MUTANT

Project Background

Near Field Communication (NFC), a short-range contactless technology, has been a hot topic for many years. The most common areas of its application are cards used for access at hotels (room keys) and for public transportation (SL Access card). NFC services can also be implemented in NFC enabled phones. In this case, the user can store credit cards, loyalty cards, access cards, and transport tickets as an application running in the phone.

A large number of NFC pilot projects have been launched during the last years, often in constellations with one operator and one bank or a service provider (e.g. a hotel). However, despite technical feasibility, high usability and user acceptance, the NFC services do not take off. One of the main identified obstacles for a wider spread of the NFC technology and services is a complex value network requiring a big number of participants (mobile network operators, banks, service providers, and so on). In addition, a third party actor, a Trusted Service Manager (TSM), has to be introduced. Its main role is to manage the NFC services and security on behalf of other involved actors. Other significant obstacles are unclear business and co-operation models; low perceived added value for a single NFC application; and a lack of NFC devices.

Currently, the most part of the NFC services is being offered in public services by operators and banks within business-to-consumer (B2C) context. This results in such barriers as a low added value in combination with complex value networks. Another way to introduce the NFC technology is to identify specific applications areas where it can be implemented by a small number of actors, and where it will provide a higher added value for both consumers and businesses.

Project objectives

The NFC services (like access control to offices and public transport) involve a large number of people in B2C sector. At the same time, the NFC services should also be addressed in business-to-business (B2B) context, in order to understand benefits and costs for enterprises and organizations making use of the services.

Hence, the project is a pre-study of real life NFC services in a small scale, including technical, security, service, usability, and business model aspects. The main functionality to test is NFC access control services in a defined and controlled environment with real users: staff, students and visitors at EIT ICT labs and at Wireless@KTH in Kista.

The main objectives of the project are:

• Analysis of added value for B2B services, non-payment services (i.e. when no transaction fees are involved).
• Analysis of implications for adoption of NFC services by businesses and end-users.
• Development and analysis of different case studies and scenarios of multi-tenant access control applied in office building environment.

Summing up, the project will provide insights for the future development of a multi-tenant access control, use of the NFC with different SE solutions in mobile phones, and also implications for wider adoption of NFC services in other areas.

Participants:

Project manager: Jan I. Markendahl, Associate Professor at KTH

Partners: MeaWallet AS, Telcred

Funding: Wireless@kth

  Project website