While it's still called CardTech/SecurTech, the show's promoter is pushing separate identities for the two sides of the name, more so this year then in the past. In fact, it's being billed as "one event, two technology sectors."

"The show has been saddled with an EMV reputation. A lot of people think it's a credit card event when it's about identity tokens and how they're applied," said Bill Rutledge, CTST's conference program manager for Thomson Media Conferences & Expositions.

"What's different (this year) is there is a much larger focus on security and the fact that we're defining what CardTech and SecurTech mean," he said.