HID Global launches USB reader, issues other product announcements
05 November, 2008
category: Contactless, Corporate, Digital ID, Financial, NFC
HID Global has launched its first mobile contactless USB reader, one of several announcements the company made during the CARTES and IDentification show in Paris this week. Two others involved one of its contactless readers being part of the first mobile payment terminal system to achieve MasterCard PayPass certification and its MIFARE Easy Reader Board being incorporated into Integra Micro Systems’ imFAST financial terminal.
This first device is the OMNIKEY 6321 USB smart card reader series. It’s a mobile contactless USB reader that enables logical access control with iCLASS support. This dongle-sized form factor works with the company’s HID on the Desktop solutions.
A complement to the line of OMNIKEY desktop and mobile readers and driver infrastructure, the OMNIKEY 6321 Contactless and Contact USB Reader:
–Includes dual interface PC-linked USB reader that reads/writes to both a 13.56 MHZ contactless smart card and virtually any SIM-sized contact smart card;
–Supports HID iCLASS and MIFARE, as well as ISO 14443 A/B and 15693 standards for contactless cards;
–Is compliant with ISO 7816 standard for contact cards and Microsoft WHQL;
–Features host interface USB 2.0 and is compliant with USB 1.1.
In another announcement, HID said its contactless HF Multi ISO Reader is an integral component of UK company Thyron Systems’ MPT500, the first mobile payment terminal to achieve MasterCard PayPass certification.
The portable MPT500 terminal enables merchants to accept card payments in locations away from traditional landline communication, providing a secure alternative to low-value cash purchases. The units connect to the banking network over GPRS mobile data communication, which is an always on/always ready network.
These readers are also interoperable, supporting the industry standards, including ISO 14443 A/B, ISO 15693, ISO 18000-3, NFC and EPC.
The third announcement involved the MIFARE Easy Reader Board that has been incorporated into the imFAST financial terminal of India-based Integra Micro Systems. Designed as a mobile unit solution, the imFAST terminal enables banks to extend their services to remote areas without large capital and infrastructure investments, while enabling users to conduct highly secure, highly convenient financial transactions.
The imFAST terminal leverages the MIFARE Easy Reader Board’s resistance to climate conditions (heat and humidity) and physical shocks, which enables the imFAST units to withstand environmental and transportation environments. In addition, the signal anti-collision capabilities of HID Global’s MIFARE reader board enable secure and effective transactions as the banker’s and customer’s contactless cards must be used simultaneously to activate the system.
The imFAST units use normal phone connectivity to complete transactions. However, when used in areas where there is no phone connection or mobile signal immediately available, the unit records all transactions offline and then transfers them to the bank’s server when a connection becomes available.