In their report entitled “Global Card Market Statistics,” the International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) found that the global card market touched $17 billion in 2011− a 14% jump from 2010. The report notes a significant spike in chip-based cards used in mobile phones and electronic transactions. The report also revealed that more than 30 billion […]

3M Library Systems and Polaris Library Systems have entered into an agreement that will see Polaris offering 3M’s automated materials handling, RFID and SelfCheck systems. The deal also builds on 3M’s existing strategic partnership with Polaris to integrate the Polaris integrated library system with the 3M Cloud Library eBook Lending Service, enabling patrons at participating […]

GAO RFID Inc. announced availability of a handheld ultra-high frequency (UHF) Gen 2 Bluetooth RFID reader/writer designed for applications in asset tracking, warehouse management and livestock tagging. The advanced Gen 2 RFID interrogator, model 246008, provides a swivel read head to enable for the most favorable read rates regardless of tag orientation and for comfortable […]

Cubic Transportation Systems has received an extension to their system support services contract – an increase of approximately $9 million – from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency (Metro). The extension covers components of the universal fare system (UFS) fare collection system that is the foundation of the regional contactless smart card branded as […]

Apple announced the acquisition of AuthenTec for $356 million. AuthenTec provides embedded fingerprint scanners and associated identity management software as well as digital rights management software. Does this mean that Apple devices will start coming equipped with fingerprint scanners for access? It’s not immediately known. Alan Goode, founder and managing director at Goode Intelligence, a […]

Over the past four years, as the organizers of the London 2012 Olympic Games led the construction of the Olympic Park and Athletes Village, British biometrics firm Human Recognition Systems (HRS) secured the area with MSite, a biometric identification management and access control platform. The MSite system incorporated biometric identification, card-level encryption and cloud-based technology. […]

A Black Hat presentation on payment terminals and their vulnerabilities was given by a German security researcher known only as “Nils,” and his colleague Rafael Dominguez Vega, both of MWR InfoSecurity in the U.K., A PCWorld article detailed. The presentation targeted three of the most popular point-of-sale (POS) terminals currently in service. The exact models […]

The US Patent & Trademark Office has published a patent application from Apple that details how an NFC-enabled iPhone or other Apple device can control and interact with TVs, video game consoles, security systems and plenty of other devices, reports Patently Apple. Apple’s latest patent application contains more than 150 graphics showing how a an […]

Despite numerous trials and deployments of NFC-enabled payment terminals in the U.S., mobile payments are still two to three years away from becoming mainstream, Visa’s head of mobile Bill Gajda told CNET. According to Gajda, there are two main problems holding mobile payments back: hardware and customer awareness. In addressing the hardware problem, Visa and […]

ActivIdentity released a new version of its 4TRESS authentication system that enables granular control of organizations’ enforcement of operating systems, soft tokens and soft token versions. 4TRESS is a soft token system that can work with users personal smart phones and tablets, should a company have a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) policy. 4TRESS enables system managers to […]