The News

Inside debuts converged contactless payment/access control platform

28/05/2009

MicroPass 4006 Brings Convenience to Corporate and University Campuses

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France, May 28, 2009 – INSIDE Contactless, the world leader in advanced open-standard contactless chip technologies, today introduced the MicroPass 4006, a new solution that makes it possible to combine ID and physical access control applications with Visa payWave, Visa’s contactless payment technology. The latest member of the award-winning MicroPass family of intelligent contactless payment platforms, the MicroPass 4006 is designed for next-generation, converged contactless applications on university and corporate campuses, where students, staff and employees can use a single, all-purpose card for branded payment, identification (including biometrics), ticketing and access control transactions.

U.S. Bank is the first card issuer in the United States to pilot the MicroPass 4006, enabling employees at its Minneapolis, Minnesota headquarters to make purchases and enter their secure work location using a U.S. Bank AccelaPay® Visa card, a prepaid payroll account.  The MicroPass platform supports both the Visa payWave payment and HID® iCLASS® secure access control/identity applications in the single AccelaPay card.

“The MicroPass platform is ideal for the high-volume, multi-brand and multi-application capabilities required by these kinds of university and corporate campus environments, where the convenience of a single all-purpose card is very attractive,” said Charles Walton, executive vice president of payments for INSIDE Contactless.  “We believe MicroPass 4006 is the only solution available that makes it possible to combine ID and access control applications with Visa contactless payments.”

MicroPass 4006 has been certified for Visa payWave as a part of a CPI Card Group contactless card product.  By combining payment with ID and physical and/or logical access control, the MicroPass 4006 enables Visa issuers like U.S. Bank to create new card programs quickly and easily, and provide their customers with unmatched convenience.  Instead of sorting through multiple cards, cardholders can complete Visa transactions and be authorized for access to facilities and privileges quickly, securely and reliably with a single card.

“Simplifying the lives of our retail and business customers through technological innovation has always played an important role at U.S. Bank,” said Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer of U.S. Bank Retail Payment Solutions for U.S. Bank.  “We look forward to working with INSIDE Contactless and HID Global, as well as our other business partners to find innovative ways to improve the overall customer experience.”

MicroPass 4006 supports Visa payWave open standard payments and HID iCLASS-enabled systems deployed worldwide.  MicroPass 4006 is compliant with the HID iCLASS standard for access control, and provides core support for iCLASS credentials using the ISO 15693 protocol.  HID iCLASS 13.56-MHz contactless solutions support multiple applications, such as physical access control, PC log-on security, biometric authentication, and contactless payment, as well as offers enhanced security through encryption and mutual authentication.

“As the world’s leading supplier of secure contactless identity solutions, HID Global sees convergence playing a pivotal role in transforming the marketplace,” said Perry Garvis, director of business development, contactless payment, for HID Global. “We are very excited about the possibilities this new platform provides. By combining payment with access control, we believe these types of solutions will lend themselves to increasing convenience and the use of the card.”
MicroPass 4006 has been built to the latest Visa payWave specifications—Visa Contactless 2.0.2 A&C v3, including Streamlined Online sqVSDC (the new globally interoperable standard for the U.S.), while maintaining backwards compatibility for MSD 1.4.2.  MicroPass has also been certified by Visa (EMVco and Visa Risk) for compliance with the latest card brand security requirements.
"Through our longstanding partnership with INSIDE Contactless, we are pleased to jointly offer new and innovative contactless products. As a result of our collaborative efforts, this converged access product can now be provided to issuers who wish to offer their client base the convenience of both physical access and payment in one card," said Michelle Lehouck, manager of product development and responsible for RFID at CPI Card Group.

Availability and Pricing
MicroPass 4006 is available now in a card prelam form factor.  Please contact INSIDE Contactless for pricing information. MicroPass 4006-based card products are available now from CPI Card Group. Please contact CPI for pricing information.