News

As the Northern Futures Summit begins, UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announces better trains in the north to reduce overcrowding and cut journey times. More than 25 million people use cross-Pennine rail routes every year, and over a third of passengers have to stand during their commute. By 2025 the Deputy Prime Minister wants to see electrified cross-Pennine links between Liverpool and Manchester on one side and Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and Hull on the other. This will shorten journey times

Iteris is to serve as system manager for the deployment of the City of Omaha’s Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). The US $1.4 million project builds upon Omaha’s Traffic Signal System Master Plan, developed by Iteris in 2012, and will include the management of Omaha’s $35 million ITS upgrade program to reduce congestion. As system manager, Iteris will oversee the enhancements to the transportation network, focusing on more than 1,000 traffic signals and 4,500 miles of roadway in the city. Iteris’ r

Lamination plate specialist VTT, whose technology helps to create secure documents such as passports, driving licences and bank cards, is showing off its NANOcare product for the first time at CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS.

Pivo, the multi-award-winning mobile e-wallet owned by OP bank and used by 300,000 Finns, is poised to launch as a fully-featured mobile wallet service. The app, which helps consumers manage their spending by keeping an eye on their spending and bank balance as well as collect offers and discounts, is now ready to go as a fully-fledged payment service as well.

Watchdata Technologies launches its first wearable payment device, Sharkey, this week at CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS. The new watch and wristband offers users a smart wearable device that supports an NFC payment feature. “Once Sharkey has been connected with an android or iOS phone’s mobile terminal via Bluetooth, it can be used for contactless payment, including public transport fares, supermarket shopping and micropayments,” says Watchdata’s international business vice president Jack Pan.

s smart devices and e-transactions proliferate in the Internet of Things (IoT) era, newly-merged business Entrust Datacard is uniquely placed to secure the connections between them, says its CEO Todd Wilkinson. The company, formed from Datacard Group and Entrust and formally united at CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS this week, combines broad and deep expertise in hardware and software together with the know-how to combine them.

Retail technology business Powa Technologies has signed up more than 950 retailers and brands worldwide to its PowaTag solution and is set to become a dominant mobile retail sales platform, says the company’s founder.

Evikey has launched a secure USB drive solution controlled from an NFC-enabled device. Self-powered and battery-free, it has an intelligent diagnostic system that enables administrators to define and track how and when the devices can be used and by whom.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that only 60% of donations made to developing nations actually reach the people they are supposed to help. But UK company Transaxiom presented at CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS a method that aims to eliminate this loss. “The moment you hand over the cash, you have no idea what’s happening to it,” says Ram Banerjee, (right) co-founder and director of Transaxiom.

Dates for your diary: 2015

The Internet of Things (IoT) will deliver a new form of commerce in the next few years, says Edward Simonet, M2M director, Oberthur Technologies. The B2B and B2C business models will converge and become B2B2C. Someone buying a fitness monitor, for example, is actually buying access to a service that will store and analyse data, says Simonet: “The device is just the tip of the iceberg.”

We have to learn the lessons of the past if we are to make the future Internet of Things (IoT) a safe environment, according to a leading voice in the field. “The new reality of the world is that the post-password era is with us,” Jason Hart, director and CEO of Identiv, told the CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS conference. Too often in the past, security has been a late consideration when products or services are designed, he says – but in future, it will “have to be built into the fabric of IoT” because “a connec

Cities in France are pressing ahead with ‘citizen cards’designed to give residents access to a wide range of services. The card is an NFC device that acts as a portal to areas such as transport services, libraries, sports facilities and residential parking schemes.