One of our goals for this year’s BlackBerry Live conference is to integrate mobile technology not just in the discussions, sessions, and resources – but into the actual conference itself to help keep attendees closely plugged into all of the action.

Near Field Communication (NFC)

One of my all-time favorite technologies, Near Field Communication (NFC) will be integrated into BlackBerry Live in a big way. You’ll be able to scan into BlackBerry Live and BlackBerry Jam sessions and interact with aspects of the venue using the BlackBerry Live Conference App, but that’s just the beginning. You’ll also be able to share contact information with sponsors, scoop up links to resources and web sites, and take advantage of all that BlackBerry 10 has to offer when it comes to NFC.

BlackBerry Live Conference App

Shortly before BlackBerry Live the Mobile Conference Guide app will be available in BlackBerry World for you to download. This will be your ultimate conference guide, including a wide range of features:

• Find sessions, speaker, sponsor, and event details
• Receive event update messages
• View the conference agenda and floor plan
• Build and edit your conference schedule
• Scan into sessions using Near Field Communication (NFC)
• Complete conference and session surveys
• Share your information with conference sponsors using NFC

It’s not too late to register for BlackBerry Live!

Head over to www.blackberrylive.com to register for this year’s conference, and don’t forget that if you’ve attended a BlackBerry event in the past, you may be eligible for a $150 discount as part of the Alumni Discount!

Stay tuned for availability in BlackBerry World, and get ready for a seriously mobile conference! See you next week in Orlando.

Did you know that both VISA and MasterCard have certified BlackBerry smartphones with NFC capabilities to be used for mobile payments?

Over the last couple of years, NFC technology has become increasingly popular in smartphones. Recent blog posts on the Inside BlackBerry for Business blog have shown that NFC-enabled devices can be used for a wide range of tasks, including access to your workplace and paying for your morning coffee. NFC has enabled many of us to see our BlackBerry smartphone as not only an important communications tool, but also as an efficient, contactless payment tool. When considering the use of a smartphone for mobile payments security is a major factor.

If you’re interested in learning more about some of the security features embedded in your BlackBerry smartphone when using it as a mobile payment solution, here are the details – straight from the BlackBerry experts!

According to our BlackBerry Security Certification Manager, Nayef Khan, “One major concern customers have when making mobile payments is security. A lot of focus in the mobile industry is put on the security of the “payment tap” process and overall device security. However, what’s often overlooked is how a credit card’s information travels directly to a smartphone, and how that overall data transmission process is secured.” In the NFC industry the systems that get your credit card data securely onto the device are called Trusted Service Managers (TSM). They are a key part of making NFC payments secure. BlackBerry is actively working on TSM functionality. The certification of BlackBerry as a VISA approved Trusted Service Manager (TSM) proves that the world’s top banking organizations recognize the high level of BlackBerry security standards.

So what are Trusted Service Managers (TSMs)?

A TSM is a cloud-based service that creates a secure communication channel between your NFC-enabled smartphone and the financial institution’s payment tool. The BlackBerry solution is designed to create a secure location within a ,secure container called a “Secure Element.” This secure storage area on an NFC-enabled smartphone enables financial institutions to store the sensitive payment information directly within the smartphone.

Our implementation of the TSM is known in the mobile payments industry as a “Secure Element Manager” (SEM). The SEM is responsible for managing space on a Secure Element. SEM also grants access to this secure space to mobile network operators or issuers of credit cards (know as Service Provider TSM or SP-TSM). Through the infrastructure that our SEM provides, SP-TSMs will have a single secure gateway allowing them to support any customer with an NFC-enabled smartphone that wants to enable a “mobile wallet” application. While the provisioning of credit card information is left to the SP-TSMs, the SEM allows for them to make a secure connection to the Secure Element. This arrangement also makes our solution highly scalable – new issuers can be on-boarded quickly.

Can you clarify what a secure element is, exactly?

As an analogy, think of the Secure Element as an apartment building. The manager of the apartment building (BlackBerry) allows each individual apartment (location for issuers and application providers) to be unlocked by a unique key. New tenants (issuers and application providers) can move in as soon as they are approved by the manager and provided with the key.

Visa’s approval of the BlackBerry SEM shows that we have been able to meet the rigorous standards that are expected in the financial industry. Over the years, BlackBerry has been associated with strong security and we are using our experience to build a secure foundation in this new domain.

Securing the “payment tap”

We have talked about how we secure the transmission and storage of sensitive information. In order to provide end-to-end security for a mobile payment transaction, the payment process also needs to be secure. Ever since BlackBerry launched NFC-capable smartphones, we have been working with the financial industry and credit card companies to certify our devices for use of mobile payments. The BlackBerry Curve 9360 and BlackBerry Bold 9900 were among the first smartphones to be certified by MasterCard and Visa for NFC-based mobile payments.

These certifications were granted on the basis of the BlackBerry smartphones meeting the functionality, interoperability and security requirements of MasterCard and Visa. The process includes extensive technical, security, and usability testing. This helps to ensure reliable and secure transactions which are compatible with the global standard for chip-enabled payments. With these certifications, any MasterCard PayPass or Visa payWave issuing bank globally will be able to deploy accounts to the SIM card of these smartphones.

Currently, all NFC-enabled BlackBerry devices in market have received the necessary payments certification. We have also done some great work with our brand new BlackBerry 10 platform. Looking at the device and back-end certifications in unison, BlackBerry is undeniably at the center of NFC innovation. The tools and security are available; we expect wireless carriers and financial institutions to pursue mobile payment solutions using BlackBerry smartphones in the near future – and some have already been implemented.

Is your business looking to make use of mobile payments? Does the TSM infrastructure alleviate some of your concerns regarding mobile payments? Share in the comments below.

It’s no secret that we love Near Field Communication (NFC). What’s exciting at this point is watching some of the use cases come to fruition, and today in particular, the ability to replace security access badges with BlackBerry® smartphones. NFC is an innovative technology with many stakeholders and interested parties including enterprise customers, end users, financial institutions, carriers, and of course smartphone manufacturers. BlackBerry smartphones have been leading the way in mobile payments for some time, becoming the first smartphones to be certified by MasterCard® and Visa® for NFC-based payments, and now we’re first to be available as an access badge replacement solution. “RIM has proven to be a leader in NFC technology, and in bringing NFC solutions to market – we spearheaded the efforts in mobile payments. Now we are taking NFC beyond payments into the enterprise sector and partnering with HID Global®, an industry leader in physical access solutions” says Geoff MacGillivray, RIM Sr. Product Manager for NFC.

Late last week HID Global announced the availability of Secure Identity Services™, a comprehensive suite of web-based services for managing physical access credentials (read the HID press release for more info). Secure Identity Services is the enterprise’s first all-in-one web-based solution for credential provisioning and management. The platform provides businesses with the tools to create, use, and manage identities for traditional badges on plastic cards, for tokens, and for digital credentials on NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones beginning with models on the Verizon Wireless network: the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 and the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9370.

We’ve been dedicated to mobilizing and securing solutions to the challenges that organizations face since the launch of BlackBerry in 1999. Concerning physical access, we began with the BlackBerry® Smart Card Reader, which provides secure access to your BlackBerry smartphone and computer, and have now worked closely with HID Global to bring this expertise to physical access credentials.

What this means for you

Physical access to a building is a key element to the security posture of an organization; it’s important that the platform can be trusted implicitly. Encryption of data, security certifications, and VPN technology all contribute to the security of this solution on BlackBerry smartphones. “With our heritage in protecting our customers’ mobile assets, we already understand the security challenges at play here. It was a natural progression to bring physical access control to our mobile devices” says Michael K. Brown, Vice President of Security Product Management & Research at RIM®.

As an end user, you may soon be able to turn in that badge once and for all, centralizing your security access to your smartphone. For enterprise customers the centralized web-based management tool will provide a solution for badge replacement, employee turnover, tracking, and more.

This is a significant value-add to existing NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphone deployments (including employees who bring their own BlackBerry devices to work). Alongside enterprise mobility management solutions, unified communication and collaboration, and the secure BlackBerry infrastructure, a solution from HID that allows you to replace your physical access badges is icing on the cake.

How does it work?

I asked our NFC product team this very question as soon as I heard the news. Access credentials are stored on an embedded secure element within a BlackBerry smartphone – and an HID Global app installed on the devices is able to call up this information and then utilize BlackBerry Trusted Service Manager to create a VPN connection to HID’s servers, allowing for remote management of this secure area and the credentials within.

A physical badge represents an additional set of credentials for your business to manage. When you integrate this with a BlackBerry smartphone, you bring it into the fold of device management that is already underway with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server. It’s an extension of your management and security capabilities to include these access credentials.

What does the future hold?

BlackBerry® 10 is an upcoming mobile computing platform that we’re excited to launch in Q1 of 2013. An important concept for enterprises within the idea of a platform like this is having the ability to manage functions, mobile devices, and access from a central location. Using BlackBerry smartphones for secure physical access is one example of what a unified platform can hold.

Does your business use security access badges? What would be the benefits of integrating this technology with your BlackBerry smartphone? Share in the comments below.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

What is Near Field Communication?

NFC is a very short range (within a few centimeters) communications technology that allows a data connection to be created between two devices. Basically, it allows you to tap one device against another to create a connection between them to exchange data. NFC can also be used to bootstrap a Bluetooth® or Wi-Fi® connection, allowing you to continue to stay connected even when you pull your device away.

How will NFC affect business?

As Geoff discussed in the video, Near Field Communication has the capacity to change the landscape of business with things like information sharing, mobile payments or gaining access to a building. The use cases extend both internally to organizations as well as externally as part of the customer experience. Let’s look at a few of these ideas in further detail.

Sharing information at an end-user level

BlackBerry® Tag, which is available with the BlackBerry® 7.1 OS in NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones, offers a new way to share information at an individual level. Almost any type of media can be shared with a single tap to another NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphone. Consider sharing contact information in this manner at a conference, passing around a document for review on the go, or providing a customer with a PDF product brochure just by tapping their smartphone. The ability to share while mobile is being significantly enhanced with NFC and apps like BlackBerry Tag, and businesses can experience a clear benefit as a result.

The mobile payment ecosystem

The concept of a digital wallet garners much press and discussion in the market. I think we can all agree that centralizing activity on your mobile phone so that you can leave your wallet at home is an exciting concept; many of us already own credit cards that we can pay with by tapping on a point of sale terminal. But I’m intentionally referring to this as an “ecosystem”, as it’s just that: building mobile payments requires collaboration between banks, merchants, carriers, point of sale technology producers, and several other service providers.

The good news is that much work has already been done to lay the groundwork for mobile payments with BlackBerry devices. In fact, mobile payments using NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones is already being done in several parts of the world. BlackBerry smartphones were the first to be certified for mobile payments by Visa and MasterCard. And we’ve been working with Turkcell in Turkey, the ISIS group in the U.S., Rogers in Canada, and many others worldwide to make mobile payments with BlackBerry smartphones a reality.

While security may be a concern held more by organizations than end users at this point in time, once you put your money where your phone is, it becomes a concern for everyone. And given our heritage in security, we continue to work closely with our partners around the world to help alleviate many of those concerns.

Physical and logical access

You may be able to leave your security badge and parking pass at home in the near future. NFC enables physical access, such as tapping your phone to gain entry into your office building, as well as logical access, such as tapping your computer to unlock it. These use cases will bring speed and convenience, not to mention cutting the cost of producing multiple access devices, and allowing you to digitally manage these assets. To that end, RIM has been working with companies like HID Global and Iris ID Systems Inc. to allow the use of NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones with their access systems.

What does the future hold?

As these ecosystems develop and the use cases continue to expand into the daily activities of organizations and employees in a wide range of industries, it will be very exciting to see what comes next. We’re constantly working to enable application developers and many other stakeholders in NFC technology to integrate and succeed. RIM remains committed to Near Field Communication moving forward, including the upcoming BlackBerry® 10 platform.

What are your questions about NFC? How could you see NFC technology making your life at work easier and more convenient? Share in the comments below.

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology has been a key topic of conversation at our BlackBerry® Innovation Forum events in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Business leaders have been learning about and discussing how NFC is being rapidly adopted by organizations in sectors such as transport, banking, payment, entertainment, hospitality, and retail. Companies worldwide are looking to take advantage of the benefits of this exciting new technology. The applications and future possibilities of NFC are vast, including:

• Ticketing: Gaining access to gigs and shows
• Travel and transport: bus, train, metro and airline access
• Payments: Using NFC to pay for items in shops instead of using a traditional credit or debit card, as a replacement for small cash payments at vending machines and convenience stores, and for peer-to-peer payments between individuals
• Access: Using NFC for physical access to secure premises instead of having a fob or separate security access keycard
• Identification: Your ID cards could be stored on a smartphone and displayed using NFC technology
• Sharing: Using NFC to share electronic business cards, photos, files or data with other people just by touching smartphones together (introduced recently as BlackBerry® Tag)

NFC has four major benefits: convenience, speed, interaction and security. Andrew Bocking, VP Handheld Software Product Management at Research In Motion® (RIM®) gave his thoughts on the uses of NFC in this short video from Mobile World Congress 2011.

Research In Motion is a central and innovative player in the NFC ecosystem. Several of our latest devices, the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone, the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9790 smartphone, the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9360 smartphone, and the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9380 smartphone include an NFC chip – future proofing the devices for developments and applications using NFC.

Increased popularity of “contactless payment” over the last few years has seen it become the most talked about form of NFC use. This method of payment has traditionally been achievable through a “contactless payment card”, looking much the same as a regular credit or debit card but with the card’s chip housing NFC technology. This is set to grow and develop quickly, and we hope to see smartphones increasingly take the place of traditional cards for many consumers. Research In Motion is at the forefront of smartphone-based NFC development and has recently been listed by MasterCard® as accredited for ‘Mobile PayPass Certification’. This means that they meet the functionality, interoperability, and security requirements of MasterCard for contactless mobile payments.

Last month at GITEX, Research In Motion Limited CEO Jim Balsillie announced the introduction of BlackBerry Tag, another NFC powered function for BlackBerry smartphone users. By tapping together two BlackBerry smartphones holding NFC capability, users may be able to exchange contact information, documents, URLs, photos and other multimedia content. No more losing vital business cards as the details are saved directly into the Contacts application.

NFC presents many exciting opportunities moving forward. We believe that this exciting technology can extend well beyond mobile payments and will enable our lives to become much more convenient as programs become integrated, all while remaining secure and reliable. We are encouraging our customers to think about how they will include NFC and contactless transactions in their mobile commerce strategies and customer interactions in the future.

For more information on our BlackBerry Innovation Forum series, follow us @BBEMEABusiness and join the conversation using #BIF11 on Twitter.

How do you see Near Field Communication affecting your day-to-day life in the future? Share in the comments!