Campus ID News
Card, mobile credential, payment and security
FEATURED
PARTNERS
asu nfc 1 1

Campuses show that NFC is more than payments

Zack Martin   ||   Dec 30, 2015  ||   , ,

Near field communication (NFC) is primarily thought of as a payment tool. Google, Samsung and Apple all have payment programs that take advantage of the short-range communications protocol. And while that’s been a popular use of the technology it is by no means the only application.

College campuses have been exploring the use of NFC for aspects other than payments. These uses were highlighted in a Smart Card Alliance white paper looking at non-payment use cases for near field communications technology.

The paper details use cases for NFC for physical access control at Quinnipiac, Villanova and Arizona State University. The value proposition with NFC over cards is convenience – no need to wait for a visitor badge, streamlined ID issuing, Over-the-Air issuance, and secure storage of IDs.

Am important component of the value proposition offered by NFC is the ability for a user to obtain and use a secure credential in real time with little friction. One example of a frictionless transaction is the delivery of a hotel room key or a student dorm-room key to a user as part of a check-in process.

Implementation requires a secure means of generating credentials that can be registered with the physical access control system and provisioning such credentials to a secure environment on an NFC phone that can then be used to present them to the NFC door reader. A wallet application on the smartphone can provide the user interface through which the user can select which credential to activate. More sophisticated apps may use Bluetooth beacons to streamline the selection process, waking the app and prompting the user for some form of authentication, such as a biometric.

Use of the technology on campus has been popular. Villanova reported that by removing combination and key locks and using mobile phone activated doors the university saved a tremendous amount of money in the annual turnover that is required to re-key dorm rooms each year.

The school has also reduced the amount of lockouts because students seldom leave their mobile phone in the room. Another saving is the need to rekey if a master key is lost. Now, with a centralized room-key management system it is easy to do the annual changeover, issuing one-day permission to certain rooms as required, and enabling other key-related actions.

The Smart Card Alliance white paper includes additional information in NFC, including:

  • Discussion of marketing, identity and access, ticketing and gaming use cases
  • Description of the use cases including implementation considerations and challenges and examples of real-world implementations
  • Discussion of approaches for securing sensitive user credentials for non-payment applications
  • Discussions of implementation challenges that are common to all non-payments use cases.

The full white paper can be downloaded here.

Related Posts

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

RECENT ARTICLES

High school bathroom

Bathroom breaks tracked by campus ID and mobile app

At California’s Fresno High, a new app is authorizing and monitoring trips to the bathroom in an effort to increase students’ time in class and decrease gathering in halls and bathrooms. Of course, this has not gone over well with students. Raising your hand and asking the teacher if you can go to the bathroom […]
Atrium Ozzi container

Atrium clients track check-out and return of reusable containers at OZZI kiosks

The push to reduce or even eliminate single-use containers from campus dining is now easier for Atrium clients. Thanks to a seamless integration between Atrium and the OZZI reusable container program, the processes for both students and dining services is streamlined. Atrium clients have been using OZZI for years, but the two systems were independent. […]
HID report snapshot

Security industry’s top trends include mobile IDs, MFA and sustainability

The 2024 State of the Security Industry Report from HID Global studies trends and changes in the security industry. This year six major themes emerged surrounding mobile identity, multi-factor authentication, biometrics, AI, and sustainability. The research includes data from more than 2,500 individuals – partners, end users, and security/IT personnel – from around the globe. Respondents […]
CIDN logo reversed
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.
Twitter

Feb. 1 webinar explores how mobile ordering enhanced campus life, increased sales at UVA and Central Washington @Grubhub @CBORD

Join Jeff Koziol and Robert Gaulden from @AllegionUS as we explore how mobile credentials and proptech are changing on- and off-campus housing.

Load More...
Contact
CampusIDNews is published by AVISIAN Publishing
315 E. Georgia St.
Tallahassee, FL 32301
www.AVISIAN.com[email protected]
Use our contact form to submit tips, corrections, or questions to our team.
©2024 CampusIDNews. All rights reserved.