Just got back with hot news from Cartes 2013 Exhibition, the Mecca of smart cards & security. I have fresh good new and fresh bad news. Which should I write about first ? The good, the bad ? Long lasting impression.
The first impression: the exhibition has improved slightly. 99% of the exhibitors are the same from the 2012 edition, but I’ve seen new faces. The big four ( Gi-De, Gemo, O-thur, Safran) were front row. However, instead of showing many demos, they were rather static. So static that the second day by 4 o’clock p.m., Gi-De was emptying its stand. Too bad. Tomorrow might be the day of big deal closing. If the showcase is empty …
Half of the stands were empty, i.e. without visitors. The other half were way too crowded to let one enjoy the view. The most sad was the stand of one big company with only four chairs upon which stood 4 salespersons from that big company. Maybe the database they sell and the four letter language program that runs on smartcards don’t need a bigger showcase at an exhibition of this importance. Maybe. Let us not despair.
Now for the full half of the glass. I enjoyed talking with people from various fields related to the smartcard industry. I must say that they are most professional and very eager to present their respective products.
From the secure fingerprint card with long lasting power reserve to the pick-and-place machine which glues ICs on the antenna card, from the facial recognition software from Toshiba to the testing of NFC, I have enjoyed conversing with very professional people, eager to offer information about their product.
iotism2m 