News and insight into biometric identification and authentication

CLEAR Lanes shut down

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Verified Identity Pass, which operated the CLEAR service that helped registered travelers zip through security checkpoints at more than a dozen airports in the U.S., announced it is going out of business, according to this ZDNet blog. The company cited an inability to negotiate an agreement with a large creditor to continue operations.

That was also confirmed at http://www.flyclear.com, where this simple message was posted: “At 11:00 p.m. PST on June 22, 2009, Clear will cease operations. Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.”

Read more from ZDNet here[end] 

HID Global has announced the successful completion of the world’s first university pilot of NFC smart phones carrying digital keys.

First announced in September, the pilot involved a select group of students and staff at Arizona State University using NFC-enabled smart phones equipped with HID’s Secure Identity Object (SIO) Technology. Participants could gain access to their residence halls and other secure access areas by tapping their handset against a reader embedded in the door and entering a PIN, rather than use their plastic campus card.

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Sealy Independent School District (SISD), based out of Texas, is in the process of revamping its security policy – adding a new system of card swipe access points, in addition to more than 50 new video surveillance cameras.

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Coca-Cola, in partnership with media agency MEC, Clear Channel and Tapit, has launched an NFC-enabled poster campaign in Singapore for Fanta brand soft drinks.

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Sticking to its plan for a contactless rollout in 2012, Australian retailer Coles has selected Ingenico to provide its Ingenico iPP350 contactless payment terminals.

According to finextra.com, the Aussie retailer first piloted the technology in September 2011, and has since decided to expand. All business groups will deploy the new iPP350 across 24,000 lanes within the next few months, making the retailer one of the first in Australia to offer the contactless payment option.

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Mexico’s Federal Tolling Authority - Caminos y Puentes Federales de Ingresos y Servicios Conexos (CAPUFE) - has awarded a contract to system integrator Axiompass to install a toll-free system for residents using Sirit RFID readers.

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Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC), based in Burnaby, British Columbia has integrated TagMaster’s RFID system with Coencorp’s automated fuel management system, FuelZone Transit, at all six of its service locations.

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