a collective energy and focus to this technology in Latin America,” said Vanderhoof.

Next Steps:

Below is a summary of the important Latin America Chapter programs and industry activities planned for 2007.

White Paper translation. The Smart Card Alliance Latin America (SCALA) has translated five white papers into Spanish and Portuguese to allow the local markets to have access to valuable information in their language. The selection of the white paper to be translated was important in order to be significant to the local markets of Latin America. This action helps the Alliance create an image of not only a U.S. focused institution, but an international and local.
Website. The Smart Card Alliance Latin America (SCALA) website; though very informational of our institution it has limited deliverable and resources useful for the local markets.
Online Educational Program. The Smart Card Alliance Latin America (SCALA) in its efforts to expand its website deliverables to the market it has agreed to host a member online educational program. The program contains information about smart cards in both Spanish and English, covering from basic to some advanced knowledge.
Mexico Conference. The Smart Card Alliance together with Global Platform will present the Smart Cards in Government and Banking Mexico 2007 Conference on May 8 – 9, 2007 in Mexico City. Conference registration information, sponsorship opportunities and exhibiting opportunities will be available shortly. For more information, contact Edgar Betts at ebetts@smartcardalliance.org.
Educational Institute – Certification Course. The Smart Card Alliance Latin America (SCALA) Physical Access Council has worked on developing an Educational Institute (E.I.) course that will be used at Expo Seguridad Mexico conference in April 2007 on the use of smart cards for physical access. This course will be a classroom style course provided to the attendees of Expo Seguridad Mexico in the security market. It is intended to be a follow-up course to the physical access course that is provided by The Latin American Security Association (ALAS) at their conference events.
Educational/Promotional Video. The Smart Card Alliance Latin America (SCALA) has held meetings with The Latin American Security Association (ALAS) and Obraweb to create online videos for the SCALA website. The idea would be to film one of SCALA’s Educational Institutes (E.I.) in high quality video to provide industry information and promote attendance to the Alliance.
Member invitation. The Smart Card Alliance Latin America (SCALA) with the leadership of the Transportation Council has developed a list of organizations in the transportation industry to send a formal invitation to join the Alliance and the transportation council. Due to the limited response of organizations in the region to join the Alliance and participate, the leadership of this council has agreed to use the contacts that the Alliance has acquired and invite them behalf of the transportation council to join our organization.
Articles for targeted industry magazines. The Alliance Latin America, Media Outreach Council has established several meeting in Brazil with other participating member organizations to organize the direction and responsibility of the council. As the council achieved it organizational logistics it began developing articles for publishing at identified magazines on behalf of the Alliance.

How to get involved:

If you would like to get involved in any of the Latin American activities listed above or wish to be added to the contact list for future announcements, please send an email to info@smartcardalliance.org.