Access Control
& Security Systems

Speakers and attendees at the Smart Card Alliance Mid-Winter Conference agreed that applying technology to protect identities and the privacy of individuals presents an excellent market opportunity.

"The smart card industry is positioned ideally to address macro-trends in the growing smart card market," said Paul Beverly, chairman of the Alliance. "Major industries like health care, transportation, financial/retail and information systems are now looking in earnest for solutions to the problems of privacy, identity verification and transaction integrity. That bodes well for our industry."

One of the important themes reinforced by several speakers was the link between privacy and security. "Privacy is much more than data confidentiality. Security is a key component of privacy," said keynote speaker John Sabo, manager of security, privacy and trust initiatives for Computer Associates.

Presenters also discussed retail perspectives on identifying consumers and on new technologies that are expected to make inroads at physical stores. The increasing interest in contactless RF-based payment was also the focus of the panel of speakers.

For more information, visit www.smartcardalliance.org

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