by Adi Tedjasaputra

Self-serve Parking Payment is the latest buzz on the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia. Promoted by the Jakarta City Administration and the Jakarta City Parking Agency, a new electronic payment system is still currently under review. The new system is expected to enable motorists pay for parking fees with the use of Smart Cards.

"The new system will require Smart Cards. People will just swipe their card through a machine on the street to pay parking fees," said the agency's Deputy Head, Udar Pristono as quoted by The Jakarta Post last week.

Smart Card was first introduced as a technology that requires a contact area to transfer electrical power and communicate with Smart Card Reader. In the evolution of Smart Card, Contactless Smart Card was introduced. Using inductive coupling technology, Contactless Smart Card can transfer energy from a Smart Card Reader and activate the chip in a Smart Card without the need of physical contact.

déjà vu
/day&ulzh;aa voo/
· noun a feeling of having already experienced the present situation.
— ORIGIN French, ‘already seen’.
Compact Oxford English Dictionary

For the patrons of some streets in Jakarta, Smart Cards are not new. In 2003, the Jakarta City Administration appointed PT Adiwira Sembada as the sole contractor to run a parking pilot programme in several streets in Jakarta, while a Singapore-based company, Epecom Technology & Distribution Pte Ltd, formerly known as Gimexore Private Limited, provided full system integration for the pilot programme. In addition, INSIDE Contactless, which is headquartered in France, supplied Smart Card chip PicoTag and contactless springboard modules Hand'IT for handheld readers.

Swamped by operational problems, the pilot programme using Smart Cards known as "Kartu Kontan" was eventually declared as a total failure. The Jakarta City Administration officially terminated the operational collaboration between the Jakarta City Parking Agency and PT Adiwira Sembada in November 2003 after about six months of pilot programme launching. The equipments that cost about $2,000 per unit were rendered useless.

This year, with a new concept of "two parking operators, one parking system", the Jakarta City Administration will likely to appoint two private parking operators. The two operators, one of them is PT Adiwira Sembada, were recommended by the Jakarta City Council to manage parking in Jakarta streets, as reported by The Jakarta Post in January.

The new self-serve parking payment system operated by the two parking operators is expected to increase revenue of the Jakarta City Administration from parking fees. For the operation of the new parking management units, the Jakarta City Administration has initially allocated Rp 40 billion ($4.3 million) budget.

The writer is the Founder of RFID Asia - The Prominent RFID Community in Asia.


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Labels: card, indonesia, jakarta, parking, payment, rfid, smart, smartcard, technology

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by Eunice Sari

The RFID Asia Summit 2008 (http://summit.rfid-Asia.info) held on 12-13 March 2008 in Jakarta, Indonesia, organized by RFID Asia (www.rfidAsia.org), the Prominent RFID Community in Asia, is the prestigious international event to address the potentials and challenges of RFID technology and harness the economic opportunities in various vertical industries in Indonesia and Asia Pacific region.

As the only event in Asia Pacific dedicated for RFID experts and leaders in charge for the development of businesses in the emerging markets, RFID Asia Summit 2008 has presented a line-up of international renowned speakers from Asia Pacific and USA. The event has successfully impressed the international delegates from Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East with intellectually thought-provoking and inspiring conference tracks, exhibitions, demonstrations, business networking and meeting sessions.

The RFID Asia Summit 2008 was officially inaugurated by the Founder of RFID Asia, Adi Tedjasaputra. In his opening remarks, he pointed out how the tremendous advancement in RFID technology and market growth in Asia Pacific has started to add values in different emerging markets. Furthermore, he also detailed the unique role of RFID Asia in contributing to the advancement of RFID technology and market growth in Asia Pacific, while producing a shared practice and collective intelligence as RFID Asia community members engage in a collective process of learning and sharing. Regarding the event itself, he explained how RFID Asia Summit 2008 was crafted to provide delegates with a unique experience and results.

After the opening remarks, Stephen Dolan, the Director of Sybase Australia & New Zealand unveiled how to integrate business logic and processes with RFID and sensor technologies, including mobile devices. One of the most interesting parts in his presentation is his view on the death of RFID Middleware – the software connecting RFID readers with enterprise applications. Enriched with real-life examples and industrial case studies, he concluded his presentation with several key recommendations to integrate sensor data into Enterprise Applications.

The next speaker, Dr. Toni Anwar, the Coordinator Software Systems Engineering of TGGS Thailand introduced the basics of RFID technology and applications with examples in building automation system and smart parking. He closed his presentation with some future RFID trends and the requirements for further development in RFID.

Opening the theme of Near Field Communication (NFC) in RFID Asia Summit 2008, Goh Say Yeow, EVP Sales and Managing Director Asia Pacific of INSIDE presented the market trends and development of contactless payment. From the current contactless payment, he explained the role of NFC technology as an enabler for contactless card and card reader emulation using NFC-enabled mobile phones. Furthermore, he also detailed three NFC use cases that will have impact for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), i.e. pairing/connectivity, proximity service and transactions. Most importantly, he also highlighted that convenience will be the real value proposition of NFC that will drive consumer adoption.

Going further with NFC technology, Jonathon Gould, VP Asia Pacific of ViVOtech reviewed different generations of electronic payment system with contactless payment becoming the latest trend. He further mentioned several cases and trials involving NFC technology for mobile payment and marketing.

After a sumptuous and active networking luncheon, Chua Thian Yee, CEO of CASSIS, focused on the NFC technology used for mobile payment, reviewing the consumer landscape, the fundamentals of NFC technology and several mobile payment cases.

Heru Wahyudi, Sales and Marketing Manager, representing PT. Solusi Periferal and Intermec presented different kind of industrial RFID applications, with some remarks that are open for further discussions, such as: the possibility of having real benefits from RFID implementation without complete process re-engineering, internal benefit with self-implemented RFID and collaboration with suppliers and customers to produce more value.

In late afternoon, Dr. Urachada Ketprom of NECTEC Thailand has captured the attention of RFID Asia Summit 2008 delegates with her well-prepared presentation on animal and food traceability. Her presentation was further enriched with the latest updates on RFID projects, such as chicken farm management, animal transport checkpoint, swine farm management, microchip-implanted pets and shrimp traceability.

Exhibition is one of the highlights in the RFID Asia Summit 2008. International delegates have visited and engaged actively with the exhibitors to explore business opportunities and get the latest information on RFID products and services available in the market . The expressions of contentment were received from both the exhibitors and delegates.

Opening the RFID Demonstration Rally (tm), the RFID Group Research at School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) shared the latest information on RFID technology research and development, as well as the university-industry collaboration that has taken place. The presentation was immediately followed by product demonstration from Intermec/PT Solusi Periferal and Sicurezza, including a short video clip presentation by ViVOtech.

Closing the International Conference on Auto-ID, RFID, Smart Card and Mobile Technology, Adi Tedjasaputra summarized the full day activities and announced the networking events and One-to-One Business Meeting in the next morning following the conference.

The writer is an ICT Consultant and Researcher with various affiliations to academic and industry organizations. Her current research interest includes ICT4D, m-Learning, e-Learning, Web 2.0, healthcare, wireless and mobile technology.


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Labels: contactless, indonesia, mobile, nfc, rfid, smartcard, technology

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A few years ago, Wal-Mart issued a mandate for suppliers to attach products with RFID tags. Today, only a few suppliers have complied, or in other words, the mandate does not work effectively in retail supply chain. Learning from the failures of early adopters and revealing successful RFID technology and applications beyond tracking, the prestigious RFID Asia Summit 2008 on March 12, 2008 in Jakarta, Indonesia hosted by RFID Asia, recognized as the first and largest global RFID Community in Asia Pacific region, will address the potentials and challenges of RFID technology and harness the economic opportunities in various vertical industries.

5-cent RFID tag is the most demanded RFID product in the world. Unfortunately, the product does not exist. The underlying assumption of large volume purchase to reach the price level of 5-cent has never become reality.

"We quickly determined that if RFID tags were ever going to have a shot at being widely used, a 5-cent price target was important for both psychological and commercial reasons. In return, though, the volumes would have to be very high—for example, more than 5 billion bar codes are scanned daily today. The problem with RFID tags at the time was that the industry was "stuck" in a higher-margin, lower-volume mind-set." wrote Sanjay Sarma, the co-founder of MIT's Auto-ID Center (now Auto-ID Lab), and also the CTO and Director of Oat Systems, in his article “Integrating RFID” several years ago.

Eventhough Wal-Mart has recently started to issue an ultimatum to its suppliers shipping to its Sam's Club warehouse outlet distribution center in Texas, USA with a premium price of $2 per pallet, it is estimated that over 15,000 Wal-Mart suppliers have yet to comply with Wal-Mart's RFID mandate, according to a recent article at Computer Business Review.

While the retail supply chain industry is still waiting for the coming of 5-cent RFID tag, various RFID applications that do not rely on 5-cent price level have mushroomed for the past few years in diverse vertical industries.

RFID and Sensor Technologies
The use of RFID and sensor technologies have become more common nowadays. Active RFID tags with built-in sensors are readily available in the market. Applications such as electronic container seals, intelligent buildings, vital sign measurement of monitored hospital patients are only a few of applications that require cost-effective infrastructure. With the increasing number of nodes and types of sensors in wireless sensor network (WSN), the role of infrastructure has become more critical to manage sensors and intelligent networks.

Stephen Dolan, the Director of Sybase Australia and New Zealand, one of the international speakers in RFID Asia Summit 2008, will unveil how to integrate business logic and processes with RFID and sensor technologies, including mobile devices.

"My expectation is that this summit could create people's awareness of what RFID technology can support to the existing environment, from biology to medical, from telecommunication to material engineering," said Dr. Toni Anwar of TGGS Thailand who will present how to design and implement integrated and intelligent building automation and security with RFID technology. "This event could also be a real summit of people, who then will continue in a good RFID project with another."

Animal and Food Traceability
Predicted as the largest RFID market of all, the use of RFID technology for animals, food and farming will benefit the food supply chain in a huge number of ways, including livestock disease control and merchandising prepared food, according to the latest report "RFID for Animals, Food and Farming 2007-2011" published by IDTechEx.

During the RFID Asia Summit 2008, Dr. Urachada Ketprom of NECTEC, Thailand's National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, will present how Thailand, the world's largest producer of farm-raised shrimp and the fourth biggest poultry exporter, uses RFID technology for animal and food traceability.

"RFID Asia Summit 2008 presents an opportunity to update current RFID trends and connects people in RFID business or academic together to exchange information and new conceptual idea for new application development," said Dr. Urachada Ketprom.

Contactless Smart Card and Near Field Communication (NFC)
From mass transportation to ID cards, contactless smart card has been the choice for micropayment in cashless society. Now that NFC is ready to turn mobile phones into credit cards and personal payment terminals, mobile commerce has also been redefined. Jupiter Research estimates the total of US$22 billion mobile phone payment transaction by 2011.

Jonathon Gould, Vice President of ViVOtech will share his experience and knowledge about the ecosystem for NFC-enabled mobile payment and mobile commerce, including mobile wallet and digital money. Moreover, the transition from EMV to NFC payment, the latest contactless payment technology, applications, projects and market trends presented by international renowned speakers such as Goh Say Yeow, VP & Director Asia of INSIDE Contactless and Chua Thian Yee, CEO of CASSIS International will also become the inspiring and thought-provoking discussion during the RFID Asia Summit 2008.

"I hope this summit will share with the participants the implementation experience and to do the project right the first time," said Chua Thian Yee of CASSIS International, a leading end-to-end security solution and service provider of smart card innovation, technology and services headquartered in Singapore.

Different from other RFID events, the RFID Asia Summit 2008 to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, will integrate conference presentations by a line up of international renowned speakers, RFID Demonstration Rally™, exhibition and networking sessions, making the RFID Asia Summit 2008 a unique one-stop event to learn from RFID experts and business leaders, experience the latest RFID products and meet prospective partners and clients.

ABOUT RFID ASIA SUMMIT 2008
RFID Asia Summit 2008 aims to address the potentials and challenges of RFID technology and harness the economic opportunities in various vertical industries in Indonesia and Asia Pacific region. As the only event in Asia Pacific dedicated for leaders and RFID experts in charge for the development of businesses in the emerging markets, RFID Asia Summit 2008 is also endeavored to boost business interests in RFID technology within the region.

Catering the demand for invaluable insights on the latest Auto-ID, RFID, Smart Card and Mobile technology, trends and markets, RFID Asia Summit 2008 will present a line-up of international renowned speakers who will lead intellectually thought-provoking and inspiring conference tracks, RFID demonstrations and business networking sessions.

For more information about the RFID Asia Summit 2008, please visit The Official Website of RFID Asia Summit 2008.


ABOUT INDONESIA
Indonesia accounts as one of the fastest and vibrantly growing economy in the South East Asia with more than 6% annual economic growth. As one of the next major emerging economies with strong economic growth and commodity trade, Indonesia - the world´s largest archipelagos boasts a growing demand for RFID technology solutions in telecommunication, banking & finance, transportation, logistics, healthcare, oil & gas, mining, building automation, manufacturing, agriculture and security industries. In conjunction with the official Indonesian Government's programme of Visit Indonesia 2008, RFID Asia Summit 2008 will attract both international and local business leaders and RFID experts in the Asia Pacific region.

As the first country in Southeast Asia that has implemented National Single Window (NSW), which provides one-stop electronic services for customs and excise, shipping, bank transfers, insurance and licensing, including electronic processing of trade documents, Indonesia is expected to modernize its national infrastructure in the upcoming years. Various sectors in Indonesia are expected to grow faster than its annual economic growth. Such sectors include transport and communications sector that is expected to achieve annual growth of 6.8% with total value of US$33.23bn by 2011, according to the latest research on Indonesia's Freight Transport report published by Business Monitor International.


ABOUT RFID ASIA
RFID Asia is the Independent Knowledge Centre that helps RFID vendors and end-users making the best investment, leverage competitiveness and market share through Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. As the prominent RFID community in Asia, RFID Asia is the bridge connecting different stakeholders with interest in RFID technology. As an independent venture, RFID Asia helps RFID vendors and end-users alike to achieve their goals. For more information about RFID Asia, please visit www.rfidAsia.org.


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Labels: 2008, asia, auto-id, mobile, nfc, rfid, smartcard, summit, technology

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RFID Asia, recognized as the first and largest global RFID Community in Asia Pacific region, will host the prestigious RFID Asia Summit 2008 on March 12, 2008 at InterContinental Midplaza Jakarta, Indonesia. RFID Asia Summit 2008 aims to address the potentials and challenges of RFID technology and harness the economic opportunities in various vertical industries in Indonesia and Asia Pacific region. As the only event in Asia Pacific dedicated for leaders and RFID experts in charge for the development of businesses in the emerging markets, RFID Asia Summit 2008 is also endeavored to boost business interests in RFID technology within the region.

The latest research from International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group shows that more than 80 million of 230 million Indonesians have mobile phone subscriptions. With the estimated spending of more than US$ 2.9 billion in 2007 for telecommunication networks and more for the next few years, Indonesia is expected to become the third largest mobile market in Asia by 2010.

Accompanying the growth of mobile market in Indonesia, services such as Mobile Wallet and Digital Money have demanded the RFID industry in Indonesia to grow beyond the traditional markets of access control and security. In addition, the spending priority of the Indonesian Government on infrastructure projects in telecommunication, power, utilities and transportation sectors during 2008 and the next few years has also driven the increasing demand of RFID technology in diverse vertical industries.

For catering the demand for invaluable insights on the latest Auto-ID, RFID, Smart Card and Mobile technology, trends and markets in Indonesia and other emerging Asia Pacific markets, RFID Asia Summit 2008 will present a line-up of international renowned speakers who will lead intellectually thought-provoking and inspiring conference tracks, RFID demonstrations and business networking sessions.

“I hope this summit will share with the participants the implementation experience and to do the project right the first time,” said one of the international conference speakers, Chua Thian Yee – CEO of CASSIS International, a leading end-to-end security solution and service provider of smart card innovation, technology and services headquartered in Singapore.

The line-up of esteemed speakers include Goh Say Yeow – the Executive Vice President Sales and Managing Director Asia of INSIDE Contactless, Chua Thian Yee - the CEO of CASSIS International, Dr. Toni Anwar – the Coordinator for Software Systems Engineering Programme of Thai-German Graduate School of Engineering and other international renowned speakers, leaders and RFID experts from Asia Pacific region.

Adi Tedjasaputra - the Founder of RFID Asia said, “RFID Asia Summit 2008 is a must-attend event for leaders and RFID experts in Asia Pacific region.”

For more information about the RFID Asia Summit 2008, please visit The Official Website of RFID Asia Summit 2008.

About Indonesia

Indonesia accounts as one of the fastest and vibrantly growing economy in the South East Asia with more than 6% annual economic growth. As one of the next major emerging economies with strong economic growth and commodity trade, Indonesia - the world´s largest archipelagos boasts a growing demand for RFID technology solutions in telecommunication, banking & finance, transportation, logistics, healthcare, oil & gas, mining, building automation, manufacturing, agriculture and security industries. In conjunction with the official Indonesian Government's programme of Visit Indonesia 2008, RFID Asia Summit 2008 will attract both international and local business leaders and RFID experts in the Asia Pacific region.

About RFID Asia

RFID Asia is the Independent Knowledge Centre that helps RFID vendors and end-users making the best investment, leverage competitiveness and market share through Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. As the prominent RFID community in Asia, RFID Asia is the bridge connecting different stakeholders with interest in RFID technology. As an independent venture, RFID Asia helps RFID vendors and end-users alike to achieve their goals. For more information about RFID Asia, please visit www.rfidAsia.org


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Labels: asia, auto-id, conference, indonesia, mobile, rfid, smartcard, summit

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by Adi Tedjasaputra

MyKad or Government Multipurpose Card (GMPC) is a multi-purpose card envisioned by the Malaysian government to enable Malaysians accessing public and private services. The possible data stored in MyKad could include personal identification, driving records, passport information, medical data and monetary transaction. The maximum data storage is currently limited to its 64K memory capacity due to the limitation of the smart card technology being used.

The recent concern regarding the use of MyKad during the media briefing for the upcoming CardEx Asia 2006 Conference in Kuala Lumpur published in Bernama is an honest expression of frustration.

Quoting from the article: "In terms of adoption, we are fast but when we see the end-users, there is still a lack of awareness and knowledge in terms of full usage of the smart cards," Frost & Sullivans' Program Manager, Smart Cards & Auto ID Jafizwaty Ishahak said.

Blaming the end-users' lack of awareness and knowledge, she also said that only ten percent of MyKad holders use the other applications that come with the identity card.

She further said that there should be more educating going on in the use of smart cards and in terms of their application so that more people will be appreciative and receptive towards the technology.

Technology Appreciation+Acceptance = Success of Usage?

Technology appreciation and acceptance could naturally be part of a new product and service adoption. Business cases, however, show that technology appreciation and acceptance are often insignificant for the success of product and service usage.

Take Google as an example. When Google's search service was initially launched, only a fraction of people in the world could appreciate its PageRank™ technology.

After the search service almost constantly provided its users with relevant and useful search results, more people started to use its search service more often. Google has now become so popular that Merriam-Webster dictionary recently added the definition of the word google.

Despite Google's popularity, there are still many people who still do not know or care about the PageRank™ technology behind the search service, not even within the Search Engine Community.

Learning from business cases such as Google, it is noticeable that the success of product and service usage is often the result of usability, which correlates strongly with relevancy and usefulness, not technology appreciation and acceptance.

Education or User Research?

Several years have passed since MyKad was officially launched in 2001. It is, however, still difficult to draw any conclusive analysis to improve the usage of MyKad. The claim that only ten percent of MyKad holders use the other applications that come with the identity card should actually become a wake-up call for the MyKad stakeholders, including the Government of Malaysia.

While education could help in the success of new product and service usage, it is difficult to agree that the lack of education could be the main deterrence for technology appreciation and acceptance, particularly in the case of MyKad. The premise that education could result in technology appreciation and acceptance, and eventually successful usage by end-users, is basically unfounded.

In the MyKad case, User Research is actually more suitable than education or training. Some insights from MyKad stakeholders, including MyKad users, could be essential to take some decisions needed to improve the usage of MyKad.

Malaysians could benefit from a usable MyKad, not a technology-centred one.

Update: This article is also featured in the e-Government magazine.

This article is also available in pdf format.



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Labels: business, gmpc, malaysia, MyKad, rfid, smartcard, technology

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