News
Linxens acquires Smartrac’s Secure ID & Transaction (SIT) division
November 2016 by Marc Jacob
LINXENS has announced that it has acquired SMARTRAC’s SIT division, a global leader in the development and manufacture of RFID inlays and antennas. Subject to regulatory clearance, the deal is expected to complete by the end of the year.
By acquiring SMARTRAC’s SIT division’s technical expertise and vision, Linxens will consolidate its position as a leading provider of contact and contactless smart card connectivity solutions across its key business segments of payments, e-government, telecoms, transportation, loyalty and access control.
The acquisition further expands Linxens’ global presence with sites in China, France, Germany, Singapore, Thailand and the US. The combined company will focus their innovation skills on shared programs to accelerate new product development and is expected to generate more than €500 million in revenue, which will allow it to continue to innovate and expand.
Contactless solutions are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Smartrac’s “Secure ID & Transaction” (SIT) division provides RFID components for 5 key applications: government-issued documents (eIDs, ePassports, eDriving Licenses, etc.), payments, transportation, loyalty and access control.
As the focus on security intensifies, government agencies are turning to e-documents, with a growing proportion using contactless interfaces. The result is rising demand for antennas and inlays for use in e-documents. The e-Passport is now commonplace, so the focus is shifting increasingly towards e-ID Cards, and e-Driving licenses, especially in emerging economies.
Contactless solutions are also widely used in transportation, loyalty and access control, all of which continue to offer impressive growth potential: the contactless access card market is forecast to grow by more than 5% between 2015 and 2019.
With the global rollout of the EMV payment card standard well underway, focus is now shifting to the upgrading of existing EMV cards to include contactless (NFC) functionality. This migration began a few years ago in the EU and China, and is now underway in the US, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Demand for this technology from the banking market is expected to grow by 9% year-on-year for the next 5 years.
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