Card Technology articles from December 2004

Card Technology archives from December 2004

Execution Takes Over.(improving smart cards)
December 1, 2004... Ever tried pushing on a string? It doesn't work too well. And those in the marketing departments of smart card companies know that from personal experience. They have been trying for years to convince card issuers that smart cards will...

U.S. Weighs A Big Shift In Its ID Cards.
December 1, 2004... Over the past four years, the U.S. Department of Defense has issued millions of smart card IDs to its personnel. And for much of that time the government's technology agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has been...

Pros and Cons of the U.S. ID Proposal.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Pros * Fills in gaps in current spec, such as card management * Facilitates issuance of less-expensive cards * More closely complies with international standards Cons * Requires big changes to existing programs *...

IBM Develops JCOP Software for 1-MegaByte Sharp Chip.(Java Card Open Platform)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... U.S.-based IBM Corp. has developed a version of its Java Card Open Platform (JCOP) software for the 1-megabyte chip from Japan's Sharp Electronics. The chip is aimed at passports and other identification programs that will require smart card...

Vendor Growth Cools In Third Quarter.
December 1, 2004... After a rousing first half of the year, the smart card industry's two largest vendors saw their revenue grow at a slower pace in the third quarter, thanks mainly to falling prices. Revenue growth was still healthy, however, for the vendors,...

Pakistan To Issue Chip-Based Passports.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... The government of Pakistan has purchased passport printers compliant with new international standards for chip-based passports from Germany-based Diletta ID-Systems, the company says. Diletta supplied 13 printers and 25 laminators. Diletta...

Asian Countries Plan Common Chip Card.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Four Asian countries have agreed to test a chip card for use in Asia with payment and loyalty features. China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore will participate in the Silk Road card campaign, according to Young-Hyu Cho, secretary general of...

Orga Hunts For Market Share.(ORGA Kartensysteme GmbH)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Following its purchase this fall of a substantial stake in Indian smart card company Smart Chip Ltd., Germany-based Orga Kartensysteme plans new acquisitions or joint ventures. Expect China to be next. "We are strongly evaluating how to...

ST Smart Card Unit Chief Rejects Criticism.(STMicroelectronics N.V.)(Reza Kazerounian)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Reacting to criticism his company is undercutting prices of smart cards and chips, Reza Kazerounian, general manager of the smart card chip unit for Switzerland-based semiconductor supplier STMicroelectronics, suggests the critics look in their...

Revenue Gains Moderate.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Q3 2004 sales (millions of euros) SIM shipments (millions of units) (part 1 of 2) Vendor Total % increase SIM % increase Banking from Q3 03 Gemplus 214.7 13 131.1 ...

Clarification.
December 1, 2004... The article "Driving Access Control Data Down To The Door" in the November 2004 issue of Card Technology stated that HID Corp. has integrated into its iClass smart card readers technology from CoreStreet Ltd. While HID's parent company, Assa...

Is Microsoft Back?(.NET programming )
December 1, 2004... Software giant Microsoft Corp. says it will be the first issuer of smart cards based on its .NET programming framework-a project that could help launch a new platform to challenge Java Card, owned by Microsoft's old nemesis, Sun Microsystems....

Calendar.(Calendar)
December 1, 2004... Jan. 12-14 OMNICARD 2005-BERLIN Sponsored by Bundesdruckerei For more information, contact inTIME Berlin at: Telephone: +49 (0)30 80 90 58 14 Fax: +49 (0)30 80 90 58 15 E-mail: M.FluhrinTIME-berlin.de Web...

The Evolving Case for EMV: A MasterCard executive argues that EMV is gaining momentum as a way to curb fraud and enhance payment cards. Even the United States will come along in the next few years, he says.(Europay, Mastercard and Visa)
December 1, 2004... While it may seem as if it's been a long time coming, the migration toward adoption of the EMV (Europay-MasterCard-Visa) smart card payment standard is gathering momentum around the world. Developed jointly by Europay (which merged with...

The SIM-Handset Divide.
December 1, 2004... SIM card manufacturers are eager to sell mobile network operators on the high-end features of their cards, such as sophisticated 3G phone books or icon-based menus. The features increase demand for the cards-and the price the vendors can charge...

What's In A Label?(SIM card labels)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... SIM card vendors seek to encourage handset makers to support SIM-based features in their devices by handing out silver, gold and platinum designations. The main features for each category: SILVER * 85% of SIM toolkit commands...

JCB To Test Contactless Credit Using Flash Cards.(JCB Company Ltd.)
December 1, 2004... In another early sign of convergence of smart cards and removable flash memory cards, Japan's JCB Co. recently announced it had developed a contactless credit application for a flash card the company says could allow consumers to use mobile...

Vendors Try To Build A Market For Mega-SIMs.
December 1, 2004... Although the business case for mega-sized SIM cards is hard to find, that isn't stopping smart card chip vendors from showing SIM chips and SIM prototypes with huge memory. Most aggressive of all seems to be South Korea-based Samsung...

A New SIM For China-No it's Not for 3G.(subscriber identity module)(China Netcom)(personal identity module)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... At least one of China's fixed-line telecom operators plans to issue a new type of subscriber identity module card early next year, launching what could become a significant new market for SIM cards. The Beijing subsidiary of China Netcom...

U.S. SIM Survey.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Four in 10 mobile users in the United States surveyed by smart card vendor Gemplus International had heard of SIM cards. But the card industry has a long way to go to bring SIM awareness among Americans anywhere near the level in Europe. ...

Advances in Linking Smart Cards to PCs.
December 1, 2004... In the Lombardy region of northern Italy, doctors spend their days handling blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes and, now, smart cards. That's because the area's health care facilities are in the midst of a major smart card rollout that requires...

Vendors of PC Smart Card Readers.
December 1, 2004... (part 1 of 2) COMPANY/HQ WEB ADDRESS Advanced Card Systems/Hong Kong www.acs.com.hk Athena Smartcard Solutions/Japan www.athena-scs.com Axalto/France ...

ID Briefs: Delays Likely for German Health Card.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... The German government has mandated a rollout of a new chip-based health card to 80 million residents by January of 2006. But observers doubt that can be achieved due to disagreements among insurers, government officials, pharmacists and...

ID Briefs: Puerto Rico Issues Health Smart Cards.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Puerto Rico's Department of Health has begun issuing 2 million smart cards to island residents in what the card vendor on the project calls the largest deployment of health smart cards in North America to date. The card, the "tarjeta...

Fixing The EMV Standard.(Europay, MasterCard, Visa)
December 1, 2004... The Royal Bank of Scotland Group has issued more than 20 million debit and credit smart cards that comply with the international EMV standard, making it one of the largest EMV card issuers in the world. More than half of the cards sport the...

Tightening up The EMV Standard.(Europay, Mastercard and Visa)(specifications of Common core definitions and Common payment application)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Changes to the 5-year-old international standard for credit and debit smart cards will make it less costly and complex for dual issuers to roll out cards with applications from either Visa International or MasterCard International. At present,...

SIMs Lead Smart Cards To New Heights.(Security Identity Module )
December 1, 2004... Quick Read Record shipments of smart cards are predicted in 2005, led by continued strong growth in SIM cards used in mobile phones. Those are projected to reach 1 billion units, compared to 880 million units this year. China takes one...

Advertising Index.(Brief Article)(Directory)
December 1, 2004... Assa Abloy (Omnikey) CV4 www.omnikey.com Atmel 5 www.atmel.com/ad/securitysolutions Axalto 9 www.axalto.com Boewe 18...

Contact Our Advertising Sales Representatives.(Directory)
December 1, 2004... UNITED STATES AND CANADA Jim Baker phone 312 983 6179 fax 312 913 1334 EUROPE & ASIA Bernard Pingree Jean-Charles Abeille phone + 33 (01) 46 43 00 66 fax + 33 (01) 46 43 01 34 bernard.pingreeinfopac.fr icabeilleinfopac.fr ...