Smart Card Alliance Adds 26 New Organizations Membership growth reflects strong market uptake for smart card technology

20 May, 2003

category: Biometrics, Contactless, Education, Financial

CardTech/SecurTech, Orlando, May 13, 2003 – The Smart Card Alliance, a multi-industry organization working to accelerate the acceptance of smart card technology, today announced that 26 new organizations have recently joined the growing ranks of the organization.

“This is an exciting time for our industry,” stated Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, and former industry executive. “Companies must choose wisely what organizations to belong to in these times. For the Alliance to be gaining these highly respected commercial and government organizations as members, demonstrates there is real value here.”

Of the 26 new members, four joined at the Leadership Council level and a fifth, Assa Abloy, recently upgraded. Identix Incorporated, Samsung Electronics, Unisys Corporation and XTec, Inc. joined at this highest level in order to play a more important leadership role for the organization and the industry. Leadership Council members vote for and make up the board and often become spokespersons at conferences, in the media and in working groups.

The new members share an enthusiasm for the value the Alliance plays in developing their industries and organizations, as expressed by one of the new members, Dr. Joseph J. Atick, president and CEO, Identix Inc. “Identix has been an active player in helping to fulfill the demand for biometrics and smart cards. With the great deal of interest for secure ID systems, the Alliance is a very good vehicle for networking with a wide array of government and commercial smart card users and technology companies,” said Atick.

New government members, the Transportation Security

Administration (TSA), NASA, Navy e-Business Operations Office, Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority (MARTA) and Exponent, Inc., join an already strong group of government agencies including the Department of Defense, FAA, Department of State, U.S. Treasury, and numerous transit agencies.

Also joining the Alliance are: Alegra; BearingPoint; Booz Allen Hamilton; Cherry Electrical Products; Datatrac Information Services, Inc.; Dawar Technologies; ImageWare Systems; Integrated Engineering; MartSoft; OmniTek; Precise Biometrics, AB; RSA Security; SC Solutions; TDK Electronics; Vivotech, Inc.; X-ident Technology and Zebra Tech Corp. These firms bring a mix of new technologies such as biometrics and contactless cards, system integration and card issuance experience, and a vision about the changing role of smart card technology in established business areas such as financial and telecom, plus emerging areas such as government, corporate enterprise, transit and healthcare.

“Since our core competency is Match-on-Card for smart cards in combination with biometrics and the Smart Card Alliance is the premier industry association for smart cards, it was a natural for us to align with their mission,” said Christer Bergman, president and CEO, Precise Biometrics.

Roughly half of the more than 100 members are companies and government agencies that use or are planning to deploy smart card-based solutions, and the other half are technology companies supplying products or services. This balance makes the Smart Card Alliance a unique place where users, issuers and suppliers meet to exchange ideas, discuss common issues and work together to develop and expand the use of multi-application smart cards in North America. A complete list of current members, can be found on the website at www.smartcardalliance.org.

As a recognized leader in the advancement and implementation of smart card technology and one of the world’s largest business consulting and systems integration firms, BearingPoint (NYSE:BE) is pleased to join the Smart Card Alliance, a group that has been successful in educating and supporting members of government and industry as well as promoting this capable technology,” said Mike Palmer, a managing director with BearingPoint’s Secure Access and Identity Management group. “We will use our experience in the secure access and identity management fields to contribute to many of the initiatives led by the SCA and look forward to this close collaboration.”

Many long time members see value in maintaining their membership in the Alliance over many years. In speaking of the value of membership, Kevin Gillick, head of corporate marketing for Datacard Group, and an Alliance board director said, “Through regular attendance at meetings and conferences, we’ve been able to develop important business relationships with some of the most knowledgeable people in the industry. And, we have been given the opportunity to have our voice heard through the development of various Alliance white papers that address topics of interest to the North American user of smart card technology.”

Paul Beverly, president Smart Cards and Terminals, Schlumberger and chairman of the board for the Alliance said, “Schlumberger highly supports the Smart Card Alliance because it gives us the ability to confront the business and technical opportunities of smart card deployments with our industry peers. The wealth of knowledge that resides in the Smart Card Alliance membership is always stimulating and the published articles and industry forums are very insightful. Any company that intends to make decisions that are driven from the market environment has to be active in the Smart Card Alliance.”

About the Smart Card Alliance

The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to accelerate the acceptance of smart card technology. Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. For more information please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org.

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