Beginning in fiscal year 2012, U.S. government agencies must upgrade their physical and logical access control systems to provide federal employees and contractors with more secure and reliable forms of identification using Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentials.

These credentials must leverage smart card and biometric technology in accordance with National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines embodied in FIPS 201. These upgrades must be completed before federal agencies may use development and technology refresh funds to complete other activities. 

VingCard Elsafe announced new enhancements to the electronics and lock control units of its best-in-class RFID locking systems specifically designed for applications hospitality, hotel and resort security.

These modern advancements include - among other improvements - a newly optimized internal antenna. The enhanced antenna nearly doubles the reading speed by almost 50% when compared to earlier versions. Similarly, the new platform enables RFID locks to read key cards from more than twice as far. 

Blackpool, a seaside town situated along England’s west coast, has installed a number of Parkeon contactless-enabled parking pay stations.

For the installation, Blackpool Council opted for the Parkeon Strada pay station terminal. This new, solar-powered terminal is equipped with contactless card readers, accepting contactless payment-enabled mobile phones and various wave and pay bank cards. 

The Huntsville, Ala. school district is conducting a pilot program that will track when and where students get on and off the bus. Currently, three schools–an elementary, middle and high school–are involved in the pilot.

The program, which kicks off next month, involves the 300 students tapping their ID card against a reader installed in each bus. If successful, said a district spokesman, the program could be expanded district-wide. 

Contactless technology is rapidly growing in adoption for all types of payment and ticketing systems. According to Eurosmart, 630 million secure contactless cards were shipped in 2008 alone and we have seen the number of trials for near field communication (NFC) products grown exponentially since the late 2000s.

When it comes to NFC-capable devices, ABI Research estimates that nearly 35 million NFC enabled handsets shipped in 2011, and nearly double that number will find their way to market in 2012.

Credit card companies are starting to issue contactless products and major cities are rolling out contactless mass transit cards. Governments safely use contactless technology to secure passports and other ID documents for citizens, while corporations provide employees with contactless cards to secure access to facilities, networks and 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.

2012 will also see the launch the company’s first NFC-enabled mobile payments services, along with the debut of its new e-commerce digital wallet service in the latter half of the year. 

McDonald’s and Barclaycard are gearing up to launch NFC awareness campaigns aimed at spurring the adoption of contactless payment technology, according to MarketingWeek.

Barclaycard, which holds the highest share (71%) of the UK contactless market, reports that contactless transactions have doubled in the last year, but are still “nowhere near” where they want to be, according to Tom Gregory, Barclaycard’s head of digital payments.