LEGIC expands to Spain with new partner Softmachine

LEGIC Identsystems Ltd expanded its partner network in Southern Europe with the announcement of a joint venture with Spain-based security company Softmachine Systems. The new affiliation aims to produce contactless access control solutions and installations for multifunctional visitor management including applications for electronic payment and time and attendance.Read the full article at ContactlessNews…

Access presents secure travel and ID document readers

Access IS is gearing up for Security Document World (SDW) 2012 where it will be showcasing its latest range of security document readers. There the company will introduce its new passport reader - the OCR601 - which is able to quickly and accurately verify the machine readable zone (MRZ) and enables the data in an e-passport’s chip to be read, all in a single action. Access also plans to unveil the OCR312, a compact and lightweight optical character reader (OCR) for passports, identity cards and other OCR-B encoded cards. Read the full article at ContactlessNews…

ABI: Smart card, secure IC shipments increase

The market for smart cards and secure ICs achieved double-digit year-over-year growth for shipments in 2011, demonstrating increases of 16% and 15%, respectively, according to ABI Research Volumes continued ramping up, driven by further mobile penetration, the ongoing developments in the SIM card sector and the number of countries migrating to EMV. The top three applications – government ID, payment cards and SIM – accounted for 88% of the total seven billion smart cards shipped in 2011. Further adoption in contactless cards added increased value to the market, as will the greater demand for multi-application cards. Read the full article at ContactlessNews…

No more carrying cash around at Wireless Festival

Barclays Bank PLC announced that the Barclaycard Wireless Festival 2012 is to be fully contactless enabled, giving attendees the ability to enjoy the experience without having to carry cash. All vendors at the festival will accept contactless payments, allowing festival-goers to spend less time queuing and more time listening to music. All forms of contactless payment will be accepted including Barclaycard PayBand, a specially designed wristband that allows customers to pay for goods quickly and easily using contactless technology.Read the full article at ContactlessNews…

LEGIC further builds its presence in China

LEGIC Identsystems Ltd. is continuing to expand its partner network in China collaborating on new installation ranging parking solutions, access control, and personal identification. Shenzhen Chuangtong Intelligence Equipment, a Chinese company focusing on the manufacturing of contactless parking solutions and integrated identification systems, will leverage LEGIC based products for access control installations, especially for car parks. Read the full article at ContactlessNews…

Evolis introduces Primacy card printer

Evolis introduced its new card printer, coined Primacy, suited for instantly personalizing cards in medium to large runs, single or dual-sided and for a range of applications. Primacy is equipped either with a single or double-sided option, which can be enabled on-site and made available for encoding options for magnetic stripes, smart cards or contactless cards. The printer personalizes color cards, up to 210 cards per hour for one side and 140 cards per hour for dual-sided printing.Read the full article at ContactlessNews…

Missouri State chooses Blackboard for NFC-based contactless card system

Missouri State University has selected Blackboard Transact to implement a contactless student ID card. This enables the new system to integrate student identification, door security, commerce and campus payment into a single contactless card. The new BearPass ID card uses Sony’s FeliCa contactless technology and works with Blackboard-enabled smart card readers–which also support magnetic stripe technology–for faster and more secure transactions. Read the full article at ContactlessNews…

Clipper card hiccup overcharges transit passengers

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) released a statement concerning a glitch in its Clipper card system, and the blame for overcharging certain AC Transit passengers, according to SFExaminer.com. Traditionally, AC Transit passengers who make bus transfers are only charged 25 cents for their second leg, even if they split up that journey with a trip on BART. However, for a two-month stretch earlier this year, Clipper card readers were not recognizing that first trip, leading to overcharges.Read the full article at ContactlessNews…

austriamicrosystems joins OSPT, promotes open standard specs

The Open Standard for Public Transport (OSPT) Alliance announced that austriamicrosystems has joined as a full member. Since joining the OSPT Alliance, austriamicrosystems will have access to the CIPURSE open standard specification, leveraging its experience into embedded systems for mobile fare collection applications. The open standard promotes vendor neutrality and cross-vendor system interoperability with reduced technology adoption risks, higher quality and improved market responsiveness.Read the full article at ContactlessNews…

HSBC starts roll out of contactless bank cards

HSBC announced that it will begin the conversion to contactless technology this month, replacing all customer banking debit cards, according to ThinkMoney.com. The bank will start to roll out the new contactless cards to existing customers whose debit cards are due to expire this month and then continue the process as cards expire. Customers who don’t want a contactless card can opt out by contacting their bank before their current card expires.Read the full article at ContactlessNews…