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CardKing unveiled its iPhone App, now available on the iTunes Store. The free App turns any iPhone camera into a portable bar code scanner, capturing student ID and discount bar codes into the phone for retrieval later.

Students can instantly display bar codes associated with student discount programs and campus cards to enable merchants to scan the bar code directly from the iPhone’s screen. There is also the option to manually enter membership numbers for cards without bar codes.

CardKing supports more than 1,100 merchants in over 32 categories including grocery and drug stores, health and fitness clubs, libraries and restaurants. Participating retailers include Best Buy, Blockbuster, CVS, PetSmart and LA Fitness.

The University of Missouri has improved access control with a combination of security software and equipment installations at its 24 on-campus residential life buildings with the aid of Matrix Systems.

Using Matrix System’s Frontier equipped computer workstation, the campus can lock-down exterior doors and eliminate outside threats with only a few mouse clicks. There is also an option for exterior doors to remain locked but only accessible with ID cards during special events such as spring break or Saturday football games.

Access control systems record all access attempts in case data is needed. When a student reports a card reading problem, the software can retrieve historical records for review so administration can determine whether the rejection was due to access exclusion or an ID card/card reader malfunction.

The system also allows remote access, so when administration receives rejected card holder incidents they can connect to the on-campus access control workstation via the Internet to investigate and fix the situation.

Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies revealed that its Schlage wireless panel interface module now integrates to Mercury Security access control panels via RS485.

With a new protocol, a single Mercury access panel can manage up to 64 Schlage wireless devices including the modular designed AD-Series, which lets users change credential technologies or networking capabilities without removing the lock from the door. It is also backwards compatible with the WA-Series network locks, exit trims and portable readers.

By integrating the panel interface modules directly with the access control panels, the need for wireless gateway modules is eliminated – thus reducing the cost per door of wireless access control solutions.  

Pilot project enabled bookstore payments via microSD equipped handset

At Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg, 120 students and faculty members are using their cell phones to make payments in the campus bookstore. The mobile technology startup, RFinity, developed the secure solution using microSD cards with Near Field Communication capabilities to enable contactless payments with the devices.

“The RFinity pilot at BYU-I will be one of the first mobile contactless deployments that focuses on securing transactions in a way that reduces the risks associated with legacy payment systems,” says Aaron Turner, RFinity co-founder and CEO.

The company went after BYU in part because of its convenience. The company is located just 20 minutes away from the 12,000 student Rexburg campus, says Wally McPheters, RFinity product manager in charge of the BYU pilot.

For the pilot RFinity supplied participating students’ with a new cell phones–either a Palm Treo or the Ozone phone from Taiwan-based HTC Corp. “I was easier for us to prepare for the first pilot by providing them with phones,” says McPheters.

The phones serve as a replacement or option to the campus’ mag-stripe ID card known as the I-Cards.

For the first stage of the pilot, which lasts through fall semester, the phones can only be used in the campus bookstore and are pre-loaded with scholarships and money to pay for books and it also includes a declining balance account.

“BYU said the university store was the best arena for this pilot,” says McPheters. “It’s a full-scale store and is the center of all activities. The store sells clothing, textbooks, technology, convenience store items, in other words a number of product lines other than educational.”

The goal of the pilot is simple, says McPheters. “We want to prove the technology works and then improve it. It allows us to show financial transactions at POS and give us valuable feedback. We also expect to generate ideas for additional applications.”

No personal data on phone

Andy Cargal, BYU University communications, says each microSD contains the RFinity technology and a unique number that correlates to the student’s account numbers in the BYU database leaving no personal information on the phone.

The pilot is being coordinated with the university store management team, while the outcomes are overseen by the university’s Presidents Council, says Cargal.

Turner anticipates there could be an increase in sales just due to the novelty factor. So far, purchases have ranged from a nickel for gum, up to $1,700 for a MacBook, he says.

Students were chosen for the pilot following several surveys that determined what’s important to them and how they buy, says McPheters. “We wanted a cross section of people who frequent the university store and those who don’t, so we could see how often the phones get used.”

The company surveyed 1,500 students. “We looked for those attributes that would help us ID different types of shoppers, such as single under classmen, single upper classmen and married students,” says McPheters. “These three buy a little differently. That narrowed us right down to about 120. We then reconnected with them all to see if they were still interested and would be here this fall, and what kind of phone they carry.”

Cargal says following the surveys there were more than 500 students who expressed interest in participating in the pilot. He says those who didn’t make the first cut are still on the list when the pilot expands to more students, likely in January.

Students control payment process

Steve McCown, RFinity’s chief technology officer, says the technology can handle two payment modes. Quickpay, for transaction less than $25, requires the user to press a button on the phone to transmit the necessary information to the reader. RFinity requires the user to actively initiate every transaction by pressing the button to protect the information from being accessed fraudulently or inadvertently.

For amounts of more than $25 the user must authorize the transaction by entering a PIN. If a student is standing in line and getting ready to pay for $300 worth of books, he can preauthorize his next transaction by entering the PIN, thus saving time at the POS. Then when he gets to the register, he simply holds down the button to activate quickpay, says McCown.

While $25 is the default amount each participant can adjust it to meet their personal security needs. Some students have insisted on a zero threshold, which means they have to enter a PIN for every transaction, Turner adds.

Input from Giesecke & Devrient

The system uses a microSD card from Giesecke & Devrient called the Mobile Security Card CL (for contactless). The security feature in the Mobile Security Card CL is provided by a cryptography controller integrated in the card along with the flash memory. The card can be used in mobile phones, smart phones, netbooks and even in USB tokens, says McCown.

If a phone is lost or stolen the student can call RFinity and shut down the key, says McPheters.

The second stage of the pilot is likely to include more applications and as many as 1,600 participants. McPheters would not elaborate what those apps would be, but he hinted it could include adding the ability to read from a person’s bank or debit account and expand beyond financial transactions.

“This will be a way for a student to take his student ID card with him virtually. From the student’s perspective, all they’d need is a cell phone,” says McCown.

The project is going well, says Turner. “The thing students told us is that they like not having to carry a wallet into the bookstore, they love the convenience factor. And they like the fact they can control their own security.”

West Ashley High School, in Charleston, S.C., is changing the way it handles campus visitors with the installation of a new computer system, reports The Post and Courier.

Different from the school’s old method of handling visitors, which was simply flashing your drivers license, the school now uses computerized system to run visitors’ names through a national sex-offender database. If everything checks out the guest is printed a visitors’ badge.

In roughly a minute, the new system can check a guest’s name, scan his or her photo identification and print the picture, school name, date and their destination on a sticker. For those who are regular school visitors, the system has a quick sign-in feature that allows them to have a badge printed without an ID scan each time.

It also has the capability of printing reports showing every visitor in the building, which could be useful in case of an emergency. Every Charleston County School is scheduled to receive the same system at the beginning of March.

To read more on this click here.

The Dragon Capital Group announced that its subsidiary, Chendu Imaging, has partnered with Sichuan Sunbelt Culture Communication to construct a centralized card access and security system for a community high school located in Chengdu, Sichuan.

The proprietary campus card system will provide a range of functionalities to manage the various activities of faculty members and students on campus.

The campus card will be used as a debit card at campus cafeterias and stores, as a library card, and as an identification card for different levels of access throughout the campus.

The system will be fully integrated with Chendu Imaging’s proprietary surveillance system which provides for a direct uplink to China Mobile’s mobile network to enable full remote monitoring.

Administrators of Love Dale Central School in Belgaum, India are in the midst of testing a new method of monitoring students, with the help of RFID necklaces, reports the Deccan Chronicle.

The school recently launched a new program which requires all students to wear a RFID card around their necks, to allow parents and school officials to keep track of students throughout the day.

The new system, labeled Keeptrack, not only serves as a form of identification. It also helps keeps tabs on the students’ attendance records, academic performance and current whereabouts.

Readers installed on campus log information on students’ location from entry to exit, and parents may even sign up to receive SMS messages on their mobile phones about their children’s whereabouts at any given time.

To read more click here.

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The only publication dedicated to the use of campus cards, mobile credentials, identity and security technology in the education market. CampusIDNews – formerly CR80News – has served more than 6,500 subscribers for more than two decades.
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