" ITREALMS: SecureID delivers Multi-purpose SmartCard

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

SecureID delivers Multi-purpose SmartCard

Leading turn-key and innovative chip card solutions provider, SecureID Limited, has successfully implemented Nigeria’s first e-government multi-application smart cards for the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

The card, a General Multi-Purpose Card (GMPC), is an innovative e-government and high-profile initiative in the multimedia smart card industry.

Designed and implemented by SecureID team, the card regarded as is a rugged credit card-sized plastic with an embedded microchip, mifare contactless chip and magnetic stripe.

The solution uses a global platform made up of eight kilobytes of JAVA which could be read and write memory chip.

This, according to the Managing Director of SecureID, Mrs. Kofo Akinkugbe, enables the card issuer to easily add applications to the card after issuance. GPMC, she said, makes use of biometric technology for identification, which facilitates the face and fingerprints possibilities.

Minister of Federal Capital Development Authority, Mallam Nasiru el-Rufai, weekend gave an indication of how the new Nigeria Identity Card project would look like, as his ministry launched a GMPC initiative to replace the old plastic identity card used by over 20,000 work force in FCT.

The project regarded as a multi-application card that serves as identification, access control, payroll/salary as well as in pension management, just as the card could serve as electronic payment device and accommodates other government applications in the future.

Mrs. Akinkugbe also described the GMPC as a single but multi-applicational card, saying that it could be used for the purposes of identifications, access control, Automated Teller Machines (ATM) cashcard as well as personnel management functions, to name a few.

As said by her, GMPC supports easy and flexible payment and can be used on any ATM on the Interswitch network.

On the storage of data on the card, she explained that the 32k memory chip on the card is used to store the bio-data of the cardholder, his or her HR management, fingerprints and other biometric features. She said the card also has contact-less chip which enables authorization commands for access control. The chip feature on the card would enable SecureID to migrate the GPMC to smartcard platform as soon as Nigeria adopt the Europay, MasterCard & Visa (EMV) secured platform.

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