The News

Inside Extends Smart Card Alliance Involvement Within the Leadership Council

30/03/2007

INSIDE Contactless, a provider of advanced, open standard contactless chip technologies, has announced that it has extended its membership within the Smart Card Alliance to the Leadership Council. The Smart Card Alliance is a non-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of Smart Card technology. The Smart Card Alliance is the single industry voice for Smart Card technology, leading the discussion on the value of Smart Cards in the US and Latin America. The Alliance invests heavily in education on the appropriate uses of technology for identification, payment and other applications. It strongly advocates the use of Smart Card technology in a way that protects privacy and enhances data security and integrity. Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and industry innovations.

INSIDE has also announced that its Executive Vice President for Payments, Charles Walton has been appointed co-chairman of the Contactless Payments Council. The Contactless Payments Council is one of several focused groups within the overall structure of the Alliance, designed to enhance industry collaboration and speed the adoption of contactless Smart Cards. "INSIDE Contactless is one of the most widely recognized and active companies in our industry, possessing both the technology and the leadership, as demonstrated by their council participation, to bring Smart Card-enabled contactless payments to a new level," said Randy Vanderhoof, Director of the Smart Card Alliance. "We are pleased that INSIDE has extended their leadership role within the contactless payments industry through further involvement within the Smart Card Alliance."

"Contactless technology is rapidly approaching the mainstream, with multiple issuers on-board, with 20 million plus contactless bank cards in the market, and with contactless reader infrastructure becoming more pervasive", said Charles Walton, Executive Vice President for Payments for INSIDE.  We hope that our participation in the Smart Card Alliance will help educate the contactless payments market in the areas of core technology, business opportunity, value-added applications, and security".