Smart Cards Slowly Seep Into The Enterprise

摘要

In many cases, the idea for a smart card to better secure a company's computer network comes from the information technology or the security department. In the case of E.ON Energie, a Germany-based utility, the idea originated a few years ago with a newspaper article read by Hans-Ulrich Fink, head of HR Controlling and HR IT Management. The story was about companies using chip cards to authenticate users to the corporate computer networks. Fink liked what he read, and asked his information technology department to look into using a smart card for network access. Until that moment, officials at the company, a unit of German power company E.ON, had only thought of using a contactless identification card for building access, time and payroll, and cafeteria payment.