July 29, 2011, Villingen-Schwenningen – Astrosoft Development, a leading developer for embedded software and business applications – has designed and started to implement system architecture for the production and programming of smart-cards provided to students of educational institutions in Germany. The system was developed at the request of InterCard AG who is the market leader of such smart cards in Europe. With Astrosoft Development solution InterCard AG will be able to reduce costs and time for card issuing, customer support and for adding new card applications and services.
Under the contract terms concluded in the spring of 2010, Astrosoft Development provided complex of IT services such as database design, data entry interface development, data import from previously used databases (proprietary development of InterCard AG), algorithms development of data export from databases provided by clients to the manufacturing base, cards management system integration with peripheral equipment and other systems of the customer. The tasks of the joint project team of Astrosoft Development and InterCard AG also included business analysis and requirements specification. “The main requirements of our new system of smart-card production and programming include the monitoring of complex card parameters and functionalities (applications), of in-line data processing, the support of a wide range of manufacturing processes (from chip card encoding to text and image printing on the card surface),” – says Chris Bartl, Head of Intercard AG Software-Development department & Head of technical services.
Universities in Germany actively use smart-cards not only for controlling access to classrooms but also for providing and for paying of various services: cafeterias, catering, internet access, copy and print services, public transportation, hostels, library resources, etc. The Smart-card is a hybrid of a student accounting and payment debit card and a unified identification and settlement tool. InterCard AG specialists have developed its own software to work with data interfaced by the smart-card. However, with increasing customer requirements to smart-card functionalities, the company needed to optimize production processes including working with databases. Solutions proposed by Astrosoft Development are based on the combination of technologies such as .NET and Java allowing keeping user familiar applications as well as deploying the server network for different operating systems typically installed in the IT centers of universities.
“The project is highly interesting not only from a technological viewpoint but also from its social aspect”, noted Elena Volfer, Director of Central Europe Group Astrosoft Development. – “The example of InterCard AG and its customers – the largest universities in Germany – showed how technology can help to improve the work of educational institutions: their planning, accounting and controlling of budgets and processes as well as their expanding the range and improving the quality of their entire services. We believe that this experience will be beneficial for Russia as well and we are ready to cooperate with the Russian Universities in any way feasible”.
Companies information:
Astrosoft Development – established in 1998 – is a software development company offering a broad range of software business solutions and custom software development services. Astrosoft Development provides services worldwide helping its customers to gain advantages and real value working with high-qualified software experts creating quality software for customer needs. Astrosoft Headquarter and Development Center is located in St-Petersburg, Russia. The track records include more than one hundred fifty successful software development projects for customers from more than 10 countries.
InterCard AG
InterCard AG (http://intercard.org/) is Market Leader in multifunctional card systems for universities, colleges and other educational institutions in Germany. More than 1,000,000 students carry today such a multifunctional “UniCard” made by InterCard. More than 160 Universities, Colleges and Student Unions (Studentenwerke) just in Germany rely on the high security level and reliability of InterCard systems. InterCard is offering smart card solutions to various markets: Universities and Colleges, schools, Companies, Banks and Government Agencies, Clinics and Hospitals, hotels, clubs and other organizations. InterCard AG head office is located in Villingen-Schwenningen (Germany).
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