Card Technology articles from February 2005

Card Technology archives from February 2005

The Lessons Of 9/11.(conference of Smart Card Alliance Inc.)
February 1, 2005... At the Smart Card Alliance conference last fall in San Francisco, keynote speaker Richard Clarke was dismayed when only a handful of attendees raised their hands after he asked the audience how many of them had read the recently released report...

Japan To Issue Contactless Chip Card Driver's License.(plans of Japanese police departments)
February 1, 2005... Japanese police departments plan to begin issuing contactless driver's licenses in the spring of 2006, likely making Japan the first country to use a contactless card for this purpose on a national scale. The license will replace a plain...

Bigger Is Better For Terminal Suppliers.(Keycorp Ltd. and Thales e-Transactions)
February 1, 2005... Two second-tier payment terminal vendors have announced an alliance that could help them take on the Big Three among point-of-sale suppliers. Meanwhile, one of those big vendors, U.S.-based VeriFone, says it is going public, seeking to raise...

Vendors Seek To Jump-Start Payment Smart Cards.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The four largest smart card vendors believe there is still hope that banks can be convinced to issue multiapplication chip cards, despite years of unsuccessful efforts by Visa International and MasterCard International. The card vendors...

Newswatch: Europe.(chip-and-PIN cards )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... CHIP AND PIN ON TRACK IN THE U.K. The Chip and PIN Programme, which is coordinating the move to banking smart cards in the United Kingdom, announced last month that more than 76.8 million chip-and-PIN cards had been issued to over 36...

Newswatch: Asia.(smart cards)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... CHINESE SMART CARD VENDOR PLANS U.S. STOCK SALE For the first time, a Chinese smart card vendor has announced plans to sell shares on a U.S. stock exchange. Beijing-based Watchdata Technologies Ltd. filed an application in December with the...

A Company Worth Watching: Watchdata revenue 2001-2004.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
February 1, 2005... Year Revenue 2001 $5.9 million 2002 $9.7 million 2003 $38.8 million 2004* $43 million * first nine months of 2004 Source: Watchdata Copyright 2005 Thomson Media Inc. All...

Calendar.(conferences, meetings and seminars)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... March 1-4: IC Card World-Tokyo Organized by Nihon Keizai Shimbun For more information, contact ICS Convention Design, at: Telephone: 81 3 3219 3561 Fax 81 3 3292 1813 E-mail: machiics-inc.co.jp Web site:...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2005... The article "South Africa Gets Ready For Smart Cards" in the January 2005 issue stated that credit card fraud in South Africa equals 1.4% of sales. The correct figure is .14%. Copyright 2005 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved....

Newswatch: North America.(Sheetz Inc.)
February 1, 2005... U.S. MOVES FORWARD WITH TRUSTED TRAVELER PROGRAMS The U.S. government will test a program to expedite security checks for international travelers at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City and work with the Netherlands on a joint pilot of...

PowerPay Makes The Team.(payments made faster and easier.)(Simple Sign-up process)
February 1, 2005... Will consumers really take to tap-and-go payment devices? CardTechnology editor Donald Davis went to one of the first stadiums to introduce contactless payments to see for himself. There have been many claims that consumers will love...

A Loyalty Program for Shanghai's Card-Carrying Commuters.(Octopus cards in Hong Kong)(Groove Street's loyalty program)(SmartClub loyalty program)
February 1, 2005... It doesn't make much economic sense for a taxi driver to install a smart card reader. The meters are expensive, and it takes time to get your money out of the system. And, of course, you can say goodbye to that sweet, sweet moment when the...

Dispute Slows Move To A Faster SIM.(subscriber identity module)
February 1, 2005... A dispute has been brewing for more than a year within the smart card community on how to give the SIM card a new high-speed interface. And vendors know if they don't put their differences aside, they will sacrifice the future of their...

A Path To A Faster SIM: The Leading Options.(multimedia cards)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The USB SIM This option could increase SIM download speeds to 12 megabits per second. Card vendor Axalto has developed a way to hook the USB interface to two of three unused contacts on the standard SIM chip, C4 and C8. But other technical...

Creating a Contactless SIM: Option II.
February 1, 2005... Interest is growing in contactless mobile applications, which subscribers could use to make purchases, pay their transit fares, or enter entertainment venues, all with a flash of their handsets. Smart card companies see a role for the SIM...

Vendors Taken To Task Over E-Passport Flaws.
February 1, 2005... A special committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization formed in December to fix stubborn interoperability problems besetting biometric passports is laying down the law to vendors. The committee, which met in last month in...

For European Union, One Chip Is Enough.
February 1, 2005... Just as with passports, European Union officials planned to put a contactless chip and antenna into each of the millions of visas member states issue each year to store biometric images of the traveler's face and fingerprints. Then the...

High Hopes For Low-Cost Cards: If prices fall low enough, disposable tap-and-go cards will enable transit agencies to eliminate magnetic stripe tickets and enjoy the savings of completely contactless fare collection systems.
February 1, 2005... Contactless limited-use smart cards offer the next step in the evolution of fare collection for transit agencies. These cards, often made mostly of paper with a chip and antenna sandwiched inside, are positioned to replace the tokens, coins or...

The Push for Mega SIM.(subscriber identity module)(Moving Toward Flash)
February 1, 2005... Quick Read Despite uncertain demand, a scarcity of applications and technical obstacles, smart card vendors believe the time is right to pitch mega-memory SIMs. They are bulking capacity 1,000-fold in hopes mobile subscribers will use the...

Mega-Offerings From Chip Vendors.
February 1, 2005... (part 1 of 2) Chip Supplier Background Samsung South Korean chip supplier earns most its smart card revenue from producing low-end SIM chips, but the vendor was the first on the market with 128K, 256K and 512K ...

Advertising Index.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Advertiser Page # Assa Abloy HID back cover Web: www.hidcorp.com Banksys 17 Web: www.banksys.com Boewe CardTec Gmbh ...

Contact Our Advertising Sales Representatives.(Directory)
February 1, 2005... 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 ...

Which Key Will Unlock Online Service.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Consumers are worried about Internet security, as are government regulators. A U.S. banking agency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, recently declared that user names and passwords are inadequate for securing online financial...