Conference Focuses On Government Use Of Smart Card Technology

  • Sep 11, 2009

With millions of smart cards issued, and 10 of millions more planned, government identity and security initiatives continue to expand rapidly. This expansion, and the growing interest in the technologies that have brought these initiatives success, will be the focus when government leaders gather next month in Washington, D.C. for the Smart Card Alliance 8th Annual Smart Cards in Government Conference.

The event will be held October 27th to October 30th at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center. With almost 800 registrants and 50 exhibitors and sponsors, the conference is the largest annual event for the government identity and security sector.

Government and industry leaders will provide the latest information and updates on international, national, and state-led secure identification and access programs.

Topics include: the federal government Personal Identity Verification (PIV) ID program; federal cybersecurity strategy; airport and seaport security projects; identity standardization efforts lead by NIST, ANSI, and ISO; identity management policy initiatives under the Federal Identity, Credentialing, and Access Management (F/ICAM); FEMA’s emergency response official (ERO) credentialing efforts; and OMB guidance for PIV interoperability and usage within the federal enterprise.

The conference is organized in an interactive, instructive format that covers business issues, implementation best practices, and technology advancements happening in the government smart card market. The event includes multiple tracks on technology, implementation and policy, allowing attendees to create their own agenda.

“Our government conference puts the emphasis on the government program operators and federal technology and policy leaders who are actually running programs, setting policy, or defining standards and policies. They will give first-hand accounts of their strategies and experiences,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. “The success of these initiatives has fueled a lot of interest in the use of smart card and biometrics technologies in new areas, from the District of Columbia’s city card, to the State of Virginia’s first responder card, to cross-credentialing of commercial entities to the federal PKI bridge. We are expanding the conference this year to look at how these technologies can be used to address complex national identity management issues, like privacy and security for the modernization of healthcare IT.”

A completely new program track focus on healthcare has been added to the agenda, in which industry leaders will look at healthcare policy, healthcare IT standards, technology directions and issues. The topic is timely because healthcare IT is getting nearly a $19 billion boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

“We expect healthcare identity management, authentication and access control to be hot topics within Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services given this new government investment,” Vanderhoof said.

Also new this year: a spotlight on biometrics. With the growing demand for biometric-enabled security systems in government, the Alliance is partnering with the International Biometric Industry Association (IBIA) to highlight biometrics trends at the conference. A “Biometrics Zone” showcase has been added to the product exhibition, and many topics on the program agenda focus on the crucial role of biometrics in government identity programs.

The conference is open to all individuals and organizations that wish to learn about the role of smart cards in government. Smart Card Alliance member organizations and government employees receive complimentary or discounted pricing for single day or full conference registrations. Early registration discounts are available through September 29th. Conference sponsors include Gemalto, L-1 Identity Solutions, EDS, Teslin Substrates by PPG Industries, NXP, Northrop Grumman, Oberthur Technologies, Deloitte, MorphoTrak and VeriSign.

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