Princeton Junction, NJ, August 29, 2005–The Smart Card Alliance is accepting nominations for its “Outstanding Smart Card Achievement” (OSCA) awards. The Alliance will present three awards recognizing the individual, the issuer organization and the supplier organization that have significantly impacted and influenced the smart card market in North America. The awards will be presented at the 2005 Fall Annual Conference at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel from October 11–14, 2005.

Nomination submissions are due by September 16th, 2005. Details and forms can be found at https://www.securetechalliance.org, or by contacting the Alliance at info@smartcardalliance.org.

Any North American-based organization or individual is eligible to win an OSCA award. The first category is for end users or issuing organizations deploying smart card technology, that demonstrate leadership, innovation, and a commitment to using best practices to represent the industry in a positive way. The second category is for supplier organizations, such as product and solution vendors or integrators, which have designed, developed, manufactured or integrated smart card technology and delivered outstanding solutions for practical use by end users. The third category is for an individual who stands out for his or her leadership, vision, support and commitment to the smart card industry.

A panel of industry leaders, analysts and media will evaluate the applications and select the three winners. The criteria for evaluation of organizations include:

• The success of solution implementations
• The level of benefit the organization or the deployment has delivered to the end user community
• The impact the organization has had on the market and amount of outreach delivered to the smart card market

The criteria for evaluation of individuals include:

• Years of service
• Outstanding leadership and contributions to the smart card industry
• Record for contributing back to the industry for the general good of the industry as a whole

At last year’s awards ceremony, the U.S. Department of Defense Manpower Data Center was awarded the Outstanding Issuing Organization award, while Axalto received the Outstanding Supplier Organization award. The Outstanding Individual Leadership award was presented to Dan Cunningham, a twenty year industry veteran who had been one of the founding board members of the Smart Card Forum and who is now CEO of Raak Technologies.

About the Smart Card Alliance

The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology. Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. and Latin America.