ITN International aims to make conference and exhibit hall lead tracking easy, all with near field communication

Ivan Lazarev, president of ITN International, sees great potential for the bCard business and the way it works with NFC. The bCard – for business Card – was originally launched in 1999. Since then ITN International has grown to become a provider of mobile data management and information solutions for the event marketing industry. And ITN relies strongly on near field communication to get the job done.

“The bCard is based on smart card technology,” says Lazarev. “We basically designed a better mousetrap. It was a universal business card that could be used to create a unique digital ID linked to an account on the Web.”

The bCard is a contactless smart card that looks like a regular trade show badge, says Lazarev. But it’s a badge loaded with information that an NFC-compliant phone can retrieve by a simple wave of the phone within an inch of the badge. 
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Semiconductor company NXP has unveiled its new NFC controller that will enable mobile phone users to access more contactless applications such as mobile payments, transport and event ticketing as well as data sharing directly from the mobile phone SIM. 
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The NFC Forum announced that Innovision Research & Technology plc, and STMicroelectronics have become Sponsor Members and have joined its Board of Directors.

In other member news, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB has upgraded its membership level from Associate to Principal, and nine organizations have joined as Associate and Non-Profit members. The Forum also announced that Paula Berger has been appointed Executive Director.

Formerly Principal and Associate members, respectively, Innovision and STMicroelectronics now join fellow Sponsor members HP, INSIDE Contactless, MasterCard Worldwide, Microsoft Corp., NEC, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Inc., NXP Semiconductors, Panasonic, Renesas Technology, Samsung, Sony Corporation and Visa Inc.  

Oberthur Technologies has deployed its FlyBuy contactless stickers to three banks internationally, including one of the largest card issuers in the United States. The sticker is the latest product in Oberthur Technologies’ development of contactless payment and form factors.

Approved and developed in cooperation with MasterCard, Oberthur Technologies’ FlyBuy Sticker is a contactless payment device that can be attached to any surface including a mobile phone, PDA, MP3 player or key ring, enabling the end user to choose their very own personalized payment device. 
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The six companies involved in an NFC pilot in Switzerland have deemed the three month test a success as 90% of those participating said they liked the new technology because it was convenient and easy to use. The same percentage also said they would use the technology when it became commercially available.

Credit Suisse, PostFinance, SIX Multipay, Swisscard, Swisscom and Visa Europe participated in the trial that lasted from September to November last year. Employees of Credit Suisse, Swisscard and SIX Multipay were able to use their NFC-enabled phones in company restaurants. Aim of the pilot was to test the technical and operating feasibility of contactless payments.

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CARTES & IDentification will be held from November 17 to 19 in Paris-Nord Villepinte. This year the show’s focus will be on authentication technology and the country in the spotlight will be Russia.

The use of plastic cards in Russia has become widespread over recent years and the deployment of equipment at point of sale is accelerating. This development of cards entails an increased risk of card piracy, trafficking and phishing, forcing banks and public-sector organizations to look for new protection solutions. 
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