Phones enabled with wireless Near Field Communications (NFC) technology are already gaining speed in the marketplace as access control and other platforms utilize its advantages for mainstream deployment.
Here’s what Raj Venkat, vice president of Marketing for Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies, Carmel, Ind., had to say on the topic.
“Near-Field Communication, or NFC, provides simplified transactions, data exchange and wireless connections between two devices that are in close proximity to each other, usually by no more than a few centimeters. It is expected to become a widely-used system for making payments by smart phone in North America. Many smart phones on the market already contain embedded NFC chips that can send encrypted data a short distance (near field) to a reader located next to a retail cash register. Shoppers who have their credit card information stored in their NFC smart phones can pay for purchases by waving their smart phones near or tapping them on the reader, rather than with their credit card. Co-invented by NXP Semiconductors and Sony in 2002, NFC technology is being added to a growing number of mobile handsets to enable mobile payments as well as many other applications. A smart phone or tablet with an NFC chip could also serve as a keycard or ID card. NFC devices can read NFC tags on a museum or retail display to get more information. NFC can also share a contact, photo, song, application or video or pair Bluetooth devices. And, like smart cards and biometrics, the early adaptors will be on college campuses ready to bring the technology to the commercial market.”
To see such a system in action, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vikdpmGqon4, where Jeremy Earles, portfolio manager for Readers and Credentials demonstrated the AptiQ Mobile application at ASIS International 2011.
And stay tuned for SD&I’s February issue which goes live on the 10th, where we continue the discussion on NFC technology.
Natalia Kosk
Assistant Editor, Security Dealer & Integrator magazine
