Executive Director's Letter

Dear members and friends of the Alliance,

I hope everyone in now deep into their summer relaxation mode and finding some time to enjoy the great outdoors - golfing, bike riding, sailing, fishing, or just enjoying the late sunsets and beautiful weather. I loaded up the SUV and headed south to Outer Banks, NC for a terrific week at the beach. If anyone wonders why a guy who lives in NJ travels 7 hours to go to the beach in North Carolina, just ask someone who has been to both places and you will know why - it is beautiful. Back in the office, some days I feel like the pelicans I watched along the shoreline, gliding along gracefully and covering a lot of ground with the wind at their back, and other times flapping their wings like mad heading into the wind and seemingly standing still. Today my arms are very tired.

So, now I am back and doing double time to catch up and keep the Alliance moving forward. We have, however, covered a great deal of ground since last month. The preparations for the SmartTalk webinar and teleconference for July 22nd at 1pm EST are nearly complete. We held a dry run last week with each of the presenters rehearsing and fine tuning their content for "Contactless Payments: Merchant and Consumer Benefits." This is going to be a great session and will contain a great deal of information that has not been made public before about the PayPass and ExpressPay contactless payments pilots taking place in the U.S. We've added a "webinar" feature to this event so participants can follow the slide presentation using an internet connection (a great use of your cell phone and wireless connection while sitting poolside). Registration for the event closes on Wednesday, July 21 at 5pm. Click here for registration information. If you are not available at this time, registered SmartTalk participants will receive a dial-up number to play back the audio portion of the entire event - so register anyway. The cost is $95 per line.

Member Profile

Infineon Technologies, a global leader in chip manufacturing, is a longtime Smart Card Alliance supporter and Leadership Council member. Smart Card Talk spoke with Joerg Borchert, Vice President, Secure Mobile Solutions, Infineon Technologies North America Corp.

1. What are Infineon's main business profile and company offerings?
Infineon is one of the world's leading chip manufacturers, with more than 32,300 employees worldwide and revenue in its last fiscal year (ended September 2003) of $7.16 billion. Until 1999, the company was a part of the Siemens group, so the brand is still quite new compared to other large chip companies. However, Infineon products can be found in a very broad range of electronics systems used by businesses and consumers everyday. For example, the company's chips are used to control the airbags, anti-lock brakes, and dozens of other electronic-based systems in your car. Every major computer manufacturer uses Infineon memory chips, and the company also produces a broad portfolio of chips integrated inside mobile phones used around the world.  

And, of course, the security ICs found in smart cards, whether they be ID badges, payment cards, transit cards or GSM SIMs, are often made by Infineon. In the year 2003, more than half of the total of the about 2 billion chip card systems in circulation worldwide was fitted with a security chip from Infineon. Infineon also is a truly global company, with R&D, manufacturing and business operations in Europe, Asia, and North America.

Feature of the Month

Using Smart Cards for Secure Physical and Logical Access

Originally, the employee badge was used as a visual identity credential. Access into buildings and doors was granted when a guard recognized the cardholder's badge. Technologies for automating access control (such as magnetic stripe, bar codes and proximity chips) were developed to decrease operating costs, improve security, and increase convenience.

While these technologies reduce operating costs and increase convenience, they do not guarantee that the badge holder is in fact the person authorized to have the badge. Older ID technologies provide minimal or no security for computer networks. The requirement for a single secure credential for logical and physical access and for protection of an individual's private information have led to the emergence of the smart ID card: an ID credential in which contact and/or contactless smart card technologies are integrated into the corporate ID to allow access systems to be implemented with additional levels of security.

The smart ID card grants a person (or device) secure, authenticated access to both physical and virtual resources. The badge can authorize access to buildings, computer networks, data files or the user's personal computer. In addition, these same cards can now include applications that allow access to mass transit systems, payment accounts, and other secured data. The one common requirement for all of these applications is authenticated user identification.

Many of the people involved in the purchase, implementation, and use of the smart ID card - from the chief executive officer (CEO) to (most importantly) the employee - are realizing the card's benefits. Almost every security magazine includes at least one article, if not a cover story, on the convergence of physical and logical access. Such articles describe security advantages, ROI, convenience, and implementation considerations.

Smart Card Talk is the monthly electronic newsletter of the world's largest smart card industry organization, providing members with the latest news and information about what's happening within the Smart Card Alliance. If you have news you would like to share, please send it to info@smartcardalliance.org. If you know someone who does not receive this newsletter and would like to be added to the list, please send an email here.

Smart Card Alliance · 191 Clarksville Rd. · Princeton Junction, NJ 08550
Phone: (800) 556-6828 info@smartcardalliance.org · www.smartcardalliance.org