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New boards all round
news
in brief • Drexler Technology Corporation has changed its name to LaserCard Corp. The change took effect from 1 October this year. The company’s biggest customer, to date, is the US government, which has issued more than 22 million optical memory cards to permanent US residents and Mexican citizens who have been admitted to a border-crossing programme. Italy has also issued cards with both a smart card chip and optical stripe as part of its new national identity document roll out. • Almost half of local stores (59%) in the UK have taken no action to install technology capable of handling chip and PIN card payments in time for the end-of-year switchover, according to a poll of 500 independent retailers by trade magazine Independent Retail News. From 1 January, any stores without Chip and PIN are personally liable for any subsequent fraudulent payments at the point-of-sale, but 47% said they do not expect to meet the deadline. • Belgian Transport Authorities has placed an order with German smart card manufacturer Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) for the supply of smart cards for use with digital tachographs. According to an EU regulation, all newly-registered buses and trucks in Europe must be equipped with such a digital tachograph from August 2005 onwards. The idea behind the switch from a mechanically operating tachograph to an electronic device is to allow drivers’ driving and rest times as well as compliance with speed limits to be monitored more effectively – so enhancing road safety. Over the next ten years, G&D will produce, personalize and deliver all Tachosmart cards for the Belgian Transport Authorities. G&D’s project partners are the Belgian companies Unisys and Ubizen. • JJB Stadium, home to Wigan Athletic Football Club and Wigan Rugby League, is the latest stadium to join the Smart FC Scheme from Fortress. The smart card technology allows for quick and safe stadium access, while also offering fans the ability to use their smart RF cards for in-stadium purchases, loyalty point collection and parking payment – so helping to drive up revenues. The multi-application smart card scheme went live at the JJB at the start of October with Fortress’ contactless card readers having been fitted to the stadium’s turnstiles. Implementation of the system took less than a month and the system is also interoperable, so allowing a Wigan smart card to work at all other Fortress stadiums.
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enabling them to ensure the integrity and confidentiality when accessing and communicating confidential (privacy-sensitive) patient information. The development will make use of public key infrastructure (PKI) technology, based on the Dutch Government’s PKI standard. PinkRoccade’s role will be to integrate the systems upon which the operation of the registration and issue processes for the UZI Card will depend, with PinkRoccade being responsible for developing the architecture, supplying smart cards (up to a maximum of 400,000) and the entire infrastructure. The contract is for three years with an option to extend the contract by a maximum of three years. The contract was awarded through a European invitation to tender. Sdu Identification will also supply UZI cards, while the PKI (digital certificates) will make use RSA Security technology and AET Europe will supply the necessary middleware software. Smart card management will be provided by the Rotterdam-based company Bell Identification.
corporate
New boards all round GlobalPlatform, an industry group involved in the development of smart card infrastructure, and the Smart Card Alliance, a not-for-profit industry association in the USA, have both announced new boards for 2005. A list of board members now includes: • • • • • • • • • • •
Bob Beer, Datacard Group; Jim Lee, Visa International; Shoji Miyamoto, Hitachi; Didier Bégay, France Telecom; Justin D’Angelo, Gemplus; Christian Jûttner, Giesecke & Devrient; Toshiaki Kuzuki, JCB; Richard Fletcher, MasterCard International; Shoichi Senda, NTT Corporation; Carmen Carnero-Silvo, SERMEPA; Yves Moulart, STMicroelectronics.
Meanwhile, the Smart Card Alliance (SCA) announced its new board of directors and sevenmember 2005 executive committee. including the following board members: • Chair – Kevin Gillick, Datacard Group; • Vice chair – Linda Brown, Infineon Technologies; • Treasurer – Robert Wilberger, Northrop Grumman; • Secretary – Mark McGovern, Lockheed Martin Information Systems; • Assistant treasurer – Alison Colquhoun, First Data Corporation; • Assistant secretary Alex Giakoumis, Atmel Corporation;
•
Technology vice chair – Gilles Lisimaque, Gemplus. Other members of the board include:
• • • • • • • • • • •
Patrick Gauthier, Visa USA; Julie Krueger, JCB International; Ken Moy, MasterCard International; Chuck Wilson, Hitachi Smart Solutions Division; Ralph Billeri, BearingPoint; Paul Beverly, Axalto Americas; Bryan Ichikawa, Unisys; Robert Merkert, SCM Microsystems; Michael Weekes, IBM Global Smart Card Solutions; Gregory Garback, WMATA; John Moore, GSA.
SCA said its board’s priorities for 2005 include: addressing how smart cards resolve growing public security and privacy concerns; continued cross-industr y discussions on common business applications and technology standards; and industry discussions on issues that influence the accelerated adoption of smart cards in North America. Contact: SCA at www.smartcardalliance.org, GlobalPlatform at www.globalplatform.org
memory
Contactless and flash memory cards combine As smart cards become more widespread, many market commentators believe that there will eventually be a convergence between smart cards and removable flash memory cards. Most recently, evidence of this trend came as Matsushita Electric Industrial, best known for its Panasonic brand products, announced the development of an SD Memory Card with contactless smart card capabilities. Called smartSD Card, the goal of the new SD Memory Card is to produce a portable storage device that can also be used as a smart card. The company said sample shipments of the smartSD Cards will commence in December 2004, while commercial shipments are expected to follow in the third quarter of 2005. The SD Memory Card was introduced in July 2000 and, to date, it is believed that a p p rox i m a t e l y 2 2 0 m a n u f a c t u re r s h a ve announced more than 2,600 SD Memory Cardcompatible products. Approximately 41 million SD Memory Cards were sold in 2003. The smart card in the smartSD Card uses nonvolatile FeRAM (ferroelectric RAM), which enables high-speed data writing, claimed to be five times faster than conventional EEPROM-
Card Technology Today November/December 2004
in brief • Drexler Technology Corporation has changed its name to LaserCard Corp. The change took effect from 1 October this year. The company’s biggest customer, to date, is the US government, which has issued more than 22 million optical memory cards to permanent US residents and Mexican citizens who have been admitted to a border-crossing programme. Italy has also issued cards with both a smart card chip and optical stripe as part of its new national identity document roll out. • Almost half of local stores (59%) in the UK have taken no action to install technology capable of handling chip and PIN card payments in time for the end-of-year switchover, according to a poll of 500 independent retailers by trade magazine Independent Retail News. From 1 January, any stores without Chip and PIN are personally liable for any subsequent fraudulent payments at the point-of-sale, but 47% said they do not expect to meet the deadline. • Belgian Transport Authorities has placed an order with German smart card manufacturer Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) for the supply of smart cards for use with digital tachographs. According to an EU regulation, all newly-registered buses and trucks in Europe must be equipped with such a digital tachograph from August 2005 onwards. The idea behind the switch from a mechanically operating tachograph to an electronic device is to allow drivers’ driving and rest times as well as compliance with speed limits to be monitored more effectively – so enhancing road safety. Over the next ten years, G&D will produce, personalize and deliver all Tachosmart cards for the Belgian Transport Authorities. G&D’s project partners are the Belgian companies Unisys and Ubizen. • JJB Stadium, home to Wigan Athletic Football Club and Wigan Rugby League, is the latest stadium to join the Smart FC Scheme from Fortress. The smart card technology allows for quick and safe stadium access, while also offering fans the ability to use their smart RF cards for in-stadium purchases, loyalty point collection and parking payment – so helping to drive up revenues. The multi-application smart card scheme went live at the JJB at the start of October with Fortress’ contactless card readers having been fitted to the stadium’s turnstiles. Implementation of the system took less than a month and the system is also interoperable, so allowing a Wigan smart card to work at all other Fortress stadiums.
6
enabling them to ensure the integrity and confidentiality when accessing and communicating confidential (privacy-sensitive) patient information. The development will make use of public key infrastructure (PKI) technology, based on the Dutch Government’s PKI standard. PinkRoccade’s role will be to integrate the systems upon which the operation of the registration and issue processes for the UZI Card will depend, with PinkRoccade being responsible for developing the architecture, supplying smart cards (up to a maximum of 400,000) and the entire infrastructure. The contract is for three years with an option to extend the contract by a maximum of three years. The contract was awarded through a European invitation to tender. Sdu Identification will also supply UZI cards, while the PKI (digital certificates) will make use RSA Security technology and AET Europe will supply the necessary middleware software. Smart card management will be provided by the Rotterdam-based company Bell Identification.
corporate
New boards all round GlobalPlatform, an industry group involved in the development of smart card infrastructure, and the Smart Card Alliance, a not-for-profit industry association in the USA, have both announced new boards for 2005. A list of board members now includes: • • • • • • • • • • •
Bob Beer, Datacard Group; Jim Lee, Visa International; Shoji Miyamoto, Hitachi; Didier Bégay, France Telecom; Justin D’Angelo, Gemplus; Christian Jûttner, Giesecke & Devrient; Toshiaki Kuzuki, JCB; Richard Fletcher, MasterCard International; Shoichi Senda, NTT Corporation; Carmen Carnero-Silvo, SERMEPA; Yves Moulart, STMicroelectronics.
Meanwhile, the Smart Card Alliance (SCA) announced its new board of directors and sevenmember 2005 executive committee. including the following board members: • Chair – Kevin Gillick, Datacard Group; • Vice chair – Linda Brown, Infineon Technologies; • Treasurer – Robert Wilberger, Northrop Grumman; • Secretary – Mark McGovern, Lockheed Martin Information Systems; • Assistant treasurer – Alison Colquhoun, First Data Corporation; • Assistant secretary Alex Giakoumis, Atmel Corporation;
•
Technology vice chair – Gilles Lisimaque, Gemplus. Other members of the board include:
• • • • • • • • • • •
Patrick Gauthier, Visa USA; Julie Krueger, JCB International; Ken Moy, MasterCard International; Chuck Wilson, Hitachi Smart Solutions Division; Ralph Billeri, BearingPoint; Paul Beverly, Axalto Americas; Bryan Ichikawa, Unisys; Robert Merkert, SCM Microsystems; Michael Weekes, IBM Global Smart Card Solutions; Gregory Garback, WMATA; John Moore, GSA.
SCA said its board’s priorities for 2005 include: addressing how smart cards resolve growing public security and privacy concerns; continued cross-industr y discussions on common business applications and technology standards; and industry discussions on issues that influence the accelerated adoption of smart cards in North America. Contact: SCA at www.smartcardalliance.org, GlobalPlatform at www.globalplatform.org
memory
Contactless and flash memory cards combine As smart cards become more widespread, many market commentators believe that there will eventually be a convergence between smart cards and removable flash memory cards. Most recently, evidence of this trend came as Matsushita Electric Industrial, best known for its Panasonic brand products, announced the development of an SD Memory Card with contactless smart card capabilities. Called smartSD Card, the goal of the new SD Memory Card is to produce a portable storage device that can also be used as a smart card. The company said sample shipments of the smartSD Cards will commence in December 2004, while commercial shipments are expected to follow in the third quarter of 2005. The SD Memory Card was introduced in July 2000 and, to date, it is believed that a p p rox i m a t e l y 2 2 0 m a n u f a c t u re r s h a ve announced more than 2,600 SD Memory Cardcompatible products. Approximately 41 million SD Memory Cards were sold in 2003. The smart card in the smartSD Card uses nonvolatile FeRAM (ferroelectric RAM), which enables high-speed data writing, claimed to be five times faster than conventional EEPROM-
Card Technology Today November/December 2004