SKIDATA joins NFC Forum

The Near Field Communication (NFC) Forum is a global standards development and advocacy group dedicated to advancing near field communication technology, educating the public about its benefits, and furthering its implementation around the world. Due to SKIDATA's involvement in ticketing and physical access, the organization expects to make a strong contribution to the working group “security” and the proposed working group “ticketing/physical access”.

“SKIDATA™ is pleased to join other industry leaders in the NFC Forum to further develop the acceptance of NFC technology,” said Gregor Ponert, head of hardware development at SKIDATA. “NFC technology has the potential to cross all geographic and physical barriers, and an open consortium is the best way to ensure true interoperability among devices and services, as well as implementing a dynamic environment for creating unique services for companies in all sectors.”

In a first show case with one of the biggest European car park operators SKIDATA and its NFC Forum partners will equip a destination in Holland with a complete and integrated parking system solution with NFC technology. This will be the first NFC access installation worldwide intended for daily usage.

The Forum's corporate members include both product and services firms: companies from the mobile communications, consumer electronics, chip manufacturing, computing, media and entertainment, telecom and payment services sectors. The Forum will carry out its work primarily through focused working groups of members covering its various areas of interest, and it will promote NFC through open specification development, interoperability testing and compliance facilities, and by publicizing the value of NFC products and services.

About NFC Technology

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology evolved from a combination of contactless identification and interconnection technologies. NFC operates in the 13.56MHz frequency range, over a typical distance of a few centimeters. NFC technology is standardized in ISO 18092, ISO 21481, ECMA (340, 352 and 356), and ETSI TS 102 190. NFC is also compatible with the broadly established contactless smart card infrastructure based on ISO 14443 A, Philips MIFARE™ technology and Sony’s FeliCa™ card.

About the NFC Forum

The Near Field Communication (NFC) Forum will promote implementation and standardization of NFC technology to ensure interoperability between devices and services. Founded by three innovative technology companies – Nokia Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation – in 2004, the Forum's objective is to foster the use of NFC short-range wireless interaction in consumer electronics, mobile devices and PCs. For more information, visit www.nfc-forum.org, call NFC membership services at +1 781-876-8955, or send a message to info@nfc-forum.org.