August 05, 2004

RFID Smart Card Access

NASA to control access with Philips contactless chips

Thursday August 5, 2004


The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has chosen 'MIFARE DESFire' contactless chip technology from Royal Philips Electronics for secured smart card-based access to its facilities.

Compliant with the US government's Government Smart Card Interoperability Specification (GSC-IS) standard, Philips' chip technology is to be incorporated into smart cards carried by agency employees and contractors for the secure and accurate authentication of their identity. This article is copyright 2004 UsingRFID.com.

Inter-agency
In partnership with smart card systems integrator Maximus, NASA is the latest federal agency to move from low-frequency (125Khz) to ISO 14443 technology for better interoperability based on GSC-IS.

Other government agencies using GSC-IS compliant systems based on the MIFARE DESFire chip will have the option to allow each other's physical access cards to work in different secure areas, meaning that inter-agency collaboration can be greatly enhanced.

Field trial
A field trial is planned at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama in summer 2004, with the potential to expand the project to some 2,000 employees. If the trial is successful and approval is secured from the Office of Management and Budget, NASA plans to deploy more than 100,000 smart cards before the end of the fiscal year 2005 (including cards for contractors and government employees).

"Security is at the forefront of concern for our government customers today," noted Jeremy Grant, vice president of enterprise solutions for Maximus. "Agencies don't want to invest in systems that will not be interoperable."

For additional information:
� Visit Philips at http://www.semiconductors.philips.com
� Visit Maximus at http://www.maximus.com


Source: Royal Philips Electronics

Posted by Craig at August 5, 2004 02:17 PM