[March 22, 2012]

Smart Credentials for Government, Healthcare, and Citizen ID Worth in Excess of $72 Billion over the Next Five Years, Says ABI Research

The market for smart cards, secure ICs, inlays, (biometric) data capture, card personalization, printing and issuance in government, healthcare, and citizen ID will reach a cumulative value of $72 billion by 2016. The largest proportion of revenues will be from the deployment of national ID cards and e-passports.

The employment of higher-value applications, in particular e-passports and smart national ID cards, alongside the increased focus on multi-application credentials, has accelerated the smart card market value. The market is expected to peak in 2014, before settling at a level close to $15 billion.

The greater employment of smart cards is adding further value for vendors as more countries look to migrate from legacy-based solutions to secure smart card-based ones and next generation credentials. Shipments of smart credentials will overtake legacy in 2014. The keys to this shift are several countries: France, Brazil, and Poland are moving to dual interface national ID cards and China has a pending upgrade to a microcontroller national ID.

Research analyst Phil Sealy comments, "Contactless is the new 'must have' technology in the ID space. Contactless projects have already shown success, deploying within national ID projects in Germany, Egypt, and most notably, China. The trend to adopt a contactless interface will continue throughout the forecast period. We expect to see strong and continued adoption of dual interface ICs primarily utilized in national ID cards."

Group director John Devlin adds, "This market has produced some excellent YoY growth over the past few years as vendors add value and increase the appeal of smart card-based solution. Shipment growth should continue for at least the next four years. The next phase in India's Aadhaar project could be a real game changer. The project could form the basis for a whole range of services deploying in both an online and offline manner, across both government and commercial sectors."

ABI Research's (News - Alert) report, "Smart Cards in Government and Healthcare Citizen ID," (http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1005791) addresses the barriers and drivers of planning and deploying infrastructure and issuance of citizen-deployed documents and discusses the future market changes and developments.

It is part of ABI Research's Smart Cards & Embedded Security (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Smart_Cards_and_Embedded_Security) and Smart Cities (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Smart_Cities_and_Smart_Grids_Research_Service) Research Services.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research's worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 40+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.

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