Key Tronic Joins Verifone Project Partners In ‘Smart Card’ Effort
Key Tronic Corp. and VeriFone, Inc., have announced a partnership to develop a computer keyboard device that can read “smart cards.”
Betting that smart cards will become a widely-used alternative to cash and information exchange in the future, Key Tronic officials say the deal will put the Spokane-based company in an ideal position to capitalize on an important technological trend.
“We are always looking to the future and trying to see which way things are headed,” Ronald F. Klawitter, Key Tronic’s vice president of finance, said Monday. “I think smart cards have the potential to be used more and more, and we want to be in the forefront of that development.”
Smart cards look like credit cards but contain silicon chips that can hold a broad range of information about the card holder. They can be used for a variety of purposes, included acting as a debit card to carry out electronic transactions. A debit card draws from cash you have on hand rather than using borrowed money to pay for transactions like a credit card.
Klawitter said smart cards are already widely in use in Europe.
VeriFone Monday announced it is developing a software-hardware system that will electronically link consumers to their banks, telephone and utility companies, retail merchants and other personal services.
Presently, any number of companies, from banks to airlines to hotels, issue smart cards to allow consumers to perform non-cash transactions or access information. The The VeriSmart system, Klawitter said, can accommodate all these smart card applications with just one device.
Key Tronic will work with the company to develop the reader device that scans the card and links the information on the card to these various services.
Several other companies, including GTE, Hewlett-Packard and Scientific Atlanta, also announced support for VeriSmart and plan to develop further technologies around the system, VeriFone officials said.
“VeriFone and its partners are taking an aggressive role in the development of smart card applications for the consumer marketplace,” Hatim Tyabji, chairman president and CEO of VeriFone, said in a news release Monday.
Tyabji said that Key Tronic’s smart card reader device will be a key part of the system by allowing consumers to get electronic cash from their bank; to shop on the Internet; to get an instant status report on frequent flyer miles; or gain pre-approval for a doctors visit from their insurance company.
Key Tronic and VeriFone will develop both a keyboard-based reader, and a variety of non-keyboard devices that might, for instance, allow the holder to use a smart card via a television set or telephone in addition to a personal computer.
Founded in 1969, Key Tronic holds nearly 40 patents in computer keyboard technology. The company employs 2,500 people world-wide and had sales of $201 million in fiscal 1996.
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