SmartCards Go To College

At the Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada, SmartCards are being issued in lieu of student ID cards to replace separate ID, library, and student services cards. These SmartCards will also contain an application for calling card uses and an e-purse application for copiers, vending machines, and other coin-operated services.

With digital certificates added to SmartCards, colleges can offer cost-effective student identification that also supports a host of other applications:

• Portable Identity -- Authenticate user identity, store user preferences and access on-line applications from anywhere at anytime
• Secure Access -- Control access to buildings, information and university networks
• Class Registration -- On-line class registration with real time class availability
• Secure Email -- Security for intercampus communications with non-repudiation
• Electronic Purse -- Electronic storage of money for use at campus cafeterias, student book stores and point of sale terminals, such as vending machines, laundry and parking meters.

Combining Corporate Purchasing or Procurement SmartCards with Open Buying on the Internet digital certificates (see Goods and Services at Web Speed) along with SET digital certificates can help drive down the costs of business-to-business e-commerce even further than either technology can alone. This synergy not only enables both authentication of parties for purchasing purposes and for payment purposes, but also enables purchase order creation from any Internet-connected device anywhere in the world -- not just from the user''s regular desktop computer. Other combinations of technologies still not dreamed of yet could bring about computing environments totally unimaginable today.