Smart Card Alliance 2006 OSCA Awards

Outstanding Smart Card Achievement Awards

The Smart Card Alliance announced the 2006 awards for “Outstanding Smart Card Achievement” (OSCA) in the North American smart card industry on October 4 during its Annual Conference.

Outstanding Issuing Organization

Randy Vanderhoof and Frank Moss

The Outstanding Issuing Organization award went to the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Passport Services. The U.S. State Department added contactless smart card technology to passports to prevent counterfeiting and to better link the passport to the person to whom it was issued. After nearly two years of thorough technology testing and production qualification, the State Department started issuing electronic passports in August 2006 and plans to incorporate the contactless smart card capability in the expected 16 million new passports to be issued in the 2007 calendar year. The State Department’s groundbreaking use of contactless smart card technology better protects our country’s international travelers, enables fast immigration processes and improves the security of the passport booklet.

“The Department of State is honored to have been selected by the Smart Card Alliance as the Outstanding Issuing Organization,” said Frank Moss, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services, in accepting the award. “As a result of the cooperation of other government agencies and the smart card industry we are now beginning production of what we believe is the world’s most secure e-Passport. We appreciate greatly this recognition by the Smart Card Alliance of our work to issue to literally millions of American citizens each year a globally interoperable e-Passport that balances so effectively border security and personal identity protection objectives.”

Outstanding Supplier Organization

Randy Vanderhoof and Brittany Jedrzejewski

The Outstanding Supplier Organization award went to Gemalto. Formed in June 2006 by the combination of Axalto and Gemplus International S.A., Gemalto is a world leader in digital security, producing smart cards and related services. The company has demonstrated leadership in every sector of the North American smart card market. Gemalto’s achievements in North America include shipping 11 million DoD Common Access Card identity credentials, 5 million contactless smart cards and the majority of the 80 million SIM cards in the mobile phones of active GSM subscribers in the region. Recently Gemalto also received a contract to supply technology for the new electronic passport program. Companies using Gemalto smart cards and solutions for IT security include 4 of the top 5 oil companies; 3 of the top 5 pharmaceutical companies; Boeing, Microsoft and Sun; and many others.

Brittany Jedrzejewski, Marketing Communications Manager, Gemalto North America, accepted the award on behalf of Ernie Berger, President, Gemalto North America.

“This is a validation of our work to protect the end users’ digital identities and data with personalized and secure devices and software,” said Berger. “Our customers share in this honor, as they have recognized the value of smart card technology and are using it to protect everything from federal and enterprise data to financial transactions and mobile phones.”

Individual Leadership Award

Randy Vanderhoof and Neville Pattinson

The recipient of the Individual Leadership Award was Neville Pattinson, director of technology and government affairs, Gemalto North America. Pattinson is a leading expert on smart cards and using the microprocessor chip to keep identity credential data and biometrics secure and private. He has been heavily involved in planning and implementing a number of federal government security initiatives including: the Department of Defense Common Access Card (CAC); the State Department’s Electronic Passport; the Department of Transportation’s Transportation Worker Identity Credential (TWIC) and the Transportation Security Administration’s Registered Traveler programs. Pattinson also played a key role in the government and industry activities that led up to the publication of FIPS 201 in response to HSPD-12.

Pattinson was recently named to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee. He is an active board member of the International Biometric Industry Association (IBIA) and the Smart Card Alliance, the co-chair of the Smart Card Alliance Identity Council, and a founding member of the Secure ID Coalition.

“With so many high power people working in the smart card industry and in the organizations deploying the technology, I am extremely proud to be recognized for this award,” said Pattinson. “I have had the privilege to collaborate with leading government agencies and systems integration partners. Though this is an individual award, it goes without saying that my contributions are a reflection on the major work that the entire Gemalto team does every day to provide trust in identities and information.”

Judging Panel

A judging panel consisting of smart card industry leaders along with individuals from the analyst and media communities evaluated all qualified OSCA applications and scored them according to the award criteria and eligibility rules. The judges’ combined scores were then used to select the winners.

Participating on the judging panel for the 2006 OSCA awards were Michael Butler, Department of Defense; Chris Corum, Avisian Publications; Gerald Hubbard, Datacard Group; Wendy Humphrey, First Data Corporation; Bryan Ichikawa, Unisys; James Van Dyke, Javelin Research and Strategy; and Kevin Woodward, SourceMedia.

Past OSCA Award Winners

2005 OSCA award winners were:

• Outstanding Issuing Organization: Chase Bank
• Individual Leadership Award: Robert Brandewie, Director, Defense Manpower Data Center

2004 OSCA award winners were:

• Outstanding Issuing Organization: Defense Manpower Data Center
• Outstanding Supplier Organization: Axalto
• Individual Leadership Award: Dan Cunningham, co-founder and CEO of Raak Technologies

2007 OSCA Awards

Nominations for the 2007 OSCA awards will be open in August 2007. Details about the nomination and application process will be available on the Smart Card Alliance web site.