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 SCALA web site is being developed to include company profiles of members, news items, industry statistics and reports, and an event calendar of upcoming conference events and SCALA educational programs.  The chapter will be represented at Security Week Brasil – Sao Paulo (March 27-29); Cards Brasil 2006 – Sao Paulo (April 3-5), and Expo Seguridad – Mexico  City (April 26-28).  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.    

The Foundation Members of the Latin America Chapter include Oberthur Card Systems, Rede Ponto Certo, Axalto, Visa International, Daruma Orga, Identification Technology Group (ITG), Atmel, STMicroelectronics, Fargo Electronics, and Datacard Group.

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.

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 Council issued a press release announcing its new officers and steering committee, its first year successes and project priorities for the coming year.   Click here for the press release.
• The "financial linkages" project is having its initial call on March 23.   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

• Physical Access Council members are participating in a joint committee with the IAB, PAIIWG and SIA to work on the compilation of a joint list of FIPS 201 PACS issues.
• The Physical Access Council is going through the nomination and election process for the 2006 Physical Access Council steering committee.  The initial PAC steering committee was formed of volunteers who helped to launch the Council and manage its initial year of projects.  Council members are now nominating members to be elected to the next year's steering committee.   Nominations close on March 22, with voting then open until April 7.   The new steering committee and officers will be in place in time for the Alliance April government conference.
• The Smart Card Alliance will have a significant presence at ISC West.   The Alliance booth is featuring Physical Access Council members and highlighting other members who are exhibiting at the event.   In the Alliance booth, Northrop Grumman, Viisage and ActivIdentity will be demonstrating an end-to-end FIPS 201 identity process.   The Alliance panel, "Cards: Evolution of security credentials for physical and logical security," features Bob Merkert (SCM Microsystems), Steve Rogers (Integrated Engineering), Lynne Prince (US Dept. of Defense) and Bill Vass (Sun) and is presenting on April 5.
• If you are interested in participating in the Physical Access Council, please contact Council chair, Bob Merkert ( rmerkert@scmmicro.com ), vice chair, Dwayne Pfeiffer ( dwayne.pfeiffer@ngc.com ) or Cathy Medich.  

Healthcare Council

• The Healthcare Council is now developing plans for the next 6-12 months.   Members who have ideas for projects and activities that the Council should undertake should send them to Cathy Medich by Wed., March 29.
• 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.
• The Healthcare Council is starting the nomination and election process for its second year steering committee.  The initial steering committee was formed of volunteers who helped to launch the Council and manage its initial year of projects.  The call for nominations will be issued within the next week; the nominations and voting process will run through April.   If you would like to serve on the Council steering committee, please contact Cathy Medich.
• If you are interested in participating in the Healthcare Council, please contact Council co-chairs, Frank Avignone ( favignone@healthmeans.com ), Paul Davis ( pdavis3@mindspring.com ) or Cathy Medich. 

Contactless Payments Council

• The Contactless Payments Council held a successful first webinar on Feb. 22, "Contactless Payments: A New Era of Payments for Retailers," in partnership with the National Retail Federation STORES Magazine.   We had 666 registrants, with 327 attending the live webinar and an additional 163 individuals listening to the archive recording.   The Council is now working on developing answers to the many questions that were asked during the webinar.
• The Council is establishing Retailer and Issuer Advisory Groups to collaborate at the industry level on issues and topics related to contactless payments implementation in the United States.   The Council's goal in working with the Advisory Groups is to engage in cross-industry discussion on contactless payment trends and issues and to determine what the industry can do to make contactless payments deployment faster and easier.   Invitations have been issued to selected retailers and issuers, with first Advisory Group meeting planned during CTST in May.
• If you are interested in participating in the Contactless Payments Council, please contact Cathy Medich.    

Identity Council

• The Identity Council will be discussing its future activities during the next call on March 31.
• The Identity Council completed and published its first white paper, "The Top 10 Hot Identity Issues."   This white paper provides a high-level discussion of the top 10 challenges associated with current identity systems.   It covers a range of topics and offers perspectives on how the most critical identity issues can be addressed with policy, process, and technology solutions.  Lead contributors included representatives from:  Axalto, Inc., Booz Allen Hamilton, Datacard Group, Fargo Electronics, Hitachi America Ltd., IBM, International Biometric Industry Association, Saflink, Texas Instruments and Viisage.   The white paper is available for download from the Smart Card Alliance web site at http://www.smartcardalliance.org/alliance_activities/top_10_identity.cfm.
• 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.  
• A council calendar has been posted at http://calendar.yahoo.com/smartcardalliance.   This calendar posts the date and time of all council calls.   Meeting notices will still be sent by email.
• 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

Datacard (Latin America Chapter) – Minneapolis, MN www.datacard.com
Membership Level: Foundation Member - SCALA
Contact: Ismael Dykman, Latin America Government Sales
Description: Leading provider of secure ID and card personalization solutions.
 
Siemens – San Jose, CA www.siemens.com
Membership Level : General
Contact : Aaron Zitzer, Sr. Product Marketing Manager
Description: Leading provider of smart cards, software, identity and access management systems
 
Shane-Gelling Co. – Sea Cliff, NY www.shanegelling.com
Membership Level: General
Contact: Dale Shane, Senior Engineer
Description: Provider of enterprise security systems to the military
 
InfoGard Laboratories – San Louis Obispo, CA  www.infogard.com
Membership Level: PAC Council Member
Contact: John Attala, Business Development
Description: Provider of independent trusted third party IT security and assurance services worldwide

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.

• Card Technology , 2/1/06, "Closing the Gap: Will Banks and Transit Create a Common Contactless Card?" [link not available]
• CardLine , 2/17/06, News Briefs (Transportation Council) [link not available]
• CardLine , 2/24/06, News Briefs (Webinar) [link not available]
• Contactless News , 2/9/06, "New Smart Card Alliance paper addresses benefits of smart cards for healthcare applications" [ link to article ]
• Contactless News , 3/14/06, "Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council announces first year successes, upcoming initiatives" [ link to article ]
• Greensheet , 2/9/06, "Smart cards advance in Canada" [ link to article ]
• Parking Network , 3/14/06, "Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council Announces First Year Successes, New Officers, Upcoming Initiatives" [ link to article ]
• Secure ID News , 2/14/06, "Smart Card Alliance forms Identity Council to increase awareness and education on identity issues and technology" [ link to article ]
• Secure ID News , 3/15/06, "Government and industry leaders share experience with secure identity credentialing at Smart Cards in Government Conference" [ link to article ]
• Secure ID News , 3/15/06, "Open Security Exchange builds convergence roadmap; wants more participants" [ link to article ]
• Security Document World , 2/14/06, "Smart Card Alliance forms Identity Council" [ link to article ]
• Security Info Watch , 2/13/06, " Are You Ready for HSPD-12/FIPS 201 Access Control?" [ link to article ]
• STORES Magazine , 2/06, "Is No-Touch the Right Touch?" [link not available]
• Technology Daily PM , 2/21/06, "Unveils Trial Of Electronic Passports [ link to article ]
• Telematics Journal , 3/14/06, "Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council Announces Upcoming Initiatives" [ link to article ]
• The Washington Examiner , 2/10/06, "Sprawl and Crawl" [ link to article ]
• Washington Technology , 2/13/06, "The HSPD-12 opportunity" [ link to article ]

Web Site News

NEW additions to the Smart Card Alliance web site

• New Smart Card Career Center, http://careers.smartcardalliance.org/
• New members-only council site, http://www.sca-councils.org .
• New Identity Council white paper, "The Top 10 Hot Identity Topics"
• New Healthcare Council white paper, "Smart Card Applications in the U.S. Healthcare Industry"
• 5th Annual Smart Cards in Government Conference information, with registration open
• New Transportation Council white paper, "Smart Cards and Parking"

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 .

Copyright 2006-2007· Smart Card Alliance · 191 Clarksville Rd. · Princeton Junction, NJ 08550
Phone: (800) 556-6828 info@smartcardalliance.org · www.smartcardalliance.org