 |
|
Editor's Note: Today's top story is the new RFID Shield anti-skimming product initially aimed at the contactless credit card market.
Sybase iAnywhere has announced that its RFID Anywhere software has been selected by ThyssenKrupp Steel for use in steel shipments traveling from a new steel mill in Brazil to a harbor in Germany. The software infrastructure of the deployment is a customized version of RFID Anywhere, which was recommended by the Accenture consultants who worked with ThyssenKrupp on a successful pilot of 1,000 tabbed slabs of steel shipped from Brazil to Germany.
Lastly, RFID hardware manufacturer Sirit continues its push into the near field communication (NFC) market with an announcement that multibillion dollar Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer BenQ has chosen it to supply embedded NFC software and services for BenQ's forthcoming NFC-enabled smartphones and handsets. (For more recent history on Sirit, see Sirit Lands $2m RFID Contract for California Toll Roads.) |
|
New Material Launched to Protect RFID Credit Cards
Chase Corporation, a 61-year-old, hundred-million-dollar protective materials manufacturer, has turned its sights to RFID. The company's PaperTyger division, which produces tear and water resistant laminated papers, has just announced RFID Shield, a new material aimed at the contactless credit card market. RFID Update spoke with Chase Corporation's national sales manager Mark Weibel about RFID Shield.
RFID Shield is a new three-layered material in the same vein as Chase's other PaperTyger laminated paper products which are as strong and durable as synthetic but function like conventional paper, so that they can be printed and converted in standard machinery. RFID Shield is specially designed to block radio frequency, protecting the chip around which it is wrapped from "skimming", or the surreptitious scanning from a nearby hacker's RFID reader.
Chase's Weibel said that his company sees the protection of contactless credit card data as the most attractive target market. The RFID Shield material, which Chase sells in bulk, could line envelopes that deliver contactless credit cards to bank consumers, thereby protecting the data en route. It could also be used to construct a slim card sleeve in which consumers might carry their contactless credit cards within their wallets or purses.
"We work with the two largest envelope manufacturers in the world, who call on the consumer banks that issue credit cards," Weibel explained. As part of Chase's market evaluation, the envelope manufacturers proposed the idea of RFID shielding to the banks to gauge their interest. "It was an overwhelming yes," recounted Weibel. "There was a lot of interest." When banks compare the marginal expense of shielded envelopes and sleeves to the extraordinary cost of identity theft recovery and investigation, the shielding starts to seem like a no-brainer.
He said a number of orders have already been placed to test RFID Shield, and he predicts that within a few months Chase will start receiving a significant volume of orders for actual usage. National Envelope has already commercialized it and put it on sale as the Smart Card Guard model of envelope.
While there have been other products like RFID Shield released on the market, they have largely been targeted directly at consumers. Chase's strategy of working with banks and envelope manufacturers is a very different approach. Weibel also emphasized that competing products are relatively thick at ten to twelve millimeters. RFID Shield, by contrast, is only 4.5 millimeters thick and looks like everyday paper.
RFID Shield appears to be a well-conceived product with the potential for high-volume demand. But one has to wonder if banks' deployment of protective liner for contactless credit cards would undermine their assurances that the cards are safe and secure. If the cards should be wrapped in a special sleeve, does that mean that consumers are at risk of identity or financial theft if they do not use a sleeve? Furthermore, if a consumer uses a sleeve, and then has to pull the card out of the sleeve to buy something with it, doesn't that additional labor defeat the very convenience contactless cards were meant to provide? It is questions like these that banks will no doubt face as they consider the deployment of RFID Shield and its potential competitors.
|
|
|
|
| RTLS & Active RFID | Locate it now. How? Ekahau. That's how!
Ekahau RTLS (Real-Time Location System) automatically tracks assets and people via your existing Wi-Fi network. Control costs and improve asset management with Ekahau. For more information, visit us at www.ekahau.com. | | | Research & Whitepapers | How Professional Services Increase RFID ROI
Fundamental decisions about your RFID system can have tremendous impact on success. Outsourcing design and implementation is the safest, most effective RFID investment you can make. Discover why hiring RFID experts to assist is one of the most effective RFID investments you can make. Get the full report now. | RFID Marketing Strategies Report from RFID Update
Thirty-nine pages of original research on RFID audience perceptions, including 30+ figures of tactics, content & messaging, and recommendations to guide marketing strategy. Also, Top-10 RFID company rankings based on 550+ survey respondents. View the executive summary free, with Top-3 sample rankings. Only $495 Individual License or $795 Corporate License. Available now | | | Employment | RFID Recruiters - 100% Focused on RFID Recruiting
Whether your company is looking for the best RFID talent or you have the best RFID talent and are looking for the best RFID employer, RFID Recruiters offers the most focused approach to your objective. To learn how the RFID industry and the RFID job market are evolving, visit www.rfidrecruiters.com | | | RFID Tags & Labels | CCL Label - Your Global Partner for Labeling & Packaging
CCL Label is North America's leading full-service provider of pharmaceutical and healthcare labeling and packaging solutions. CCL incorporates the latest RFID technologies into it's labels to provide our customers with labels that are smarter with broader applications. CCL Label puts the Power Behind Your Brand. 609.433.3700 ext.127 or visit www.ccllabel.com | | | Products & Services | Peel - Stick - Ship(TM): SimplyRFID Pre-Programmed Tags
Military-grade, Class 1 Generation 2 RFID Tags pre-programmed to DoD 252.211-7006 specifications shipped same day for less than $1 each. Find out why over 1,000 DoD (Department of Defense) suppliers choose SimplyRFID for their RFID needs. Visit us at www.SimplyRFID.com for no hassle RFID solutions. |
This email was intended for , who subscribed
RFID Update is the RFID industry daily. Launched in early 2004 to provide timely analysis of RFID industry news, RFID Update publishes editorial briefings every weekday for the growing ranks of top level executives involved in the deployment of RFID. Each issue delivers the breaking news and analysis most pertinent to successful RFID implementations, allowing readers to understand global RFID developments as they happen.
RFID Update Editor: Will Smith, editor@rfidupdate.com
Press releases and public relations inquiries should be directed to Will.
To advertise in RFID Update, email advertising@rfidupdate.com to request a media kit.
RFID Questions? Ask at RFID Talk (www.RFIDtalk.com).
Forward this issue of RFID Update to your colleagues, or tell them to subscribe free at: www.RFIDupdate.com
View all past issues of RFID Update in the archive.
Update your subscription settings: subscriptions@rfidupdate.com
We take your privacy seriously. View our Privacy Policy here.
RFID Update -- The RFID Industry Daily
3213 Duke Street #266
Alexandria, VA 22314
http://www.rfidupdate.com
© 2006, ALX Technologies. All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
