Beginning November 1, 2010, the nPA – a contactless smart card – will replace the statutory plastic identification card currently held by German citizens. The new electronic ID provides security for online transactions and offers many new functions and capabilities, all in a convenient credit card format. 

Many activities of daily life and business, such as opening a banking account or purchasing products, are now performed over the Internet. However, so far there is no standardized proof of identity in the online world; and different passwords, codes or access cards are needed to handle different applications. For German citizens, the nPa electronic ID card bridges this gap: proving your identity in the online world is now as fast, easy and secure as presenting the nPa card. Securely purchasing goods via the Internet, downloading music, confirming your age or place of birth, filing an insurance claim, or communicating with local or federal authorities and administrations are easily accomplished, saving time and money for all concerned. To perform or access services online, the nPA requires a specialized smart card reader that is easily attached to an individual’s PC. 
 The contactless reader SCL011 from SCM Microsystems is the first such reader to be certified for the nPa card. It connects to PCs via USB, and acts as a link between the electronic ID card and the PC. The reader supports Windows® XP, Vista®, Windows®7, MacOS X and Linux for Ubuntu, OpenSuse and Debian OS. SCM’s proprietary SCT3 controller chip with SmartOS® allows secure firmware updates to the reader to support new card requirements or functionality enhancements. 

Following its certification, the SCL011 can now be employed in user tests organized by Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior, which allow government authorities, companies and other institutions to acquaint themselves with and analyze the performance of the nPa electronic ID card system.

EUROSMART SEES FURTHER GROWTH IN SMART SECURE DEVICE SHIPMENTS IN 2010.  

The resilience of the Smart Security Industry to the economic crisis in 2009 has been confirmed - Further growth in Smart Secure Devices shipments is expected in 2010  

All market segments showed positive volume growth in 2009, demonstrating the resilience and capacity of innovation of our Industry. The main sources of growth by market segment were:

Telecom

– GSM penetration in emerging markets is fueling steady growth in volume.

– In mature markets such as Europe and the USA, the market growth comes from services requiring additional SIM cards, i.e. subscribers using more than one SIM card in additional devices such as netbooks and USB 3G+ keys and from machine to machine (M2M); Financial services

– Sustainable growth opportunities thanks to EMV migration, given the fact that only 20% of the cards already deployed in this segment are chip cards;

– Second driver is contactless dual interface that enable convenient and fast payment and mass transit applications;

– Retailers offer innovative payments and loyalty services that will contribute to contactless acceptance. Government and Healthcare

– Multiplication of Government ID tenders worldwide and continuous e-Passport deployment;

– Other ID applications such as driving licenses, healthcare and electronic services to citizens are participating to the solid growth of this market segment;

– Biometry is a vector of innovation in this area.

Eurosmart presents twice a year its market analysis and vision of the Smart Security market worldwide. The full news release can be found at http://www.eurosmart.com/images/doc/EurosmartPR/eurosmartpr-figures_21may2010.pdf      

Precise Biometrics launches new Fingerprint Technology Toolkit for PC & Mac  

Precise Biometrics continues to build on its research results and has released a new toolkit for integration of top-performing, standardized fingerprint verification on both PC and Mac.

The product has support for international standards for fingerprint templates and builds on the highest ranking fingerprint extractor in the US interoperability program Ongoing MINEX. Last year, Precise Biometrics’ fingerprint extractor achieved the best result among all submitted entries to the US interoperability program Ongoing MINEX, which is organized by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST.

The technology has now been turned into a product. The product Precise Biometrics is releasing enables verification of fingerprints in a computer. The technology is easily integrated in different applications for replacing all types of password verification and authentication methods. Basing the technology on standards offers the end-customer total flexibility allowing them to choose among different suppliers. The release comprises of both a toolkit for easy integration and a runtime license for fingerprint verification. Precise Biometrics’ other products are in many cases based on smart card technology in which a fingerprint is stored and matched inside a smart card, termed Match-on-Card. With the new product, the fingerprint is matched locally in the computer. The fingerprint information is stored in the computer, or on a smart card for example in a PIV solution.

Karin Sveheim, Director of Markets at Precise Biometrics

says that more and more customers are asking for the technology: - "Ever since the announcement of our excellent test results, we have had an increased demand, especially from the US government, to package this technology. With this product we are expanding our offer to system integrators and end-customers. It’s an enabler for more hardware sales and an alternative for those who are not looking for a Match-on-Card solution, which is the case for government PIV projects. And it is, of course, also pleasing to commercialize our great research achievements". The product has support for established standards. As an example: the product’s name Precise BioMatch™ ANSI 378 refers to the toolkit’s support for ANSI 378, an American standard for fingerprint templates.  

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