Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

The technical basics of Near Field Communications

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Understanding why NFC is more than contactless, Bluetooth, or RFID …

Certainly among the hottest of topics in the ID world today is Near Field Communication (NFC), an exciting and relatively new technology. While it has become a household term in most identification-centric circles, a significant gap in understanding of its technical operations and capabilities remains. Ask a number of people to define NFC, and you are likely to get responses like: ‘It’s a way to make payments with your mobile phone’ … ‘It’s contactless but it can go in a other devices’ … ‘Its like Bluetooth but it is in a card.” While each of these descriptions are accurate to a degree, they fail to capture the true understanding of what sets NFC apart from other technologies.

There are 945 words in the rest of this article …

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The U.S. government’s Advanced Analytic Capabilities Subgroup of the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) has awarded a research and development contract to voice biometrics technology provider Agnitio Corp. to speed up development and deliver an improved capabilities for voice biometrics-based mobile phone security.

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EMVCo, the EMV standards body jointly owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa, will host its fourth annual EMV User Meeting on June 20 - June 21 at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown in Toronto, Canada.

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Identive Group will be showcasing its near field communication solutions for students and campuses during the National Association of Campus Card Users Annual Conference in Seattle, Wash.

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A new survey from Motorola Solutions shows there is increasing interest from retail, hospitality and field service industries for mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) solutions, such as NFC payments and mobile loyalty programs, as a core strategy for improving customer service.

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New research from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that nearly two-thirds of tech experts believe that smart phones will overtake credit cards as the dominant form of payment by 2020.

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Oberthur Technologies partnered with Ingecom to integrate a high-frequency chip and antenna into a SIM card, enabling mobile phone users to communicate with a receiver located up to 15-meters away.

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