Near Field Communications Handsets and Tags, NFC Pilots and Projects

Alliance conference to discuss payment convergence

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Contactless smart cards and NFC mobile payments in transit and retail will be the focus of the Smart Card Alliance 3rd Annual Payments Summit. The event is being held February 23rd - 25th at the Marriott City Center Hotel in Salt Lake City.

The Payments Summit aims to bring together members of the Smart Card Alliance’s Contactless and Mobile Payments Council and its Transportation Council. This includes representatives from transportation authorities, issuing banks and payment brands, retailers, mobile technology suppliers, chip and card manufacturers, terminal manufacturers, payments processors, and transit and payment systems integrators.


Speakers from U.S. and international card issuers, transport operators, mobile operators, and campus integrators have been invited to update attendees on implementations of advanced credit, debit, prepaid, and stored value payment systems used by millions of consumers.

The Summit will include sessions on new trends and projects within a range of topics, including: current U.S. and international transit programs, contactless payments, NFC/mobile payments technology, prepaid cards, payments industry fraud, EMV, and payments security technologies. In addition to sessions for both the transit and retail industry representatives, time is set aside in the agenda for separate breakout sessions focused on topics relevant to each market and for discussions about emerging developments. [end] 

The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has published a white paper examining how the transit industry can best make use of NFC technology.

“One of the major challenges facing transit agencies today is how to capitalize on the ever-growing popularity of mobile phones with a solid mobile strategy,” said Transportation Council Chairman Craig Roberts. “This white paper builds on the knowledge base developed in earlier white papers to foster a greater understanding of NFC technology, explain its role in the transit industry, and shed light on key issues facing the transit industry in developing a mobile strategy.”

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The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has introduced a series of educational resources on open payments solutions in public transit systems, including a white paper, Web resources and LinkedIn group for industry professionals.

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CARTES in North America, a new annual card manufacturing, payment, identification and digital security expo and conference, has placed mobile payments at the center of its agenda of this year’s inaugural event.

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Oracle has released a new version of Oracle Retail Point-of-Service that aims to increase security, operational efficiency and functionality in part by integrating biometrics.

Oracle partnered with DigitalPersonal to add integrated biometrics to the POS package. Users of the software will login using their fingerprint, which will replace the need for PINs or passwords. This feature intends to reduce fraud by eliminating the possibility of unauthorized employees using a manager ID or swipe card to access the POS and approve overrides.

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To commemorate the smart card industry’s achievements throughout 2011, the Smart Card Alliance has decided to release its first-ever E-Yearbook.

The nearly 70-page e-book discusses the year’s leadership and advancement in the smart card industry and highlights industry achievements.

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In Europe, the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) and EPASOrg has developed a new global standard to help accommodate changes in new payment technologies, according to SupermarketNews.com

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