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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
- The Transportation Council is working on the "financial/transit linkages" white paper. This white paper will look at transit needs for payment and financial industry requirements for merchants, identify gaps and challenges to transit accepting contactless financial payment cards, and make recommendations for linkages. Please contact Michael Laezza, co-project lead (mlaezza@erggroup.com) or Cathy Medich if you would like to participate.
- 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 Council is working on 2 new projects - developing the process for obtaining PIV test cards (led by Daryl Hendricks, GSA) and developing tools to assist agencies in PACS migration planning (led by Lars Suneborn, Hirsch Electronics).
- 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 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
- The Contactless Payments Council has established 4 work groups to discuss issues identified during the May 4 th Retailer and Issuer Advisory Group meeting. Work group topics include: assessing the need for a common contactless indicator; addressing issuer topics (personalization, risk management, third party processor support); developing a model for merchant training and roll-out; and documenting terminal requirements.
- If you are interested in participating in the Contactless Payments Council, please contact Cathy Medich.
Identity Council
- The Identity Council completed a new position paper, "The REAL ID Act: Why Real ID Cards Should be Based on Smart Card Technology," advocating the use of smart card technology as the underlying infrastructure for state driver's licenses issued to comply with federal requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005. The position paper is available on the Smart Card Alliance web site.
- The Identity Council completed a new frequently asked questions (FAQ) document on the EPC Gen 2 RFID tag specification, documenting security capabilities vs. contactless smart cards. The FAQ is available on the Smart Card Alliance web site.
- If you are interested in participating in the Identity Council, please contact Cathy Medich.
Other Councils
- A members-only council web site is now 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
Company: Assa Abloy ITG, Walluf, Germany www.aaitg.com
Membership Level: General
Contact: Antje Shaefer, Marketing Commuincation Mgg
Description: Provides current and emerging ID management and RFID solutions
Company: Athena Smartcard Solutions, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan www.athena-scs.com
Membership level: General
Contact: Eran Navoth, Director
Description: Smart card ID technology solutions for enterprise and government
Web Site News
NEW additions to the Smart Card Alliance web site
- REAL ID Act position paper posted
- OSCA nominations process and documents posted
- Smart Card Alliance Annual Conference sponsorship information posted
- EPC Gen 2 vs. Contactless Smart Card FAQ posted
- WHTI PASS card position paper posted
- Smart Cards in Government Conference proceedings posted
- New Smart Card Career Center, http://careers.smartcardalliance.org/
- WJLA News8 clip of Randy Vanderhoof interview on federal smart cards available on the members-only web site
- Updates to content on the members-only council site: http://www.sca-councils.org
June 2006 web statistics
- 76,475 visitor sessions for the month
- 2,549 visitor sessions per day
- 197,196 total page views for the month
- 72,355 Industry News items viewed
- 7,557 Card Reader Catalog items displayed
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.
- ABC.com, 6/28/06, "Smart Card Alliance Responds to '20/20' Report on ID Theft" [link to article]
- The Age, 6/1/06, "Knowing Me, Knowing You" [link not available]
- The Age, 6/1/06, "Smartcard stokes Big Brother fears" [link to article]
- ATM Marketplace, 7/17/06, "Smart Card Alliance seeks nominations for annual awards" [link to article]
- ATM Marketplace, 7/11/06, "Smart Card Alliance council moves forward after first year" [link to article]
- Buffalo Artvoice, 6/15/06, "Crossing the Line" [link to article]
- CQ Homeland Security, 6/26/06, "Technology Debate Hampers Development of Credit Card-Sized Passport" [link to article]
- ECN, 6/1/06, "For Smart Cards, Security is the Key" [link to article]
- Federal Computer Week, 6/22/06, " GSA gets help with HSPD-12 implementation" [link to article]
- Find Biometrics, 6/10/06, "Interview with Walter Hamilton, Chairman International Biometric Industry Association" [link to article]
- Government Computer News, 6/12/06, "Biometric systems also face cultural challenges" [link to article]
- Government Computer News, 6/11/06, "State to DHS: Take a pass on using long-range RFID" [link to article]
- Government Security, 6/1/06, " DHS says RFID for human identification offers little benefit" [link to article]
- Government Security News, 6/19/06, "RFID: For every step forward, a step back" [link to article]
- Creensheet, 6/22/06, "Online career center tailored to smart card industry" [link to article]
- Mergers & Acquisitions, 7/1/06, "Fargo Buy Signals a Systems Approach to I.D. Smart Cards" [link not available]
- Military Information Technology , 6/15/06, "Transformation and Security" [link to article]
- National Conference of State Legislatures, 6/16/06, "Radio Frequency Identification Technology in ID Documents" [link to article]
- National Journal Tech Daily, 6/23/06, "Smart-Card Expert Will Help Agencies With IDs" [link not available]
- New York Daily News, 7/11/06, "MTA to Test its Smarts. New Card May Be 'Taps' for Booth Clerks" [link to article]
- RFID Journal, 6/9/06, "DHS Meeting Draws Comments on RFID" [link to article]
- Security Document News, 6/8/06, "Industry group challenges DHS PASS card stance" [link to article]
- Security Document World, 6/7/06, "Amendment could delay PASS card" [link to article]
- Security Document World, 6/8/06, "Industry group challenges DHS PASS card stance" [link to article]
- Security Magazine, 6/9/06, "Challenge to DHS Stand On RFID" [link to article]
- Security Management, 7/1/06, " A Chip Off the Privacy Block?" [link to article]
- Security Park.net, 6/6/06, "The Smart Card Alliance Physical Access Council helps with FIPS 201 implementation for physical access control" [link to article]
- Security Sales & Integration, 6/19/06, " Smart Card Alliance Proposes Contactless Technology to DHS" [link to article]
- TechSearch, 6/12/06, "How Long Until Every United States Citizen Has A Smart Card In Their Pocket?" [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:
The Advisory Board of the Latin America Chapter met on December 1, 2005 to discuss the marketing plan for 2006, including the review of important conference events where the chapter will deliver conference educational sessions, member exhibitor pavilions, and promote the educational mission of the chapter. The group also discussed a proposed membership expansion program and outlined a “government to government information exchange” to bring government representatives together to share information about smart card-related initiatives.
The Latin America chapter began its educational mission recently at the Expo Seguridad Conference in Mexico City April 26-28. The SCALA organized speakers to present four educational sessions on smart cards in electronic security. Subject matter experts from chapter member organizations, HID, Oberthur Card Systems, Atmel, and Axalto each delivered 45 minute presentations during the conference. In addition the SCALA had an information exchange booth on the exhibit floor to answer questions about smart cards and their benefits in access security markets. The SCALA also gave educational presentations and had booths at Security Week Brasil (Sao Paulo – March) and Cards Brasil (Sao Paulo – April). Upcoming industry events where SCALA will be present and speaking about smart cards include Americas Fire and Security Expo (Miami Beach – July) and ISC Brasil (Sao Paulo – August).
The chapter also announced its “Government to Government Information Exchange Program”, a way for member companies to sponsor a government official in Latin America to be introduced and share knowledge and information with a U.S. government official serving in a similar capacity. At a recent briefing by analyst organization Frost & Sullivan about the Brazilian smart card marketplace, they expect the Brazilian smart card market to grow from 71 million units in 2005 to an expected 135 million units by the end of 2006, nearly doubling the market size. Much of this growth is expected to come from the government’s student ID card and social services program set to begin shortly that will involve 45 million smart cards. The analyst cited one of the key drivers for the growth of the Brazilian smart card market was how the “Smart Card Alliance furthers smart card adoption in the region”. This independent endorsement by a leading analyst in the region demonstrates the positive effect that the Smart Card Alliance Latin America Chapter has had, and will continue to have not only in Brazil, but throughout the Latin American region.
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.
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