NFC to boost credential market
According to a new study published by IMS Research, the $400 million global access control credential market is set to be renewed by smart cards and near field communication. Smart card credentials, which represent approximately 40% of the global credential market, are expected to lead the next generation of credentials used for physical access control and secondary applications such as electronic payment, identity management and access-on-a-card. The next generation of access control credentials are expected to do more than provide door access. According to research, last year witnessed several pilot programs in which NFC-enabled smart phones were used by faculty members and students to gain access to university buildings. There were also a small number of projects within the hospitality sector. The pace at which NFC is adopted for the purpose of physical access control is anticipated to vary by region due to factors including the number of smart phones that are NFC-enabled, the participation of local mobile network operators and the involvement of security companies. For physical access control, the use of NFC-enabled smart phones has the potential to redefine the concept of the credential and revolutionize the access control industry.
Mobideos protects pupils in transit
The Stanwood-Camano School District has introduced mobile surveillance into its fixed security system to enable quicker evaluation of potential security incidents. The new system is using the Mobilecamviewer mobile surveillance application from Mobideos to help keep transportation routines intact. The Transportation Department of the Stanwood-Camano School District in northwestern Washington State transports 2,700 K-12 students to and from eight schools each day. The sheer volume of the student body requires a large bus fleet for the daily schedule, and protection against theft and vandalism is pertinent to keep everything running on time. This offers the potential for quicker analysis of a security breach.
Modernized RFID to overtake traditional use
Companies, governments, and industries are increasingly turning to RFID as they look to modernize their operations, becoming more efficient and enabling quicker, more convenient service. The traditional uses of RFID for the identification of animals, people, and within the automotive sector are continuing to grow and are projected to increase by $2.8 billion from 2012 to 2017. However, ABI Research’s new RFID Market Tracker found that modernizing RFID applications will grow twice as fast with annual revenues derived from these jumping by $4.5 billion in the same timeframe. Asset tracking, supply chain management, baggage and cargo tracking, RTLS, contactless payment, and ticketing are all areas in which businesses are looking to operate in a quicker, smarter, and more secure manner. According to ABI, the business model and use case for RFID is now being better understood and real-world ROI can be demonstrated in a growing number of instances.
Smartrac surpasses chip milestone
Smartrac, a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of RFID transponders and inlays, has announced that it has produced and supplied more than 2 million Prelam products based on the Sony FeliCa RC-S962 IC chip. The products are used in applications such as automated fare collection (AFC) for public transport, access control, contactless micro-payments and loyalty schemes. The Sony FeliCa RC-S962 IC chip with Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FRAM) offers fast data-processing speed from detection of the card, mutual authentication of card and reader to read/write transactions.
Mobile sensor market worth $1.2 billion at end of 2012
The ever growing popularity of mobile devices and increasing usage of MEMS sensors are set to drive sales for MEMS sensor vendors. New market intelligence from ABI Research projects the MEMS sensor market in mobile devices will be valued at $1.2 billion by the end of 2012 and reach $2.8 billion in 2017. The most common sensor is the accelerometer, enabling devices to switch from a portrait to landscape display by simply turning it. More than 4 out of every 5 smartphones shipped this year will contain an accelerometer and ABI Research estimates 32% of MEMS sensor shipments will be seen here.
Confidex announces milestone in contactless tickets
Confidex, a leading supplier of high-performing contactless ticketing and RFID tag solutions, announced it has exceeded the 300 million pieces milestone in delivering limited use contactless tickets, compliant with NFC Forum Type 2. In addition, reinforcing its position as a trusted high volume ticket supplier and global UHF RFID tag solutions provider, Confidex states it has introduced an NFC product offering to serve the widening adoption of the technology and ubiquitous information sharing with mobile devices.
Spirit launches Mobile Connect
Spirit Data Capture, the independent mobile computing and data capture specialist, has launched Mobile Connect, a versatile and highly scalable new enterprise-class mobile software platform. The company says the platform will enable businesses to deploy a wide range of mobile applications easily and quickly. Mobile Connect offers flexibility, scalability and security all in a single package. It provides rapid software development: users can create their own applications quickly using a simple ‘point and click’ approach. The solution’s key features include sophisticated data capture technology; comprehensive and secure mobile communications; and the ability to deploy a wide range of mobile applications on one platform.
Novetta acquires International Biometric Group
Novetta Solutions has announced the acquisition of biometric solutions and services specialist International Biometric Group. Providing technology solutions to the national security sector Novetta is known for working with massive quantities of data. The acquisition of IBG is expected to bolster Novetta’s identity intelligence, biometrics and virtual identity management efforts. IBG’s reputation as a provider of identity intelligence services and solutions – for both government and commercial clients – has been built over a 15-year period in the industry.
Gemalto registers Gabon biometrics
Gabon has selected Gemalto to build a national biometric civil registry to replace the current paper identification system. The project, a part of Digital Gabon’s strategic plan, aims to have the registry in place before local elections in 2013. Gemalto will create an end-to-end system with its Coesys biometric citizen enrollment system. This system uses both desktop and mobile stations to capture citizens’ demographic data, fingerprints and digital photographs. It then uses fingerprint matching to ensure each entry is unique.
NEC partners with Cross Match for multimodal
NEC and Cross Match Technologies announced a partnership for multimodal biometrics on handheld devices. Cross Match has integrated NEC’s Neoface facial recognition and automated latent print matching technologies into its SEEK mobile handheld device. The NEC technology leverages the SEEK camera for image acquisition and searching capabilities. This system can complete local matching of photos and latent prints against a watch list, enabling faster identification before sending the biometric data to additional databases for further research.
Ingenico enables NFC mobile payments in Czech Republic
Ingenico, a leading worldwide provider of payment solutions, has announced that it has been selected as supplier of payment terminals for the launch of fully-fledged NFC Mobile payments in the Czech Republic, in partnership with Telefonica, Visa Europe, Komercni Banka and Samsung. Telefonica, operating under the name O2 in the country, has presented a ground breaking novelty to its customers, offering the exchange of their classic SIM cards for special SIM cards supporting the NFC technology, with a prepaid credit of CZK 250 (circa Euro10). This enables to try out mobile payments immediately in the O2 stores, or at any point of sale in the Czech Republic where contactless payment is made available. For this project, Ingenico has supplied its contactless iWL 220 terminals enabling the use of mobile phones to pay in the stores with the installed devices. This new experience follows the successful pilot with the Globus retail chain in the country end 2011. This pilot is foreseen by Telefonica as the official launch of mobile payment in the country. The contactless technology offers higher convenience together with intuitive and secure payments, addressing the evolving demand of the end users. The 02 gurus in the 120 stores throughout the Czech Republic underwent a special training for the commercial operation, to make the customers familiar with new technologies.
Tesco chooses Checkpoint for EAS technology
Checkpoint Systems, a global supplier of EAS solutions, merchandise visibility and apparel labeling solutions for the retail industry and its supply chain, has announced that it has been chosen by Tesco to implement a global EAS program to improve on- shelf availability of products, open merchandising and the consumer shopping experience. Having installed EVOLVE ECO in 1,250 Tesco Express Stores in the UK last year, Checkpoint has been asked to fast track the roll out its advanced RF solutions in more than 900 of the retailer’s large store formats Extra, Superstore and Metro stores over the next few months, replacing the existing acousto-magnetic technology. As part of the program, Tesco is upgrading its systems with the latest EAS technology by installing Checkpoint’s EVOLVE ECO, high-performance, energy-lean RF-EAS systems across Tesco’s entire estate in the UK. EVOLVE ECO antennas provide energy savings of up to 65 percent over existing competitive solutions, helping Tesco reduce its operational costs and carbon footprint.
Borneo’s Sabah University secures tracking with TagMaster
Swedish RFID solutions provider, TagMaster, has announced it has received an order to expand the active RFID-enabled student- and computer-tracking system installed at the University of Sabah, in Borneo. The order is for an additional 2,400 units of TagMaster’s Samui and Edam RFID tags, along with an extension of the school’s network of Celebes RFID readers, to be deployed during October and November 2012. According to the company, the Celebes reader can acquire information from more than 200 tags per second, as well as issue commands to selected tags. It has two configurable channels, programmable RF modes and multiple antenna options, and is available with various types of physical interfaces, including Ethernet LAN, USB, long-range Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and RS232. The Samui tags are being fitted to students’ laptops, while the Edam tags are provided to students who either wear them as necklaces or affix them to their shirts. Initially, the readers were installed at key doors to faculty offices, but with the expansion, they will be installed within classrooms and lecture halls as well TagMaster.
Datalogic shops with Coop Centro Italia
Datalogic, a global leader in automatic identification has, through its Datalogic ADC division, reached a partnership agreement with Coop Centro Italia for the provision of a self-shopping system to the Ipercoop at the Collestrada shopping centre in Perugia, which has been a landmark for commerce in Umbria for several years. Following the recently initiated collaborations with Conad Adriatico and Bennet, Datalogic says it has confirmed its place as a sector leader, supplying Coop Centro Italia with the Shopevolution 6.0 self-scanning service together with the provision of almost 200 Joya A pods, a revolutionary device that allows a special dialogue between customer and retailer.
Raptor ID and Animetrics in smartphone partnership
3D facial recognition and identity provider Animetrics has partnered with Raptor Identification Systems, an Android 4.0-based mobile device maker, to incorporate biometrics into smart phones and tablets. The new product is geared to law enforcement officials, military personnel and intelligence officers. using facial identity management software and 3D facial recognition technology. The FaceR MobileID app has the ability to run locally on the device without communications to the FIMS Cloud for local watchlist processing.
HID secures deal with Interlogix
HID Global and Interlogix announced they have partnered to provide integrated security products for residential and commercial use. The companies have combined Interlogix’s Security Commander system hardware with HID’s EasyLobby Secure Visitor Management (SVM) software for security and visitor management. The integrated product can now provide visitor registration, web-based preregistration, tracking and reporting, badge printing, asset and package management and time and attendance functions, creating passes in real-time and deactivate them upon checking out of the system.
Legic joins with Softmachine for Spanish e-applications
Legic Identsystems has announced it has expanded its partner network in Southern Europe in a joint venture with Spain-based security company Softmachine Systems. The new affiliation aims to produce contactless access control solutions and installations for multifunctional visitor management including applications for electronic payment and time and attendance.
Paraguay signs Safelayer for PKI certification
Safelayer Secure Communications has stated it is providing its digital certification solutions for Paraguay’s public key infrastructure (PKI). The country’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) has set up a national eSignature root certification authority. The Paraguay government certified in August 2012 that the generation and installation of the certification authority’s keys complied with the established protocols. Safelayer says the PKI technology infrastructure of the root certification authority was implemented by PS LINE and Safelayer partner ISA Ltda. The MIC is taking on the role of certification authority to manage Paraguay’s eSignature digital certificates. This is an important advance in the development of eCommerce between MERCOSUR countries and the EU.
MorphoTrak deploys biometric ID at NYPD
Morpho (Safran group), a leading provider of biometric technology, has announced that its US subsidiary, MorphoTrak has successfully deployed MorphoBIS, its automated Biometric Identification System, for the New York City Police Department (NYPD). MorphoBIS is Morpho’s next generation biometric identification system and the product of Morpho’s extensive investment in R&D. NYPD’s new system handles ten-print and latent matching, including lights–out processing with unrivalled speed and accuracy, matching of palm prints and mobile two-finger searches. Lights– out processing finds potential hits for verification by NYPD fingerprint technicians. As the supplier of the biometric identification systems in seven nearby states, MorphoTrak is in a unique position to facilitate future interoperability where eastern seaboard states could cross search each other’s systems in the future leading to more identifications and convictions. Morpho’s biometric matching technology is ranked #1 by NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology) for lights-out latent fingerprint accuracy, providing agencies with the most cost-effective solution to process large numbers of latent searches while allowing their experts to focus on the most critical cases.
Zebra to extend location solutions with OATS systems
Zebra Technologies and Checkpoint Systems announced they have entered into a cooperative relationship and licensing agreement to bring together Zebra’s active location solutions with the passive RFID, auto-identification and sen- Zebra to extend location solutions with OATS ystems which is a non-exclusive contract, provides Zebra with an OEM software license for OATxpress, which is part of the most widely deployed RFID middleware platform, OAT Foundation Suite. This industry-leading software platform is designed sor capabilities of Checkpoint division OATSystems to give customers in key industries – including retail, industrial manufacturing, automotive, aerospace and process–increased visibility of their assets across the enterprise. The agreement, specifically for capturing, filtering and managing high volumes of auto-ID and sensor data from a single facility–such as a manufacturing plant, distribution center or retail store- -to an enterprise deployment across hundreds of locations.
Inside Secure and TazTag solve mobile banking
Inside Secure and TazTag announced the introduction of a tablet computer that give solution providers an ideal solution for use in mobile banking, stock management, payment, ticketing, access control, identity and other sensitive and secure applications. Available now from Taz- Tag, the new TazPad tablet combines the EMVCo-certified secure near field communication (NFC) capabilities provided by the Inside Secure SecuRead NFC module and Open NFC protocol stack with biometric authentication capabilities, and an extensive array of wireless connectivity technologies.
Westpac partners with Oberthur for Android payment
Westpac is partnering with Oberthur Technologies to help support its pilot Android mobile NFC payment system. According to the companies, Oberthur will provide Westpac with its Trusted Service Manager platform, which will help the bank covert its customer’s Android phone into a portable payment solution without the use of any external attachments like a NFC enabled phone case. They stated it was one of the first and most recent times where an Australian financial institution is not utilizing bridging technologies such as NFC-enabled devices.
EDAPS centralizes diplomatic affairs
The EDAPS consortium stated it has successfully finished the first stage of the contract for the implementation of a centralized system for passport documents issuance at foreign diplomatic institutions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The consortium, as part of the execution of the contract with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has finished the first stage of works aimed at integrating diplomatic missions and consular institutions of Ukraine abroad into the State Information System of Registration of Individual Persons and Their Documentation (SIS ). Software and hardware suites were installed in record-breaking short terms in 23 foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine (see list in the annex) in which about 80% of all citizen of Ukraine passport documents are being issued. Ukrainians living in other countries received the opportunity to be issued a new generation passport instead of an outdated document with a glued-in photo. The State Information Service guarantees a centralized issuance of citizens of Ukraine passports for leaving abroad, executed at the highest technological level.