If anyone’s wondering why the smart card companies are making such a noise at the moment, it’s because of the CardTech/Secure Tech event in Orlando, Florida that’s been taking place this week. At that event, Siemens AG announced that it was working to develop a crypto-controller smart card memory chip for Visa International Inc. The SLE 4463, compatible with the SLE 4404 chip already in use in disposable Visa Cash cards, which were used most visibly in the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia back in 1996, should be delivered some time this year. Siemens believes the market for such chips will rise from $520m this year to $2.8bn by 2001.
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