- Email: [email protected]
Gemalto provides Yemen election ID card system
NEWS ...continued from front page “Our research indicates that the password as a security measure has practical limitations within today’s IT organisations,” said Tim Gower, senior research director at Datamonitor. “The market is reaching the tipping point for broader adoption of stronger forms of identification and authentication within the enterprise.” Sixty-two percent of enterprises stated that they have experienced problems relating to passwords being shared, borrowed or stolen from within their organisations. Moreover, enterprises that operate on different password systems for applications and databases, networks and workstations spend nearly 40 man hours per week on employee identification systems. The majority of those surveyed see the industry moving towards a streamlined, single ID for physical and logical access. By eliminating previous, inefficient means of employee identification, organisations could save approximately $465 000 in three years, and this number does not take into account the IT hours wasted on password resets or enterprise-mandated password changes. The full report, entitled “A New Look at the ROI for Enterprise Smart Cards, was published by Datamonitor in January 2008.
national ID
Gemalto provides Yemen election ID card system
G
emalto has announced that it has been selected to deliver the electronic ID cards solution commissioned by the Ministry of Interior of Yemen for the next national elections. Under the contract, Gemalto will implement the whole solution including enrollment processes, creation of a secure biometric national registry, maintenance, local support, training and integration services, as well as provide the 10 million smart ID cards. The first cards will be delivered to the Yemeni citizens during first half of 2008, and the program will reach completion by April 2009 when the population is to vote for the new Parliament. Gemalto’s secure personal device, the size of a credit card, will be the official ID document for Yemen citizens above 16. It stores personal credentials such as name, address,
February 2008
digital photograph and fingerprints. In the future, the Yemen national ID card might also integrate e-government applications as the government wishes to leverage this technology to simplify its relationship with the population. In addition the new electronic ID document has been designed to ensure compatibility with e-government standards developed by the Gulf Cooperation Council neighbouring countries. “This new electronic ID card illustrates the Yemen government’s wish to modernise the country’s election process while enabling Yemeni citizens to benefit from a secure and convenient identification means,” commented Jacques Seneca, EVP in charge of the Security business unit for Gemalto. Contact: Emmanuelle Saby at Gemalto, Tel: +33 6 09 10 76 10, Email: [email protected]
mobile payment
Mobile payments to take off, says report
M
obile operators anticipate that 25% of subscribers will regularly use mobile banking by the end of 2009, compared to approximately 7% at the end of 2007, with strong growth for other mobile transaction services as well. The results come from a report by Aite Group, which gauges mobile operators’ current perceptions of mobile transactions. The report, which is based on an October 2007 survey of 12 international mobile operators, provides insight into how mobile operators view mobile transaction adoption and how they perceive payments will be made for various mobile transaction services. As voice revenues continue to decline for operators, a steady uptick in simple services such as text messaging provide hope that users will gradually begin to utilize handheld devices for purposes other than that which they were originally intended. They envision that by the end of 2009, 25.5% of users will use the devices for mobile banking, 26.9% will use them for the addition of prepaid minutes, and 26.3% will use them for mobile commerce. With the majority of payments being diverted to phone bills at the end of 2007, mobile operators stand to gain tremendously as mobile transactions continue to increase.
IN BRIEF • The first stage implementation of the single euro payments area (Sepa) - which aims to make cross-border payments as cheap as domestic transactions - has gone live with the official launch of the Sepa payment instrument for credit transfers (SCT). The SCT scheme is expected to enable euro credit transfers to be made within a maximum of three days, without any deductions from the principal amount. • Aconite and Opengate, a South African based company focused on the supply of card products and managed services to the local payments industry, have teamed up to provide EMV compliance and chip based pre-paid applications for card issuers. The integration of Aconite’s EMV Transaction Enabler and EMV Script Processor with card management systems supplied by Opengate is expected to enable issuers to process EMV transactions and dynamically manage a card holders’ credit risk through advanced post-issuance scripting. • Dexapoint, a fund managed in Zurich, Switzerland, has acquired 195 875 000 ordinary shares in the capital of ID Data, a smart card solutions and outsourcing business. The shares acquired represent 14.8 % of the equity and voting rights of ID Data and were bought at a price of 1.1 pence per share, valuing the stake acquired at £2.15 million. The shares were previously held by RAB Special Situations Master Fund. The company hopes that this investment will lead to the introduction of additional card related business to ID Data’s production platforms and assist with the development of strategic relationships through Dexapoint’s other card related investments. • USA Technologies has announced that its ePort cashless system for vending now supports Discover Network Zip contactless technology. In addition to USA Technologies’ integration of the technology into its readers, Discover Network has also purchased 1000 ePort cashless systems for vending. Discover is one of the first credit card companies to break into the US$46 billion industry in North America utilizing USA Technologies’ ePort technology. Studies have shown that ePort has resulted in a 32% increase in average ticket sales in some markets, generating increased revenue streams, while improving efficiency, productivity and security for operators through online auditing and monitoring.
Card Technology Today
3
national ID
Gemalto provides Yemen election ID card system
G
emalto has announced that it has been selected to deliver the electronic ID cards solution commissioned by the Ministry of Interior of Yemen for the next national elections. Under the contract, Gemalto will implement the whole solution including enrollment processes, creation of a secure biometric national registry, maintenance, local support, training and integration services, as well as provide the 10 million smart ID cards. The first cards will be delivered to the Yemeni citizens during first half of 2008, and the program will reach completion by April 2009 when the population is to vote for the new Parliament. Gemalto’s secure personal device, the size of a credit card, will be the official ID document for Yemen citizens above 16. It stores personal credentials such as name, address,
February 2008
digital photograph and fingerprints. In the future, the Yemen national ID card might also integrate e-government applications as the government wishes to leverage this technology to simplify its relationship with the population. In addition the new electronic ID document has been designed to ensure compatibility with e-government standards developed by the Gulf Cooperation Council neighbouring countries. “This new electronic ID card illustrates the Yemen government’s wish to modernise the country’s election process while enabling Yemeni citizens to benefit from a secure and convenient identification means,” commented Jacques Seneca, EVP in charge of the Security business unit for Gemalto. Contact: Emmanuelle Saby at Gemalto, Tel: +33 6 09 10 76 10, Email: [email protected]
mobile payment
Mobile payments to take off, says report
M
obile operators anticipate that 25% of subscribers will regularly use mobile banking by the end of 2009, compared to approximately 7% at the end of 2007, with strong growth for other mobile transaction services as well. The results come from a report by Aite Group, which gauges mobile operators’ current perceptions of mobile transactions. The report, which is based on an October 2007 survey of 12 international mobile operators, provides insight into how mobile operators view mobile transaction adoption and how they perceive payments will be made for various mobile transaction services. As voice revenues continue to decline for operators, a steady uptick in simple services such as text messaging provide hope that users will gradually begin to utilize handheld devices for purposes other than that which they were originally intended. They envision that by the end of 2009, 25.5% of users will use the devices for mobile banking, 26.9% will use them for the addition of prepaid minutes, and 26.3% will use them for mobile commerce. With the majority of payments being diverted to phone bills at the end of 2007, mobile operators stand to gain tremendously as mobile transactions continue to increase.
IN BRIEF • The first stage implementation of the single euro payments area (Sepa) - which aims to make cross-border payments as cheap as domestic transactions - has gone live with the official launch of the Sepa payment instrument for credit transfers (SCT). The SCT scheme is expected to enable euro credit transfers to be made within a maximum of three days, without any deductions from the principal amount. • Aconite and Opengate, a South African based company focused on the supply of card products and managed services to the local payments industry, have teamed up to provide EMV compliance and chip based pre-paid applications for card issuers. The integration of Aconite’s EMV Transaction Enabler and EMV Script Processor with card management systems supplied by Opengate is expected to enable issuers to process EMV transactions and dynamically manage a card holders’ credit risk through advanced post-issuance scripting. • Dexapoint, a fund managed in Zurich, Switzerland, has acquired 195 875 000 ordinary shares in the capital of ID Data, a smart card solutions and outsourcing business. The shares acquired represent 14.8 % of the equity and voting rights of ID Data and were bought at a price of 1.1 pence per share, valuing the stake acquired at £2.15 million. The shares were previously held by RAB Special Situations Master Fund. The company hopes that this investment will lead to the introduction of additional card related business to ID Data’s production platforms and assist with the development of strategic relationships through Dexapoint’s other card related investments. • USA Technologies has announced that its ePort cashless system for vending now supports Discover Network Zip contactless technology. In addition to USA Technologies’ integration of the technology into its readers, Discover Network has also purchased 1000 ePort cashless systems for vending. Discover is one of the first credit card companies to break into the US$46 billion industry in North America utilizing USA Technologies’ ePort technology. Studies have shown that ePort has resulted in a 32% increase in average ticket sales in some markets, generating increased revenue streams, while improving efficiency, productivity and security for operators through online auditing and monitoring.
Card Technology Today
3