Smart Card Alliance Smart Card Talk
September 2006 • Volume 11 Number 9

 

 

 

 

 

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.  

In-Person Council Meetings:   All councils will be holding in-person meetings at the Alliance Annual Conference, Oct. 3-5, at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla in San Diego, CA.  All members are welcome to attend these meetings.  An agenda will be distributed to the council email lists prior to the conference.  The meeting schedule is as follows:

  • Contactless Payments Council:  Tues., Oct. 3, 8-9AM
  • Healthcare Council:  Wed., Oct. 4, 2-3PM
  • Identity Council:  Thurs., Oct. 5, 10:30-11:30AM
  • Physical Access Council:  Thurs., Oct. 5, 8-9AM
  • Transportation Council:  Wed., Oct. 4, 8-9AM

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 Physical Access Council is completing a new white paper, "Considerations for the Migration of Existing Physical Access Control Systems to Achieve FIPS 201 Compatibility."  The white paper is designed to assist government agencies with the first phases of PACS migration to provide support for the new PIV cards that are being issued.  It focuses on the current security environment for physical access and, through a series of questions, makes recommendations for how agencies can migrate and upgrade their current PACS to align them with the requirements of HSPD-12 and FIPS 201.  The white paper will be published in late September and will be available for download from the Smart Card Alliance web site.
  • 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 soliciting ideas for next projects, including possible new white papers.  If you have a project idea, please contact Council chair Frank Avignone (favignone@healthmeans.com), vice chair Chuck Wilson (chuck.wilson3@verizon.net), or Cathy Medich. 
  • 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 Issuer Work Group is making progress on a web briefing document that discusses issuer considerations for contactless payment.  The group plans to review this at the in-person meeting at the Alliance Annual Conference.
  • The Merchant Roll-out Work Group has developed an outline for a deliverable that would assist merchants in their implementation of contactless payment. 
  • f 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 provided input on the Alliance response to the news reports of the security consultant who cloned an epassport.  The Alliance issued a press release with the response, which resulted in the industry position being included in numerous follow-on news reports.
  • 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 Board and cross-council member team has been working on materials to position contactless smart cards vs. RFID tags.  The team has developed a series of graphics, tables and FAQ which are now being reviewed; new content is expected to be posted to the Alliance web site in October.
  • 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: Lamination Service, Inc (LSI) , Bartlett, TN www.yourlsi.com
Membership Level: General
Contact: Robert Harrison, II, Senior Vice President
Description: manufacturer and distributor of identification systems, supplies, and software
 
Company: Entrust, Inc.  Addison ,  Addison, TX , www.entrust.com
Membership level: General
Contact: Myles Huffman, Product Manager
Description: a world leader in securing digital identities and information

Company: Australia Department of Human Services,  Barton, Australia , www.humanservices.gov.au
Membership level: Government
Contact: Peter Burrett
Description: government agency responsible for managing government benefits delivery for health and welfare

Company: SI International, Reston, VA www.si-intl.com
Membership level: General
Contact: Michelle Tucker
Description: provider of information technology and network solutions primarily to the federal government

Web Site News

  • The Smart Card Alliance is now working on a new web site design that will bring a fresh look-and-feel, improved navigation, updated industry resources and more convenient member and non-member access to reports and resources.  Stay tuned for the launch of the new site in October!

August 2006 web statistics

  • 67,783 visitor sessions for the month
  • 2,187 visitor sessions per day
  • 358,433 total page views for the month
  • 100,893 Industry News items viewed
  • 8,998 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.

  • Associated Press, 8/11/06, ''US to Roll out Electronic Passports''. The article was published in the following publications:

    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 recently fulfilled its educational mission by delivering four one hour smart card information sessions 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 previously gave educational presentations and had booths at Security Week Brasil (Sao Paulo – March) and Cards Brasil (Sao  Paulo – April). In July SCALA was present with a booth and a smart card industry panel to present information about Smart Cards and Biometrics at the Americas Fire and Security Expo (Miami Beach).  Presenters included experts from SCALA, Bioscript, and Lenel Systems Latin America.  Later in August, the SCALA will again deliver a half day educational workshop on smart cards in electronic security at the ISC Brasil Conference (Sao Paulo).  Presenters representing HID Global, Sagem Orga, G&D Burti, and SCALA will provide the content for this workshop.  The SCALA will have a booth inside the USA Pavilion in the exhibition hall.  

    The chapter recently welcomed several new members.  ASK Contactless, a leading manufacturer of contactless transit and identity cards, joined at the General Member level.  The Fundacion Instituto de Ingeneria, a Venezuelan agency joined at the Government Level.  And Brazil’s Instituto Nacional de Technologia da Informacao (ITI) became the latest government agency to join SCALA.  These new members, including the government agencies will bring experience with smart card integration and new ideas for how SCALA can assist them in adopting this new technology.  The chapter continues to promote 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.  

    A report published in August, 2006 by InfoAmericas on the Latin American bank card market stated that smart “card penetration grew substantially during the consolidation of the banking sector, rising from 17 percent in 2000 to nearly 27 percent in 2005 across the region, and reaching over 30 percent in Brazil and Mexico. Surprisingly, this growth was achieved without major upgrades to the underlying infrastructure and technology. This situation has now shifted, with an investment of more than $200 million in card technologies expected in 2006, marking a rise of 70 percent over 2004 and 2005. This spending will follow the same route as other recent investments and will be targeted at software solutions for credit-rating and new terminals. Further investments are expected in CRM and retail-reward solutions linked to EMV technology technologies.”

    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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