HID Global and INSIDE Contactless are extending their long standing partnership to bring iCLASS access control and identity credentials to NFC-enabled mobile phones, in a move that will enable potential substitution of numerous plastic cards for a variety of commercial and consumer identity applications.
Usually we wouldn’t care about such a news, but when we know that INSIDE Contactless got some of its money from Nokia and Motorola, we do care a bit. The problem remains in the lack of available NFC-enabled phones that would bring the contactless payments and identification, but that’s another story.
INSIDE is in the process of updating its microread NFC controller to implement the command set and protocol that will allow it to communicate with HID iCLASS readers, and iCLASS support will be a feature of all the company’s future NFC products. Any mobile phone using INSIDE’s iCLASS-enabled microread NFC controller with an associated secure element will be able to support the use of iCLASS virtual credentials. The iCLASS virtual credentials themselves, as well as the credential management and crypto functions, can be activated and provisioned by HID Global, and will reside in a secure element.
If you care to know more, I suggest visiting HID GLobal and INSIDE Contactless websites…