Technologies
Smart Card Solutions
The concept of the smart card was first patented in Japan by Dr. Kunitaka Arimura
in 1970. Since that time, governments and industry alike, especially in Europe have
exploited the information storage and processing capabilities smart cards offer
for a wide range of applications including using them as cash cards for trains and
payphones or medical records storage. In the early 1990´s, the U.S. government began
testing smart card applications to increase the efficiency of various military and
civilian programs.
One of the most notable federal smart card experiments was Multi-technology Automated
Reader Card (MARC) program that started in 1995. The MARC program used the massive
Pacific Command complex in Hawaii as its testing facility. The Navy´s security contractor
was asked to find a physical access control system that could support smart cards.
AMAG, due to its previous experience developing smart card readers for telecom applications,
was the only access control developer that had the necessary knowledge to quickly
design one of the world´s first physical access control systems that used smart
cards. The system was deployed in Hawaii. The success of the MARC and subsequent
tests, like Cobra Gold in 1998, convinced the DoD of the huge potential for security
and efficiency that smart cards promised.
In September 1998, the U.S. Government´s General Services Administration (GSA) and
the United States Navy joined forces and implemented a nine-application smart card
system and card management solution at the Smart Card Technology Center in Washington,
DC. The Technology Center´s primary purpose is to demonstrate and evaluate the integration
of multi-application smart cards with other types of technology, showcasing systems,
including a number of AMAG smart card readers, available for use in the federal
government.
In November of 1999, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) initiated the Common Access
Card program. The objective of the program is to use a single smart card credential
for both secure computer access and physical access control throughout all of the
DoD, including all branches of the military. Over one million Common Access Cards
have been issued with a total of about four million estimated. In March of 2003,
AMAG Technology introduced one of the first readers, the AMAG S731, designed to
read both the contact and contactless version of the Common Access Card.
Working closely with AMAG, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) became the
first federal agency to successfully implement the government’s new contactless
smart card standard (GSCIS version 2.1) in September 2003. A Symmetry Enterprise system
is supporting over 2,300 contactless smart cards at the DOI’s mammoth Washington
D.C. headquarters. The DOI card features a contactless chip conforming to the new
GSCIS version 2.1 specification as well as a contact chip that conforms to the earlier
GSCIS version 2.0 used by the Department of Defense Common Access Card (CAC). To
facilitate the movement of officials from other federal agencies using the Common
Access Card, the DOI chose to use AMAG’s S731 smart card reader that supports the
government’s contact and contactless specifications.
To find out more about AMAG Technology´s smart card experience and products, click
the links below:
To find out more about the latest US Government's usage of smart cards in physical
and logical security, click the link below:
GSA Smart Card Handbook
Biometric Solutions
Since September 11, a lot of attention has been given to the application of biometric
technology in physical access control situations. Well before that time, AMAG Technology
began to develop its Symmetry Enterprise system to bring downthe formidable technical
and cost barriers of actually using this powerful identification technology.
AMAG Technology has seamlessly integrated the most advanced biometric technologies
into the biometric management features of the AMAG software platform. The AMAG biometric
management feature currently supports facial recognition from Visionics, iris scan
from Iridian, hand geometry from Recognition Systems and fingerprint scanning from
Bioscrypt. Additional biometric technologies are being evaluated and will be added
in the future to offer AMAG users the ability to mix and match the biometric technologies
that best meet their identification requirements.
The AMAG biometric management system allows AMAG users to enroll and manage biometric
templates within the AMAG interface. This eliminates the need to learn how to use
additional programs, toggle between applications or import/export template data
between them.
Currently, AMAG Technology offers two biometric hardware products. First, the AMAG
M2100 HGU controller panel that can store up to 150,000 biometric templates (depending
on the type of template, such as hand geometry). This feature creates a cardless
biometric verification system and eliminates the need for additional databases,
equipment and wiring.
Second, the AMAG S813 reader combines the Bioscrypt® MV1200™ fingerprint sensor
with a Philips MIFARE® / MIFARE DESFire contactless smart card chip to produce a
high security front end to an access control system. For more information about
the AMAG 813 smart card biometric reader, click the link below:
AMAG S813 Biometric & Smart Card Reader
Click the links below to learn more about some of AMAG Technology´s biometric security
partners:
Click the links below to learn more about AMAG Technology´s biometric security solutions: