A card is a credential. As such it ensures we can assert our rights and privileges and that we are reminded when due of where these stop and where these become duties. My card entitles me to the next call, transaction or secure interrogation I wish to perform. It may support my own accountable involvement in democratic elections and my crossing borders as a trusted traveller. It also ensures I cannot look elsewhere when I am asked to pay taxes and that a tight control of financial flows is maintained, as it cannot be used to withdraw more than its daily limit from cash machines. A card can mean a lot of things, including an unexpectedly healthy evening when it stops bartenders from serving drinks to someone underage ‘carded’ at a club.

Engaging in technology sourcing activities in an evolving market such as the auto ID arena sees decision makers face complex choices. Cards evolved over the years from simple tokens, easy to manufacture as much as to counterfeit, to hyper-sophisticated keys of modern-time trust models embracing the physical and the digital worlds. By providing you with this year’s ID WORLD Directory of Top Suppliers of Card Technologies, the ID Community Publications mark yet another milestone in their constant strive to update end-users and integrators, as well as the auto ID industry’s channel partners with essential tools to support their decisions. What we would like to ensure is that – whether you buy card technologies to support your corporate access control system, to badge your students, to reach out to your country’s population or to serve your system’s patients – you are fully informed of where we stand today with regard to the world’s best performing and more convenient technologies of choice.

An informed decision is a better decision. Whether you are outsourcing the design and integration of your credentialing system to a trusted partner or embracing the challenge of doing-it-yourself, with all what it takes in terms of bigger and all too often only relatively smaller choices to make, it simply is wise to take a glance at the options available. Benchmarking is a healthy exercise. Beauty contests are good for your finances. Know what you want and go for what is best for you on the basis of hard facts.

“Cards” is the first Directory released for 2015 on our multichannel media platform. We hope you enjoy reading through its comprehensive review of suppliers, products and technologies and trust that it will inspire you to challenge at least some of your assumptions in light of what is new and up to date today. Having published “Cards” since the year 2000, we look forward to constantly updating its records and ensuring it may continue acting as a pivotal resource for the industry and its clients, who still look at cards as at a most stable and proven identification technology, offering the ideal compromise between functionality, economy and compliance, as well as a smart choice for business continuity.

 
Community Award

Sprague Ackley – Technologist – Intermec
For his role as the Convenor (Chair) of ISO/IEC JTC1 SC31 Work Group One (WG1) in leading a recent project in collaboration with ISO/IEC JTC1 SC17 WG3 to produce a quality measurement method forOCR-B, the machine-readable characters on all passports worldwide.

Dr. Barbara Mandl – Senior Manager – Daimler
For her relentless efforts in ensuring the constant challenges for information security professionals are met in terms of access control decisions being based on the right decisions – particularly in the emerging BYOD scenario, which combines various sources of information.

Ian Lancaster – General Secretary – International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA)
For his efforts in raising awareness issues and encouraging the industry to review and if necessary redouble their brand protection and authentication strategies to stem the ‘haemorrhage’ of counterfeit goods flowing out of China. The use of holography is a flexible weapon in the ongoing battle to thwart counterfeiters and fraudsters.

Michel Quillé – Deputy Director, Operations Department – Europol, The Netherlands
For his work at Europol to foster collaboration between states to combat illegal immigration and human trafficking, limit capabilities of itinerant organized crime groups, as well as fight cybercrime and the criminal misuse of the Internet.

Max Snijder – CEO – European Biometrics Group
For his work in developing the strategic aspects of biometrics deployments, as well as the important role he plays in establishing European capabilities for testing and certification of biometric components and systems.

 
ID Leadership Award

Dr. Sandy Andelman – Executive Director – Vital Signs
For spearheading the creation of a monitoring system for agriculture, ecosystems and human well-being, using Esri technology to visually communicate data that shed new light on the benefits farmers receive from nature and agriculture in Africa.

Ivica Dacic – Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior – Ministry of the Interior, Serbia
For embracing the modernization of identity management as a cornerstone element in bringing transparency and efficiency to government driven programs and citizen centric services. The digitalization of government issued ID documents in a number of projects position Serbia as a main spearhead of the eID revolution.

Gilles de Kerchove – Counter-Terrorism Coordinator – European Union
For his work with the Council of the EU in the field of counter-terrorism to maintain an overview of all the instruments at the Union’s disposal, closely monitor the implementation of the EU counter-terrorism strategy, fostering better communication between the EU and third Countries in the fight against terrorism.

Terry Hartmann – VP, Security and Industry Applications Solutions – Unisys Corporation
For creating a vibrant and market-leading security practice for Unisys with several new multiyear government clients, such as the Australian Department of Immigration & Citizenship, leading to widespread recognition of Unisys as a solutions leader in the identity field.

Vidar Refvik – Director – Norwegian Police Force
For the introduction of a new national crime management system to support police investigations and criminal prosecutions in Norway. The system is highly flexible to enable the integration of mobile solutions. It also will support and comply with all criminal justice legislation and meet all legal requirements for how case data is accessed, stored and traced for investigative purposes.

 
ID Limelight Award

Alexander Gluhak – Senior Researcher – University of Surrey, UK
For his research work at the University of Surrey, on real world information infrastructures based on the Internet of Things and in particular for his technical management of the Sensei project, a large-scale European project that focuses on the Integration of the Physical into the Digital World of the Future Internet.

Mateo Meier – Director – Artmotion
For doubling customer data security center capacities in the face of data being intercepted by external activities following Prism revelations. The data center supports the need, laid down by the stringent laws, which govern Swiss banks and which are derived from the nation’s approach to privacy.

Prof. Anthony Mbewu – Chief Executive Officer – Government Printing Works, South Africa
For the launch of a new smart ID card program to replace existing green bar-coded paper ID books with the goal of issuing 38 million smart ID cards featuring a dual-interface chip, as well as fingerprint biometrics and biographic data – also enabling the card for access to other government services such as electronic health records.

Dr. Franz Palm – Deputy President of the Federal Police Office – Federal Police, Germany
For initiating the roll out of Germany’s EasyPass eGate program – hailed as the largest in Europe. This 30 million Euro project will see biometric-based eGates rolled out across the country with some 90 eGates to be implemented across Germany’s major airports, including, Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf and Hamburg, with an option for 180 more eGates.

Mr. Radu Papescu-Zeletin – Director – Fraunhofer Fokus
For his efforts in getting future ID technologies off the ground with the innovation cluster “Next Generation ID” for the seamless transport of knowledge between science and industry through a joint portfolio built around an Identity Roadmap 2020 – addressing identity issues in their entirety.

 
Trail Blazer Award

Ignicious Bulongo – Healthcare Manager – Ng’ombe Integrated HIV/TB Clinic, Zambia
For the implementation of the SmartCare system, an electronic health record system developed by Zambia’s Ministry of Health and the U.S. Center for Disease Control, to help control disease outbreaks at the Ng’ombe Integrated HIV/TB Clinic, located in the Zambian capital. The facility provides primary care to nearly 50,000 people, many of whom, live in poverty.

Chris Diorio – Co- Founder & CTO – Impinj
For his work in developing RFID standards and his efforts and contributions to those standards particularly dealing with privacy and security issues surrounding the deployment of RFID.

Dr. Aparna Hegde – Founder and Chairperson – Armman, Mumbai
For spearheading the introduction of mMitra, a mobile health project that uses voice messages to provide rural women in India information on antenatal care in order to change beliefs and practices during pregnancy and post-partum.

Su Ning – Chairman – UnionPay China
For spearheading the launch, in partnership with China Mobile, of an NFC payments service and mobile wallet app, which is live in more than fourteen Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou — and eight banks.

Pierre Viaud – Senior Director Public Affairs & Government Relations – SICPA Security Solutions
For SICPA’s contribution to a multidisciplinary understanding of the global phenomenon of counterfeit medicines, the public health and economic impact and the drive to find the potential solutions through innovative technologies to identify fake and substandard drugs.

 
ID Outstanding Achievement Award

Peter Fjelbye – Business Architect, eSecurity, NemID Scheme Management – Nets DanID
For the introduction of NemID (the new digital signature) to be used primarily in contact with banks and authorities, but also with a number of other players in Denmark from 2014. The launch of the product was preceded by extensive work on security.

Basia Nasiorowska – CEO – Interoptic Networks
For the ongoing work of the Biometric Facial Recognition Twins Project, aimed at helping provide the ability to mass-broadcast digital facial images of a missing child to law enforcement officials, media organizations and others, utilizing facial recognition systems technology.

Dr. Ahmet Sarican – GM – General Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality, Turkey
For establishing the central civil registration system (Mernis) which allows registration and all eGovernent transactions to move online with lower costs, increasing public efficiency and assuring consistent data. This project also contributes Identity Information Sharing System, which helps other public agencies aggregate data.

Tiago Silva Lopes – Director – Telecom Portugal
For the mobile network operator’s launch of a digital wallet solution CardMobili to implement a digital wallet that will support both NFC and QR codes and offer a range of added value services, including loyalty, offers and coupons.

Igor Vasiliev – General Director – Alioth
For the launch of a multi-application contactless smart card solution product which is driving smart card convergence in Russia. Called SCOne, the card combines banking, transport ticketing and eGovernment functionality and directly relates to the Moscow Department of Transport’s new Mifare Plus-based ‘Troika’ smart card project.