Cyberflex Access card from Axalto
Source: Axalto

Neville Pattinson, Director of Business Development, Technology and Government Affairs, Axalto Americas

Neville Pattinson is Director of Business Development, Technology and Government Affairs, at Axalto Americas.

Smart Card World spoke today with Mr. Pattinson about the differences between "RFID" and "contactless smart cards," as well as other background and current issues involved in the evolution and deployment of these "computer-on-a-card" systems.

You can listen to that conversation with Neville Pattinson of Axalto, in its entirety, by clicking here.

Distinguishing between RFID, which Mr. Pattinson indicated is a technology eminently suitable for monitoring the whereabouts of inanimate objects, such as pallets of merchandise, and contactless smart cards, which, as he pointed out, are capable of securely storing and sharing critical personal information, is particularly important now in light of the recent emergence in California of legislation that would have put a three-year moratorium on the use of RFID in mass-distributed and government issued documents such as driver's licenses.

During this interview, Mr. Pattinson also discussed the possible use of smart cards, contactless or otherwise, as the "common, machine-readable technology" that will eventually be adopted for use under the terms of the "Real ID Act of 2005," as discussed in the May 28, 2005, American Politics Today article entitled "U.S. Department of Homeland Security says "it is too early in the process to discuss the type of technology that may be required" to implement the "common, machine-readable technology" provision of the REAL ID Act of 2005".

Also discussed during this conversation was the recent creation by the Smart Card Alliance, "a not-for profit, multi-industry association working to accelerate the widespread acceptance of multiple application smart card technology," of the Contactless Payments Council "to facilitate the adoption of contactless payments in the U.S. through education programs for consumers, merchants and issuers."

Member companies constituting the Contactless Payments Council include: American Express, Atmel Corporation, Axalto, First Data Corporation, Gemplus, IBM, JCB International Credit Card Co., MasterCard International, Oberthur Card Systems, SMART System Technologies, Inc., VeriFone, Visa USA, and ViVOtech, Inc.