Medicaid customers in the state of Kansas will soon receive permanent medical ID cards in place of the paper IDs that were previously issued each month. The new medical ID cards will be durable, made of PVC plastic like your typical credit card, and won't have to replaced.

Martel College, a residential college at Rice University in Texas, is testing a new card-based access control system that allows Housing Operations to activate and deactivate access control to rooms wirelessly instead of manually. Now, rather than having to send someone out to change locks any time a student loses a key, the new system allows operators to simply deactivate a student's card, and reconfigure the lock wirelessly, from the housing office.

There's a new medical ID card program up and running in New Jersey with a very important mission – to save lives. A project of Monmouth County, the medical alert program is especially helpful for individuals with medical conditions such as autism and Asperger's syndrome that make it hard for them to communicate. The ID cards will contain the necessary information for the right medical help to be called upon in the event of an emergency.

Starting this fall, French public transportation company SNCF plans on using RFID-enabled smart cards with USB connectivity. The public transit cards, which will be used to make fare payments, can be plugged into a PC or laptop allowing users to connect to the SNCF website and add funds to their cards online.

Starting next fall, students at Penn State University will no longer have to present paper tickets to watch their beloved Nittany Lions football team take the field. The University is preparing a new program in which ticket information will be stored on student ID cards. The student ID card will actually carry the football ticket, and will be the only way for students to enter the stadium. This allows students to manage their tickets electronically, and makes it less likely that football tickets will be lost, since students usually carry their university ID cards at all times.

Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio has a new access control system in place that will use student ID cards with proximity card technology. The card-based system will help control access to campus buildings, including student dormitories after hours. To gain access to their dorms, students must waive their ID cards in front of special proximity card readers located outside entrances. The reader must recognize the student's ID number, which is stored on the card, before allowing entry.

This fall, undergrads and faculty at Harvard University will receive new ID cards featuring HID iCLASS technology. These contactless smart cards will not only be used for identification purposes, but also to control access to residential facilities and other campus buildings. The cards are highly secure, and can easily be adapted to new applications as needed.

HID Global announced this week that it's expanding its product offerings in the area of logical access control, with new solutions for converging security environments. HID on the Desktop, for instance, enables a single HID card to both open physical doors and also open Microsoft Windows on a PC. In the past, this would require two separate cards. With HID on the Desktop, the user just needs an HID card or token along with an OMNIKEY reader and HID's naviGO software.

At the U.S. border entry point in Nogales, Arizona, RFID readers are being installed to read new travel documents that will be required for entry. One of those documents is the recently produced U.S. Passport Card, which features an RFID tag. The tag can be read wirelessly by the RFID readers at distances of up to 30 feet. To protect privacy, each passport card will contain a reference number that must first be matched against the Homeland Security Department's secure database before the cardholder's personal information can be obtained.

At ASIS International 2008, HID Global is demonstrating the latest edition of Asure ID's card design software. Asure ID 2009 is a user-friendly software for card personalization and management. The 2009 edition features a redesigned interface, and is built on the Microsoft .NET technology platform for enhanced interoperability and stability. It incorporates tools that simplify the process of ID badge design, data management, and data entry.

Public transit riders in Ottawa will soon be making the switch to contactless smart cards for fare payments. The new electronic fare system will allow riders to wave their cards at a card reader when boarding a bus, O-train, or any future rail lines. The smart cards will replace the city's existing paper transit passes for unlimited travel. Riders can also prepay a specific amount and then have individual fares deducted from the card for each ride.

Murcia University in southeast Spain is the latest school to employ HID iCLASS technology for multifunctional student ID cards. In the case of Murcia, a key component of the cards is their ability to serve as transit passes for buses that transport student around the university, and back and forth between its two campuses. The HID iCLASS system makes it easy for students to ride the bus as many times as they'd like, and have their fare payments handled electronically.

The Army is testing out a pilot program that allows contract workers to use an ID card to gain access to Department of Defense (DOD) services and facilities. The DOD-approved card program, referred to as the Synchronized Pre-Deployment and Operational Tracker program (or SPOT for short), is designed to verify the identities of nongovernment personnel and give visibility to contractors in the battlefield.

Zebra ID card printers will be used by Vail Resorts to produce RFID-enabled ski and snowboard passes for the coming season. They're calling it an "easy-scan" system because the ski passes will provide instant authentication of lift pass holders when they arrive at the slopes. Zebra P330i card printers will print and encode the RFID cards.