ABI Research forecasts the global biometrics market will reach more than $30 billion by 2021; Vision-Box is providing facial recognition technology to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for a deployment at three JFK arrival terminals; Infineon Technologies AG in collaboration with Mobile Payment Solutions Co. Ltd. have launched a new NFC security module series designed for fitness trackers and other wearables.

Group demos new architecture for strong authentication with fingerprint; Fujitsu launched its STYLISTIC Q736 featuring different types of security technologies including palm vein biometric; BlackRidge Technology unveiled an app to provide real-time identity attribution; the Imprimerie Nationale Group and Gemalto have been awarded a multi-year contract to deliver an ePassport solution for Peru; Smartrac has obtained Common Criteria EAL6 certification for its Thailand production site.

The underlying technology behind contactless smart cards hasn’t changed, but that does not mean manufacturers or their offerings have stagnated. Two of the biggest changes in contactless smart card technology are the speed of the chips and the memory capacity.

The Smart Card Alliance released a white paper looking at non-payment use cases for near field communications technology. While the different payment schemes from Apple, Samsung and Google might receive all the attention there are numerous other applications for the communications protocol.

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises new opportunities for consumers and businesses to improve productivity and quality of life. At the same time, the IoT opens the door to new threats to information privacy. The vision for the information superhighway has come true, but sadly it’s creating a number of new IoT-related on-ramps that cybercriminals can use.

The spread of mobile is driving demand for creative mash-ups of proximity-based technologies. That’s why tech incubator AccelerateNFC and proximity ID company Flomio created TrackHack: The Proximity ID Hackathon.

AVISIAN Publishing is pleased to announce the release of the interactive version of the Winter 2015 Regarding ID magazine. Some highlights from this issue include: Wallet holds DNA for digital ID, Protecting kids’ online identities, Municipal governments issuing IDs and Clear IDs resurrected at airports, stadiums.