Annual SESAMES card tech awards recognize three contactless projects
01 November, 2003
category: Biometrics, Contactless, Library, Transit
Fortress GB Limited, ERG Transit Systems, and Inside Contactless were among the top winners of the SESAMES awards, presented during the CARTES and IT Security 2003 conference in Paris last week. The competition is open to all international industry players: manufacturers, users, integrators, and developers.
London-based Fortress GB won the SESAMES award for the Best Software with its secure contactless smart card stadium management solution, now an integral part of the new Manchester City Football Club’s 55,000-seat stadium (see October issue, Contactless News). It is the first fully RFID-enabled stadium in Europe. Its scalable platform-based solution controls access, ticket issuing, e-purse transactions, loyalty, staff management and reporting.
The Best Transportation Application award went to ERG Transit Systems, Belgium, for its Enhanced Integrated Fare Collection System (EIFS). In 1999, the ERG/Motorola Alliance won a contract to design and install an EIFS based on smart card technology for the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore. ERG assumed responsibility for the project in 2001 and, one year later, launched a pilot smart card ticketing system for Singapore’s public transport network.
A few months later, the system became fully operational and, most importantly, was enthusiastically adopted by Singaporeans. Today, six million cards are in circulation and the Singapore project is one of the largest integrated smart card-based transit systems in the world. More than 24,000 smart card readers are installed across the five transit operators covering bus, light rail and heavy rail. The ERG system includes an Automatic Vehicle Location system that is integrated with the LTA’s traffic smart system providing real-time information to passengers via displays at bus stops and a web site.
Inside Contactless, Aix-en-Provence, France, won the Best IT Security Application award for its Fasver Smart Film project. Co-invented by Inside and Fasver, and designed to hold and protect biometric data on official documents, the Smart Film is a security film containing a printed antenna and a contactless chip. The chip stores the individual’s data and biometrics (ID picture, fingerprint, etc). A contactless reader system can authenticate the chip and its data to verify the person’s identity.
In addition to the strong showing by contactless technology programs, other winners included:
Celavie, Paris, France, took the Best Health Care Application award and the overall Best Application of All Applications honor for its Lifecarte, the first smart card readable in GSM phones, not linked to a GSM subscription. In case of emergency, the chip is inserted in a GSM phone in place of the SIM, and the phone displays all necessary information in six languages: medical, identity, persons to contact, insurance, etc
Another Paris-based company, ENST, won for Best Technological Innovation for its La Carte EAP. Its smart card, according to the award announcement, “is the missing link of the security chain for the wireless LANs (802.11).” It directly processes EAP packets (defined by RFC 2284) and is compatible with emerging security standards like IEEE 802.1X, WPA and IEEE 802.11i. It can be used in multiple authentication frameworks like GSM, PKI or usual computing platforms.
The Best Banking/Finance Application award went to WAY Systems, Boston, USA, for its innovative payment solution that combines the security and functionality of Point of Sale (POS)/ATM terminals, with the low cost and convenience of mobile phones. The result is a low-cost GPRS transaction terminal solution for merchants allowing them to securely accept payment cards from their customers wherever and whenever. A mobile phone is transformed into WAY’s patented Mobile Transaction Terminal (MTT) solution, which includes hardware card readers that integrate with mobile phones, secure firmware applications, and transaction servers. Applications are limousines, taxi, delivery drivers, cash on delivery, distribution, onsite repairs and more.
Axalto, Montrouge, France, took Best GSM Application honors for its Simsave, a SIM-based solution to wirelessly back-up the SIM phonebook over SMS. It protects subscribers’ phonebooks against loss/damage and automatically transfers data when switching/upgrading SIM cards (higher capacity, 2G to 3G). It is the only SyncML certified solution for synchronizing with other electronic phonebooks (PDA and desktop).
The Best Loyalty Application award went to E-Safetransfer, Sao Paulo, Brazil, for its HutCash, a payment system integrating loyalty and pre-paid cash in one card, using e-purse features. Credit is loaded to cards in PizzaHut restaurants with a standard hand-held smart card reader or over the Internet.
The SESAMES Award winners are selected from the pool of nominated entries by a jury consisting of international card industry professionals.