Wednesday, January 10, 2007 Organizers use ‘smart cards’ to foil summit gatecrashers
ANYONE who plans to duplicate the identification cards issued to the delegates and participants of the 12th Asean Summit had better think twice.
The cards distributed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) secretariat are not ordinary identification cards but are “smart cards” embedded with microchips.
The cards and the identification system used for the summit were provided by Unlimited Solutions.
Ma. Vianca del Rosario of Unlimited Solutions explained that the cards have microchips that can be read by the computers set up at the entrance and exit doors of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) and all the hotels where participants are billeted.
The participants need to have their cards scanned by the machines before they are allowed entry to the different venues.
“If one will use a counterfeit card, this will be denied by the computers and they will be arrested by the guards,” del Rosario explained.
Such measures were taken to prevent unscrupulous individuals from entering the summit venues.
The cards issued for the original dates of the summit, Dec. 10 to 14, will no longer be honored.
If anyone attempts to use the old cards to gain entry to the Jan. 10 to 15 summits, “access denied” will be flashed on the computer screen.
Del Rosario said they have reprogrammed the ID cards, which is why the national organizing committee replaced the old ones. Unlimited Solutions took charge of printing the cards and providing the computers and the system at a discounted price.
Aside from the computers used in scanning the ID cards, X-ray machines are also in place at the basement and main entrance of the CICC.
Security cameras have also been installed along the ceremonial routes and are being monitored from the Technical Operations Center across the CICC. (MBG)
