The NFC Forum has announced that Intel Corporation has upgraded its membership from Principal to Sponsor, the highest level of membership in the organization.

As a Sponsor member, Intel will hold a seat on the NFC Forum Board of Directors, as well designate individuals to run for Forum leadership positions and appoint one voting representative to all NFC Forum Committees and Working Groups.

Other Sponsor privileges include proposing Forum initiatives and participating in the NFC Forum testing and certification program using Sponsors’ own in-house test labs.

In addition to Intel, the NFC Forum has recently welcomed 10 new Associate, Implementer, and Non-Profit members from across the NFC ecosystem.

New Associate members include: Allion Test Labs Inc., Huawei Technologies Co, Ltd., Interac Association/Acxsys Corporation, and Polar Electro Oy.

New Implementer members include: Allami Nyomda Plc., Athena Smartcard Solutions, GN Netcom A/S, Johnson Controls Inc., and RICOH Company Ltd.

Finally, the University of Applied Sciences, HES-SO Valais has joined as a Non-Profit member.

“Intel believes NFC has great potential to enhance user experiences via simplified and secure device interaction,” said Ed Agis, Intel representative and new board member of the NFC Forum. “We are excited to have the opportunity to contribute to its evolution and growth in adoption across multiple platforms,”