Tyco Security Products’ Government expert elected to Smart Card Alliance’s Access Control Council steering committee

Mahfouz will help shape physical access control smart card technology in concert with other committee representatives

Tyco Security Products announced recently that Stafford Mahfouz, Manager of the Government and Department of Defense Vertical for Tyco Security Products, has been elected to the Smart Card Alliance’s Access Control Council steering committee for 2015-2016 as a representative of physical access control product and services providers. The Smart Card Alliance, of which the Council is a part, is a non-profit, worldwide association of smart card issuers and adopters that works to foster understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology.

In representing Tyco Security Products on the Access Control Council steering committee, Mahfouz will help shape physical access control smart card technology in concert with other committee and Smart Card Alliance representatives. In his role as manager of Government and Department of Defense products at Tyco Security Products, Mahfouz has collaborated with federal, state and local governments in integrating required credentialing with physical and logical access control systems. Mahfouz is also a former Smart Card Alliance board member.

“Election to the committee provides an opportunity to engage in broad discussions of what industry standards should be and how to evaluate and improve best practices within access control,” said Mahfouz. “My election to the Smart Alliance’s Access Control Council steering committee also means I’ll be able to share Tyco Security Products’ philosophy with a larger audience — an ethos centred on the notion that technology should be adapted to meet the customer’s needs, not vice versa.”

The Smart Card Alliance has six member-driven industry and technology councils that are focused groups within the overall structure of the Alliance, including the Access Control Council. The Access Control Council, which is governed by the steering committee, works to stimulate the use of smart card technology by developing white papers on best practices, serving as a resource to governments and users, and collaborating with other industry organisations to influence standards and develop best practices.

The Smart Card Alliance is a non-profit, worldwide association of smart card issuers and adopters, comprised of members from the financial, enterprise, healthcare, retail, telecommunications, government and transportation industries that works to foster understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology.

The Alliance has more than 200 members worldwide and invests in education with regards to the use of technology for identification, payment and other applications. In addition, the Alliance strongly advocates the use of smart card technology that respects privacy while enhancing data security and integrity.