Access Control

Access control is on the verge of becoming a very large segment of the contactless smart card market. There are a very large number of access control applications, each requiring usually a limited amount of cards, readers, and infrastructures. Two different kinds of access control exist:

		Physical: People access to certain areas at certain time
		Logical: Access rights to network, computer or platform

Here are some examples of access control applications:

• US Department of Defense: 5 million corporate badges issued for identification, building access, and network access.
  
  
• Transportation Security Administration's (TSA): The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) programs consist in developing tamper-resistant identification credentials with biometric information for the TSA employees. The TWIC is designed to secure the process of authenticating transportation employees who have unescorted access to secure locations within transportation facilities. When fully implemented by the TSA, the TWIC program may include six million credentials.
  
  
• Other airport access control: All Canadian airports restricted areas, the Hamburg international hub, and more.
  
  
• Employees and contractors’ IDs for NASA, the Pfizer’s European Research Center, the American Express Headquarters, and more.