CardGuide international

Parents are encouraged to use Abu Dhabi Education Council's (ADEC's) "Parent Assistant" service to help enhance parental involvement in student education. Through the service, which displays the information for students from kindergarten to Grade 12, parents and/or guardians are granted access to student demographic information, medical information, citizenship details, parent/emergency contact/sibling details, attendance, calendar, school holidays, and academic progress. A messaging feature also allows parents to view the messages sent to them by the student's teacher or other staff users.

A payment platform designed for Merchant Business Services

Ingenico announced that the iWL Touch Series, its new wireless touchscreen payment platform, is setting a new frontier in the fast growing Merchant Business Services arena combining payment apps, business apps, and extra sales apps. iWL Touch series is a next generation wireless payment device with a unique set of innovations and advanced features for applications: large capacitive touchscreen for enhanced user experience, multimedia decoder to play promotional video & audio content, pocket sized, light weight & up to several days of battery life for mobility uses cases, large connectivity range GPRS, 3G & Bluetooth, all payment options available including signature capture & NFC, certified with the latest PCI-PTS 3.x security standards offering a unique capability to turn a payment device into an interactive point of services.

easycash GmbH completed its contactless acquiring portfolio with the certification for Visa Europe's Visa payWave cards and can now accept all contactless card standards currently available in Germany. This includes MasterCard PayPass, girogo, and Visa payWave. In order to accept the new contactless cards, retailers require the corresponding acquiring contracts and a NFC-capable terminal of the latest generation, the Ingenico iCT250. The license for Visa payWave was issued in Q1 2012.

easycash makes it possible for its customers to implement all currently available contactless card standards through one company. This provides retailers with a service from which they can also profit economically: The register throughput is sustainably increased since payments can be processed quicker and so-called micro-payments – single-digit or low two-digit Euro amounts – are increasingly paid with cards.

Arcontia Technology AB, a Swedish producer of contactless smart card readers and terminals, announced the launch of the new CAS2340 dual interface smart card reader for applications using contact and contactless technology. The dual interface reader is designed to be fitted on the backside of Casio IT-800 handheld computers, making it an ideal solution for accessing a number of multi-applications using a single device.

Avnet Memec has partnered with Adeunis-RF to launch a new range of compact, reliable, modular and affordable Near Field Communications (NFC) solutions to address the growing need for eCommerce applications. The new NFC "Reader-Writer" module will streamline the design and development of devices dedicated to contactless payment, ticketing, couponing and access control. Operating as an NFC gateway, the module provides a secure carrier field through ID and protocol recognition. The modular concept allows for multiple designs with the module mounted inside or outside the antenna.

Sony released the world's first product certified by the NFC Forum Certification Program, the "RC-S380" USB reader/writer. This product can communicate with any devices that conform to the NFC Forum specification, as well as devices implementing the contactless IC card technologies ISO/IEC14443 Type A / Type B and FeliCa.

Planned release dates: April, 2012 (Japanese model); summer 2012 (international model).

The RC-S380 product achieved the NFC Forum certification through the cooperation with AT4 wireless, a NFC Forum Authorized Third Party test laboratory. The reader platform used for RC-S380 has been provided to NFC Forum Certification Program as a reference sample to assist the Digital Protocol test tools.

ROAM introduces NFC Swipe in advance of commercial launch slated for mid-2012; marking milestone for low cost contactless acceptance in the evolution of mobile payments

ROAM Data announced the industry's first device agnostic card reader with near-field communication and magnetic stripe combined called NFC Swipe. The NFC Swipe will work on hundreds of different smartphones and tablets and even PCs, turning them into secure state-of-the-art mobile POS devices. This marks the first truly low cost solution that can help proliferate the adoption of NFC and Contactless technology while supporting existing magstripe technology at the same time. ROAM is targeting mid-2012 for full commercial release of the NFC Swipe.

Integrated Access Control Solutions for PIV Enablement Allow U.S. Federal Government Agencies and Contractors to Reduce Cost and Complexity of Federal Identity Compliance

HID Global announced the availability of its pivCLASS Government Solutions portfolio, an integrated product suite that enables the U.S. federal government, government contractors and other facilities to comply with federal identity mandates without having to replace their existing physical access control system (PACS).  The pivCLASS family makes it easy for agencies to meet requirements and use their high-security Personal Identification Verification (PIV) and other smart cards for physical access control, resulting in compliance, interoperability and high security.

GuestLogix Inc., a global provider of onboard retail and payment technology solutions to airlines and the passenger travel industry, released the XPDA-SP, an upgraded version of its original onboard handheld Point-of-Sale (POS) device. The next-generation onboard retailing technology is more than twice as powerful compared to its predecessor and helps airlines perform transactions faster, in a PCI-compliant and secure environment. This ultimately increases both passenger and flight attendant satisfaction. The XPDA-SP comes standard with the ability to accept contactless and NFC payments. The device also supports the ability to transact via Chip & PIN cards and has the capability to process and track onboard transactions in multiple currencies, allowing payments in cash, credit, debit, loyalty cards, complimentary and coupons.

Certified Payment Processing Adds Mobile Wallet and EMV/Smart Card Capability to Merchant Services

Certified Payment Processing (CPP) recently unveiled their new line of payment processing terminals, under the brand name Proxima.

"The Proxima has everything a merchant needs for today and tomorrow," says Mike Hutchison, Senior Vice President of Sales for CPP. "It's able to handle credit and debit cards, EBT, gift cards and checks, when combined with one of our check readers. And Proxima is ready for the future of payment processing, with the ability to handle mobile payments, contactless and EMV smart cards."