Smart Cards are one of the most exciting new technologies in global information systems. Early applications were concentrated mostly in telecommunications and banking... today a vast array of businesses has discovered the advantages of smart card but what does it really mean for business ?


BANKING PAYMENT
Moving toward comprehensive electronic banking Banks are changing the way that we pay for goods and services. Industry-wide standards and new service offers are shaping the future of the entire industry.
New smart card standards are opening the way for a seamless shift from the conventional world of mag-stripe payment cards to the value-added world of smart cards. The institutions that will make a difference in tomorrow s market are those that propose advanced services to their customers. The smart card is your key to the global information society, covering needs ranging from off-line payment to emerging solutions for on-line banking.

LOYALTY & RETAIL SYSTEMS
Building a New Relationship with Your Customers Understanding your customers is a key factor in the success of all business ventures.
Smart technologies open the way to attractive new loyalty schemes. Multi-partner, high-technology schemes generate renewed customer interest in retail loyalty. The advanced information systems associated with the smart card, allow you to use loyalty programs as particularly powerful marketing tools.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Building Trust in Electronic Networks Smart card solutions build trust in Web and e-mail services.
The vast opportunities associated with the emerging information society all rely on trust between invisible partners. Consumers, merchants and financial institutions need to know that documents, identities and payment transactions are indeed genuine.

GAMING
Fun and games in support of loyalty programs and offers marketing tools to win customers' hearts and minds.
Retailers need to find new ways to attract and hold peoples interest... which is the aim of all loyalty programs. With the Pocket Gaming Machine, you can now implement a game-based loyalty program with the instant gratification of paper ticket- based games, plus the thrill of modern multimedia technology. The Pocket Gaming Machines will reinforce your brand image and keep excitement high in the bargain. Brand and network advocates often organize games and prize drawings to increase customer traffic. Smart technology adds a new dimension to these tried-and-true formulas. By offering your customers smart cards (perhaps even personalized), pre-loaded with a certain number of units, they can play not once, but several times, which keeps them coming back.

METERING
Metering Smart technology is completely transforming prepayment systems in the utility business. Major benefits include reduced operating costs, more reliable risk assessment, zero debt-collection and ironclad security.
Smart utility companies are now able to obtain detailed consumption profiles while improving communications with their consumers. Quick and easy to install, smart-metering systems help streamline infrastructures, increase revenues and boost profits. They also make it easy to introduce new services. Smart prepayment-cards are secure, user-friendly, and meet with universal customer acceptance. With prepayment card systems, meter reading, billing and collection are optimized, and new services made available.

CLOSED ENVIRONMENTS
Smart Cards for Closed Environments Moving from simple Access Control to true Multiapplication systems. Smart cards offer a comprehensive solution for places of work, study and leisure.
Access Control: more than just "Who goes there!"
Protecting physical property is increasing important to companies and organizations. Fortunately, new access control systems have come a long way since the punch card. The smart card allows you to implement an array of functions in a single card. Logical Access Control As information systems become increasingly pervasive, smart institutions want to link their access control systems into the broader information system. The smart card is the ideal means to achieve such integration. A Single Card for Lots of Applications Being able to combine microprocessor chip, magnetic stripe, biometrics, bar code, personalization and contactless technologies on one card opens many doors: Physical and logical access control, Electronic purse, Time and attendance management, Cardholder profile, Vending machines and meals, Leisure activities, Transportation, Photocopying.

TRANSPORT
Smart Mass Transit & Toll Collection Handling large numbers of people and vehicles in a very short time is an increasingly difficult task in the fast-moving world of modern cities.
Collecting fares, managing huge numbers of small transactions, promoting public transit over private vehicles, harmonizing ticketing for both occasional users and caily commuters...
Every public transit operator is concerned by these challenging issues. None of them can be resolved easily, but smart card technology is a key factor of success for any organization looking to upgrade their payment system. Teleticketing, toll collection or urban parking are applications that respond to a common problem with a common goal in mind: Improve user comfort, and thus increase loyalty Allow flexible pricing Ensure user anonymity Use statistics to adjust offer Offer support for a broader range of services Promote high-tech image Reduce costs on installation and operation.

PHONECARD SERVICES
Smart Phonecards, a new generation of convenience The first smart card application is gaining adepts throughout the world.
Manage payphones in a cash-free, low-maintenance environment. The smart payphone is indeed a global application, with users on every continent. Today, smart phonecards are winning wide acceptance. A new generation of phonecards with active authentication, to provide telecom operators with unrivaled anti-fraud and data protection. In addition, IT helps customers gain advantage from opening public telephone networks to card-based banking, loyalty, and transportation ticketing applications. For digital cellular payphone solutions.

HEALTHCARE
Managing Medical and Administrative Data Insurers, government agencies and healthcare professionals need to work together in a world of ever more sophisticated treatment and management approaches.
As modern societies tend toward generalized healthcare coverage, the management of information concerning patients' coverage and medical history is increasingly complex. Smart technology allows each actor in the healthcare system to access the data that they need without compromising personal privacy. Here is an example of a situation where the smart card is serving as an instrument of individual responsibility in increasingly global information systems.
Basic issues Clinical practitioners major problem is the lack of easy access to up-to-date and reliable medical records. This leads to either redundant prescriptions or loss of time recovering accurate information. Medical treatment is not as pertinent as it might be with a complete and relevant medical file. Medical efficiency is greatly dependent on the sharing of information between physicians, hospitals and pharmacies. Today there is no system that shares patient data between practitioners efficiently while ensuring confidentiality. The smart card can store basic information from the individuals medical record. The information can include: personal identification, emergency data, previous date and place of hospitalizations, data on allergies, courses of treatment, vaccinations, chronic diseases, etc. With the medical smart card, patients carry their personal and medical information wherever they are treated. The medical patient card helps to create a virtual information system network (31K) between the different parties, on a shared basis, for the delivery and the monitoring of healthcare services.
Thanks to the smart card technology this virtual network is highly secure and it is suitable for confidential data such as clinical information. Benefits of smart card solutions Improved care of patients: Faster and better care in the emergencies ward of hospitals; no more unneeded treatments, tests, procedures and costs Fast and easy access to information for all health professionals Facilitation of medical audit: " Medical nomadism ", " patient tracking ", " epidemiological surveys " and many other studies can be conducted. Empowerment of patients: With Vaccicard, the French smart card program for immunization, it has been demonstrated during the pilot phase that the patients holding Vaccicard felt far more concerned about their immunization status. Vaccicard behaved as an effective reminder. No more paper forms: The smart card eliminates the necessity to fill out paper forms How to manage high volume of medical data? Medical records may represent a high volume of data and ever increasing memory capacity might be requested by some customers. The memory capacity currently available on microprocessor cards (up to 64 kbits) is compatible with common healthcare requirements, thanks to the codification of the basic medical records (cares, prescriptions, diagnosis, ...). With an optimized codification scheme, you can store more than 3,000 of these on a 64 Kbits MPCOS card. But the smart card is more than a storage device, it can also provide a secure access key to larger medical records such as images. In this case, the card contains pointers to the physical or electronic address of the specified medical data. In a near future, these pointers will allow the healthcare professional to retrieve any necessary element of the patient's complete medical dossier on his PC.

GOVERMENT ID
Smart Cards for Government ID Applications Many government agencies need to manage new identification systems. Accurate, up-to-date information is the key to timely, fraud-proof service.
Smart cards are becoming a key element in many public projects, in a drive to renovate administration and improve services for citizens. This trend is particularly strong in countries where lack of low-cost telecommunications has limited access to centralized databases. Emerging instrustrial countries favor smart cards over other portable information medium. Decision makers aim to create advanced technology systems, and thus need a versatile interface to support all data and applications for future developments. The time has come for smart ID.

WIRELESS COMUNICATION
Wireless communications now means being able to call and be called anywhere... tomorrow it will mean doing whatever, wherever, whenever.
Since 1988, companys have been providing telecom operators with SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards, services and software. Smart technology offers an unrivaled range of solutions for GSM, PCS, DCS and Satellite network operators. Offering technology alone just is not enough in today's wireless communication market, value-added services are what will distinguish the truly successful operators. Smart technology offers an unrivaled range of solutions for GSM, PCS, DCS and satellite network operators.