GSA joins smart-card group
GSA joins smart-card group
The General Services Administration has joined GlobalPlatform, an organization promoting open standards for multiuse smart cards.
The Los Angeles group developed the Open Platform smart-card and reader specifications.
Smart cards have programmable computer chips that make them more powerful and versatile than conventional magnetic stripe cards.
GSA is promoting multiuse smart cards such as those issued to employees at its Federal Technology Service headquarters in Fairfax, Va. FTS workers use the cards for building access, computer log-ons, purchases, long-distance calls, digital signatures on e-mail and direct boarding of airline flights.
More information about Open Platform appears on the Web, at
www.globalplatform.org.
'Shruti Dat', Christopher J. Dorobek, and William Jackson