Smart Card Talk

January 2007 • Volume 12 Number 1

Executive Director's Letter

Dear members and friends of the Alliance,

For all of you regular readers of this monthly newsletter, and especially those of you who put up with my rambling stream-of-consciousness letters, you will recall that last month I chose to deliver an abbreviated “2006 year in review” about the highlights and lowlights of the year from my vantage point at the Smart Card Alliance. (If you missed it among all of the “happy holidays” messages you had to sort through, you can find the December newsletter on the Alliance web site.) I concluded my letter by promising that this month I would dispense with the past and talk about the future, which seems appropriate for a New Year's letter.

I am excited about 2007 for a number of reasons. Smart card industry conferences are one of those reasons. February kicks off the busy conference schedule with the RSA 2007 Conference in San Francisco (Feb. 5 -9). Maybe it's the technology buzz that permeates the conference tracks and exhibits at this annual mecca for the IT crowd, or maybe it's the chance to see and hear Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, in person and hopefully hear him boldly proclaim that passwords are dead and smart cards are the answer, that makes this a "can’t miss" event on my calendar. Even better, the Smart Card Alliance Educational Institute team was asked back again in 2007 and will deliver an all day pre-conference tutorial, "Smart Cards in IT." The Alliance is also back with a sold-out Smart Card Pavilion exhibit space, where 12 quality technology vendors will showcase the best IT security technology available. And lastly, I will join an international panel to discuss the adoption of government smart cards from a U.S. perspective.

Staying on the subject of smart card conferences, I have to include our own 6th Annual Smart Cards in Government 2007 Conference and Exhibition that will take place on April 10- 13, 2007 in Washington, DC. I am excited that we get to return to downtown DC and the modern Ronald Reagan building after a few years in the suburbs of Virginia. You are going to be hearing a great deal about this conference in mailings and email blasts in the next few months, so I will stop here since I am mostly preaching to the choir. This conference has become the highlight event of the year for anyone affiliated with the identity management and government market. Don't wait too long to get your exhibit space reserved. Last year we had to turn a few companies away because the floor completely sold out. And let's not forget the Federal Inter-agency Advisory Board who will be holding their April meeting at our event.

If I am talking about new things and what is expected in the near future, I have to include the Alliance’s prolific industry councils and the fantastic work each group produces every year. 2007 will not be any different. Our Physical Access Council (PAC) is engaged in a complex technology evaluation with the National Maritime Security Advisory Committees (NMSAC) Transportation Worker Identity Credential (TWIC) Working Group and other industry leaders that is critical to the success of the newly-commissioned TWIC program for port security. The PAC will also be supporting my participation in the government’s new HSPD-12 Physical Security Migration Team. The Identity Council has just released “best practices” guidance that defines the rules for good behavior when using RF-enabled technology for identity management systems. The Transportation Council is holding its annual 2-day meeting in March in Salt Lake City where it will announce its newly-elected steering committee, discuss its next projects, and update industry leaders on the advances in automatic fare payment technologies in the U.S. and abroad. The Healthcare Council is working on a white paper that looks at the business case for smart cards in healthcare, while continuing to engage in education and debates at healthcare technology conferences around the country. And finally, the Contactless Payments Council hasn’t slowed down, despite having to respond to several brutal media attacks on contactless payments security. The council continues its efforts to engage the retailers and issuers in a dialog about contactless adoption. This group is planning a webinar in the spring that will focus on financial institutions and present issuer’s considerations for implementing contactless payments.

So, as always, I have much more I would like to tell you about than this limited space affords me. In February, I will reserve some space to tell you about the Latin America market and our growing list of projects and new member relationships that are developing in Mexico, Brazil, and other countries throughout this region. Most importantly, I will talk about our new conference, Smart Cards in Government and Banking Mexico 2007 that will be held in Mexico City in May and is a joint effort between the Smart Card Alliance Latin America and Global Platform. Until then, be well and try to keep up with the Alliance. Good things are happening faster than I can get the word out to everyone.

Sincerely,

Randy Vanderhoof

Executive Director

rvanderhoof@smartcardalliance.org