Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

Employee ID cards double as electronic purses in Bangkok

Monday, July 7, 2008

Many Bangkok employees are able to use their employer-issued ID cards to purchase drinks from vending machines on company property thanks to contactless technology. Sun108, a Thailand company, is so far handling about 2,000 vending machines located in manufacturing plants and about 1,000 machines in hospitals and other offices.


According to The Nation, a Bangkok newspaper, Sun108 managing director Vathit Chokwatana said the vending machines include an RFID reader to allow employees to use their company identity card with an embedded RFID tag much like an electronic purse.

“The vending machine will dispense the desired product when an employee flashes an ID card instead of putting in coins. Our first customer has implemented six vending machines that enable the staff to buy products electronically,” Vathit said. The verification process is done instantly at the machine and the monetary transaction takes place at the company’s server, simultaneously.

“The vending machines will be integrated and linked to the company’s server, restricting access only to its employees,” Vathit said. [end] 

As more and more schools make the transition to smart cards, it’s easy to forget that some universities are quite happy with their mag-stripe cards. An article at Assa Abloy’s Future Lab Web site points out that some colleges have withstood moving to smart cards, either because it’s too expensive or students and faculty haven’t asked for them.

read more »

Revel, an entertainment resort and casino operating in Atlantic City, New Jersey, has selected the GIMS ultra-high frequency RFID uniform tracking system to control thousands of valuable garments worn by more than 5,800 resort staff members.

read more »

Visa Europe is anticipating a big year for contactless and NFC payments, with issuance projected to leap from 30 million in 2011 to 50 million in 2012.

read more »

Retail operations are finding biometric point-of-sale systems that are used for both tracking employee actions as well as for time and attendance are a great tool in fighting inventory shrink and labor fraud, according to a Point of Sale News article.

read more »

The UK Border Agency has announced intentions to require applicants applying for six-month stays from outside the European Economic Area to use biometric residency permits starting at the end of February 2012, according to an HR Magazine article.

read more »

A recent survey conducted by Wincor Nixdorf shows that a strong majority of French consumers are interested in using fingerprint scanning technology to secure transactions.

read more »

Subscribe to the Contactless News Library
Gain access to the largest collection of Auto-ID analysis on the Internet.