- Email: [email protected]
ACT doubles multi-retailer scheme
News Cyber-COMM members include major French banks and Banques financial institutions (B Populaires, BNP, Caisses d’Epargne, CCF, Credit Agricole, Credit Lyonnais, Credit Mutuel, La Poste, and Societe Generale), French and international financial Visa, Europay, organizations (V Carte Bleue and Cartes Bancaires), smart card Gemplus, manufacturers (G Oberthur and Bull), telecom operators (FFrance Telecom) and various manufacturers. Cyber-COMM’s payment system relies on the SET (Secure Electronic Transaction) protocol, devised for PC-based transactions, coupled with chip-based bankcards.
international financial organizations, smart card manufacturers and telecom operators. The intention is to enable consumers who have chip-based French banking cards to carry out transactions on the Internet as if they were using an ATM or an EFTPoS terminal in a restaurant or a retail store. When asked to pay, Internet shoppers will insert their current banking card into the Activkat smart card slot and enter their PIN code on the keypad of the reader. The reader verifies that the PIN is valid; the payment is then encrypted and processed over the Internet – in the same way that it has traditionally been processed over the banking network. The PIN is not transmitted over the network; it is verified locally by the Activkat reader. CyberCOMM consumers will never have to transmit their user ID, password and banking card number over the Internet. ActivCard, a French company, claims that more than one million people already use its products for secure Internet banking, Web access and remote access to corporate networks Contact: Frederic Engel at ActivCard, Tel: +33 1 42 04 84 00, e-mail: [email protected]
Smart labels
Gemplus seeks standards, Motorola enters retail packaging Smart card manufacturer Gemplus and wireless specialists Checkpoint Systems have jointly submitted to the International Standards Organization’s ISO/SC31 group a proposal for the standardisation of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) smart labels operating at 13.56MHz. Meanwhile Motorola is joining with the world’s largest paper company, International Paper, to incorporate smart label technology into packaging for consumer goods. Smart labels combine an intelligent chip with a radio frequency antenna to store, process and communicate information between goods or packages and automated readers. Unlike bar codes, smart labels do not require line-of-sight reading. In addition, data on smart labels can be modified and updated throughout the supply chain. Applications for smart labels include tagging books (libraries) and videos (rental stores). A unique identifier placed in high-value consumer
goods, such as pharmaceutical products, perfumes, and cigarettes, should be able to aid in the fight against grey market theft and counterfeiting. Labels to track parcels through the postal service and baggage through airports are also envisaged. Yet another application is for managing items held in stock or going through the production process. The idea is that manufacturers, distributors and retailers will be able to ‘talk’ to their products throughout the supply chain. This should give better control of inventories and help to cut losses from theft and counterfeiting. Gemplus has set up Gemplus Tag as a division specialising in the identification of objects through RFID. Checkpoint Systems, located in Thorofare, New Jersey, has 350,000 radio frequency systems in place worldwide. In another move in the smart tag market, International Paper (IP) and Motorola have formed a partnership to put microchips into packaging, using Motorola’s BiStatix RFID technology. This combines silicon with printed ink. International Paper intends to adopt BiStatix technology for retail, pharmaceutical and food services customers. Bill Slowikowski, IP’s senior vice president of Consumer Packaging, said that in the US an estimated US$250 billion is wasted every year through inefficiencies in the distribution of products from manufacturers to consumers. Retail counterfeiting was responsible for approximately US$70 billion in losses last year, he added. Motorola argues that because BiStatix RFID technology uses silicon and printed ink, BiStatix smart labels can be created more cost effectively than earlier versions of RFID technology-enabled labels, which require the incorporation of a metal coil and resonant capacitor. Furthermore, BiStatix smart labels can be read after being folded, crumpled and even ripped, and also are fully disposable. Contact: Severine Percetti at Gemplus, Tel: 33 4 42 36 67 67, e-mail : [email protected] Mike Doheny at Motorola , Tel: +1 203 226 9290, e-mail: [email protected]
Loyalty cards
ACT doubles multi-retailer scheme Smart card based technology from Applied Card Technologies (ACT) has attracted more than
Ctt May 2000 • 7
News 100 new retail outlets to the InterCredits scheme in the last year, doubling the size of the programme. ACT says that it is now planning to extend the scheme to allow loyalty points to be collected and redeemed via the Web. The InterCredits scheme is a cooperative venture that enables local retailers to compete with the big chains through offering smart loyalty cards to shoppers. The scheme runs on Schlumberger ’s MicroPayflex (microprocessor) card. (This can support reward systems; it also has the security features to run high-value applications such as ticketing, and to run complementary applications such as e-purses, electronic couponing or co-branding functions on the same card.) Some 70,000 consumers in Northern Ireland use InterCredits cards at 200 small-to-medium retail outlets. Rewards from a wide range of retailers can be stored on a single card and redeemed across multiple outlets. InterCredits reports that the scheme typically takes just a couple of weeks to introduce and claims that most retailers see a rapid lift in sales following its introduction. The InterCredits scheme is based on the GEL (Generic Electronic Loyalty) product from ACT. GEL uses micro-processor based smart cards to hold consumer data while a web-based database enables member retailers to analyse card usage through using a browser. Information on purchasing is collected at the point of sale every time a card is used, and can be downloaded to ACT’s Oracle database for analysis at the end of the day. Participating retailers then have secure access to this marketing intelligence via the Internet, viewing their own data under password control - with no need to ring ACT to get reports. ACT is now developing GEL to provide a platform for extending the InterCredits scheme from the physical High Street to the virtual Internet world; this would allow retailers’ web sites to award loyalty ‘currency’ which can be redeemed either on the web or in the user’s local shops. ACT expects to see InterCredits loyalty points being offered and used on the Web in the next six months, as smart cards become more widely used with PC-attached readers (as a means of providing secure Internet access). ACT and InterCredits are also trialling a cash register connection that enables retailers to process
8 • Ctt May 2000
loyalty transactions at the till. Meanwhile the GEL application is being adapted to the MULTOS multiapplication smart card operating system. This should open up opportunities for member retailers to offer their loyalty card in assocation with bank payment cards. InterCredits aims to provide the small-tomedium retailer with the same quality of information that large store chains currently enjoy. Reports come in various forms devised by ACT; each user’s analysis depends on the information requested on the original enrolment form. Health Cards
Jordanian insurer rolls out Internet-based system The National Health Insurance Administration Company of Jordan has rolled out a smart cardbased records programme that automates medical and insurance information for health care providers and patients. Insurance data from the cards is transmitted across the Internet to insurers, to allow them to authenticate subscribers, to determine what coverage is provided and to submit claims. Claims are processed electronically without further human intervention. Using eClaim software from IdealSoft, MOST smart cards from CardLogix and PC Pay readers from Innovonics, the initial phase of the programme involves the roll-out to selected National Health subscribers of smart cards and the issue of 400 smart card readers to doctors, pharmacies, hospitals, laboratories and radiology centres in the Greater Amman area. At the clinic or hospital, the health care provider is able to examine insurance and medical information for the patient by inserting their own ‘provider’ card and the ‘patient’ card presented by the patient. Details ranging from blood type to benefits status can be viewed, updated and stored on the two cards simultaneously. Card data is encrypted to prevent tampering. National Health, founded in 1997 and based in Amman, says that its use of the Internet will enable it to handle large numbers of claims originating from clients across the world. The company is now expanding into Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Contact: Bruce Ross at CardLogix, Tel: +1 949 380 1312, e-mail: [email protected]
Some retailers in the Intercredits scheme Austins Stores; J Burgess; Bairds Chemists; Botanic Inn; Bradys Supermarkets; Castle Service Station; Causewaywine; Charles Hill Off-Licences; Clandeboye Lodge; Croft Inns; Dicksons Garden Centre; Direct Wine; The Grange; Green Bank Wine; Hillen Bros; Jersey European Airways; Linton & Robinson Stores; Logwood Mills Garden Centre; Longs Supermarkets; Lunn Poly Travel Group; Lurgan Cash & Carry; Magees Wine Lodge; Mcsherrys; Moyle Supermarkets;JJ Shannon Jewellers; Shawmac; Spar; Strangford Arms Hotel; Toytown; Translink; Trummery Farm Foods; The Vintage; Woodsides; trials at three Guinness pubs.
How GEL works Companies using GEL technology can develop their own smart card loyalty scheme, or become part of a multi-merchant scheme. Loyalty points are distributed to collectors via the Smart Card Terminal, a device that enables the secure allocation of collected points from the Terminal to the collector’s smart card - and back again. Collectors enter a participating company outlet or store, complete a registration form and detach their smart card, ready for immediate use. The completed registration form is returned for processing and entry on to the database. The terminal is a secure device that can use existing telephone connections for its daily communication (usually conducted once a day after working hours) to the central database. This communication returns information such as points collected, location of collection, type of spend or award, date and time of spend or award.
international financial organizations, smart card manufacturers and telecom operators. The intention is to enable consumers who have chip-based French banking cards to carry out transactions on the Internet as if they were using an ATM or an EFTPoS terminal in a restaurant or a retail store. When asked to pay, Internet shoppers will insert their current banking card into the Activkat smart card slot and enter their PIN code on the keypad of the reader. The reader verifies that the PIN is valid; the payment is then encrypted and processed over the Internet – in the same way that it has traditionally been processed over the banking network. The PIN is not transmitted over the network; it is verified locally by the Activkat reader. CyberCOMM consumers will never have to transmit their user ID, password and banking card number over the Internet. ActivCard, a French company, claims that more than one million people already use its products for secure Internet banking, Web access and remote access to corporate networks Contact: Frederic Engel at ActivCard, Tel: +33 1 42 04 84 00, e-mail: [email protected]
Smart labels
Gemplus seeks standards, Motorola enters retail packaging Smart card manufacturer Gemplus and wireless specialists Checkpoint Systems have jointly submitted to the International Standards Organization’s ISO/SC31 group a proposal for the standardisation of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) smart labels operating at 13.56MHz. Meanwhile Motorola is joining with the world’s largest paper company, International Paper, to incorporate smart label technology into packaging for consumer goods. Smart labels combine an intelligent chip with a radio frequency antenna to store, process and communicate information between goods or packages and automated readers. Unlike bar codes, smart labels do not require line-of-sight reading. In addition, data on smart labels can be modified and updated throughout the supply chain. Applications for smart labels include tagging books (libraries) and videos (rental stores). A unique identifier placed in high-value consumer
goods, such as pharmaceutical products, perfumes, and cigarettes, should be able to aid in the fight against grey market theft and counterfeiting. Labels to track parcels through the postal service and baggage through airports are also envisaged. Yet another application is for managing items held in stock or going through the production process. The idea is that manufacturers, distributors and retailers will be able to ‘talk’ to their products throughout the supply chain. This should give better control of inventories and help to cut losses from theft and counterfeiting. Gemplus has set up Gemplus Tag as a division specialising in the identification of objects through RFID. Checkpoint Systems, located in Thorofare, New Jersey, has 350,000 radio frequency systems in place worldwide. In another move in the smart tag market, International Paper (IP) and Motorola have formed a partnership to put microchips into packaging, using Motorola’s BiStatix RFID technology. This combines silicon with printed ink. International Paper intends to adopt BiStatix technology for retail, pharmaceutical and food services customers. Bill Slowikowski, IP’s senior vice president of Consumer Packaging, said that in the US an estimated US$250 billion is wasted every year through inefficiencies in the distribution of products from manufacturers to consumers. Retail counterfeiting was responsible for approximately US$70 billion in losses last year, he added. Motorola argues that because BiStatix RFID technology uses silicon and printed ink, BiStatix smart labels can be created more cost effectively than earlier versions of RFID technology-enabled labels, which require the incorporation of a metal coil and resonant capacitor. Furthermore, BiStatix smart labels can be read after being folded, crumpled and even ripped, and also are fully disposable. Contact: Severine Percetti at Gemplus, Tel: 33 4 42 36 67 67, e-mail : [email protected] Mike Doheny at Motorola , Tel: +1 203 226 9290, e-mail: [email protected]
Loyalty cards
ACT doubles multi-retailer scheme Smart card based technology from Applied Card Technologies (ACT) has attracted more than
Ctt May 2000 • 7
News 100 new retail outlets to the InterCredits scheme in the last year, doubling the size of the programme. ACT says that it is now planning to extend the scheme to allow loyalty points to be collected and redeemed via the Web. The InterCredits scheme is a cooperative venture that enables local retailers to compete with the big chains through offering smart loyalty cards to shoppers. The scheme runs on Schlumberger ’s MicroPayflex (microprocessor) card. (This can support reward systems; it also has the security features to run high-value applications such as ticketing, and to run complementary applications such as e-purses, electronic couponing or co-branding functions on the same card.) Some 70,000 consumers in Northern Ireland use InterCredits cards at 200 small-to-medium retail outlets. Rewards from a wide range of retailers can be stored on a single card and redeemed across multiple outlets. InterCredits reports that the scheme typically takes just a couple of weeks to introduce and claims that most retailers see a rapid lift in sales following its introduction. The InterCredits scheme is based on the GEL (Generic Electronic Loyalty) product from ACT. GEL uses micro-processor based smart cards to hold consumer data while a web-based database enables member retailers to analyse card usage through using a browser. Information on purchasing is collected at the point of sale every time a card is used, and can be downloaded to ACT’s Oracle database for analysis at the end of the day. Participating retailers then have secure access to this marketing intelligence via the Internet, viewing their own data under password control - with no need to ring ACT to get reports. ACT is now developing GEL to provide a platform for extending the InterCredits scheme from the physical High Street to the virtual Internet world; this would allow retailers’ web sites to award loyalty ‘currency’ which can be redeemed either on the web or in the user’s local shops. ACT expects to see InterCredits loyalty points being offered and used on the Web in the next six months, as smart cards become more widely used with PC-attached readers (as a means of providing secure Internet access). ACT and InterCredits are also trialling a cash register connection that enables retailers to process
8 • Ctt May 2000
loyalty transactions at the till. Meanwhile the GEL application is being adapted to the MULTOS multiapplication smart card operating system. This should open up opportunities for member retailers to offer their loyalty card in assocation with bank payment cards. InterCredits aims to provide the small-tomedium retailer with the same quality of information that large store chains currently enjoy. Reports come in various forms devised by ACT; each user’s analysis depends on the information requested on the original enrolment form. Health Cards
Jordanian insurer rolls out Internet-based system The National Health Insurance Administration Company of Jordan has rolled out a smart cardbased records programme that automates medical and insurance information for health care providers and patients. Insurance data from the cards is transmitted across the Internet to insurers, to allow them to authenticate subscribers, to determine what coverage is provided and to submit claims. Claims are processed electronically without further human intervention. Using eClaim software from IdealSoft, MOST smart cards from CardLogix and PC Pay readers from Innovonics, the initial phase of the programme involves the roll-out to selected National Health subscribers of smart cards and the issue of 400 smart card readers to doctors, pharmacies, hospitals, laboratories and radiology centres in the Greater Amman area. At the clinic or hospital, the health care provider is able to examine insurance and medical information for the patient by inserting their own ‘provider’ card and the ‘patient’ card presented by the patient. Details ranging from blood type to benefits status can be viewed, updated and stored on the two cards simultaneously. Card data is encrypted to prevent tampering. National Health, founded in 1997 and based in Amman, says that its use of the Internet will enable it to handle large numbers of claims originating from clients across the world. The company is now expanding into Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Contact: Bruce Ross at CardLogix, Tel: +1 949 380 1312, e-mail: [email protected]
Some retailers in the Intercredits scheme Austins Stores; J Burgess; Bairds Chemists; Botanic Inn; Bradys Supermarkets; Castle Service Station; Causewaywine; Charles Hill Off-Licences; Clandeboye Lodge; Croft Inns; Dicksons Garden Centre; Direct Wine; The Grange; Green Bank Wine; Hillen Bros; Jersey European Airways; Linton & Robinson Stores; Logwood Mills Garden Centre; Longs Supermarkets; Lunn Poly Travel Group; Lurgan Cash & Carry; Magees Wine Lodge; Mcsherrys; Moyle Supermarkets;JJ Shannon Jewellers; Shawmac; Spar; Strangford Arms Hotel; Toytown; Translink; Trummery Farm Foods; The Vintage; Woodsides; trials at three Guinness pubs.
How GEL works Companies using GEL technology can develop their own smart card loyalty scheme, or become part of a multi-merchant scheme. Loyalty points are distributed to collectors via the Smart Card Terminal, a device that enables the secure allocation of collected points from the Terminal to the collector’s smart card - and back again. Collectors enter a participating company outlet or store, complete a registration form and detach their smart card, ready for immediate use. The completed registration form is returned for processing and entry on to the database. The terminal is a secure device that can use existing telephone connections for its daily communication (usually conducted once a day after working hours) to the central database. This communication returns information such as points collected, location of collection, type of spend or award, date and time of spend or award.