Smart Cards Keep Getting Smarter All The Time

After years of battling nonexistent margins on forward-looking technology used mainly by the most classified organizations, smart-card technology is finally coming into its own as a viable piece of a total security solution for companies of all shapes and sizes, solution providers said. Ancillary and add-on services are also helping spur growth in the smart-card space.

"The main differentiator between a smart card and [token-based authentication] is you can put a photo on a smart card and make it a badge," said Brian Gladstein, product manager at security vendor RSA Security, Bedford, Mass. "It's an easy transition for the end users, and when you look at how [smart cards] can tie in to back-end systems [such as time-sheet management], it's a great opportunity for the reseller to learn about the physical access world."

Gladstein said as more companies put the responsibility for back-office programs under the IT umbrella "because those programs are getting more IT-focused," being able to take that network and security expertise and extend it into applications is a compelling argument for a smart-card sale.

"Plus, once you have the cards in place and deployed, companies can stick additional applications onto the card, like [debit accounts for] vending machines and cafeteria services," he said. "The more a reseller understands the customer's needs, the more a reseller can deploy solutions."

Laurie Usewicz, vice president of product management at Westcon Group, Tarrytown, N.Y., agreed that smart cards are now becoming an important part of total security solutions, despite their slow acceptance rate in corporate America. Helping to spur growth, she said, is RSA's Sign-On Manager, a desktop portal that manages all a user's passwords when used in conjunction with a smart card.

"To date we have not seen success in smart cards, but we see a major opportunity in Sign-On Manager," she said, especially as another facet of Westcon Group's new SecurityPoint Program, which brings together solution providers and security technology to create end-to-end security solutions for end-user customers. "Our smart-card sales have been insignificant, but we are hoping that with the Sign-On Manager we will begin to see real traction."

Usewicz added that Single Sign-On—and SecurityPoint—will also help smaller solution providers that have developed niche security applications bring those applications to market.

Westcon Group is also working with RSA to help identify smaller ISVs through its Affinity Vendor program and is extending an invitation to them to join SecurityPoint, Usewicz said. "It allows the niche vendor to be a part of Westcon and be recognized, and help them step into an opportunity when one is identified," she said. "It's part of the creation and customization of applications for end users," which smart cards are helping to drive.

Chris Zimmermann, senior security consultant at Atrion Communications, a solution provider based in Branchburg, N.J., said smart technology—but not necessarily in card form—is gaining more acceptance with end users.

"The downside of smart cards is you have to have a reader," Zimmermann said. "If you're spending $40 or $50 per smart card, and then you have to spend another $50 or so for the reader for every desktop, then you have to install the software at each desktop a lot of companies are going to shy away from such an intensive deployment."

Rather, Zimmermann said Atrion is leaning more toward selling an RSA token—the RSA SecurID USB Authenticator 6100—that includes a smart chip, which essentially does everything a smart card does except act as an ID badge, although it does include HID functionality, the technology that allows a card to be read when swiped against a reader.

"The chip is essentially a storage device. You can have the same applications [as you could with a smart card] right on the chip on the token," Zimmermann said. "So everything a smart card could do, the token with the chip will have the same functionality."

Zimmermann also envisions a future where more personal information is included on the smart chips, such as health-related information to better arm physicians in treating ailments.

"Going forward, I expect there will be a lot of uses for smart-card technology," he said.