SIMalliance, the global nonprofit industry association that promotes secure element implementation to drive secure mobile services, will bring together a number of experts from across the NFC ecosystem in October. It will host an interactive workshop designed to help banks and other secure NFC service providers — such as merchants and transit operators — understand the importance of choosing an optimal NFC deployment strategy based on their unique service and security requirements, according to a press release.

The half-day workshop, which opens the inaugural HCE Summit event, is entitled "Evaluating NFC Security Strategies: The Role of the Secure Element (SE) in the Evolving HCE Landscape" and will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 14, in London. Speakers at the workshop will deliver presentations covering a number of NFC-related topics, including security, testing and certification, scalability and "lessons learned" from existing secure mobile services deployments, according to the announcement.  

Frédéric Vasnier, SIMalliance Chairman, said in a statement: "2014 has been a landmark year for NFC. The arrival of HCE has undoubtedly contributed to the rollout of an increasing number of NFC deployments globally, and with Apple's recent launch of ApplePay, which uses hardware-based security, NFC payments are finally on the brink of becoming mass market.

"These developments have led to widespread acceptance that a future NFC landscape will consist of HCE and SE-based deployments, together with multiple, as yet undefined, hybrid models. In light of this outlook, SIMalliance is delivering this workshop to help banks and secure NFC service providers understand the importance of shaping their NFC deployment strategies around the current and future security, user experience and service provision requirements of their particular use-case. 

"We also aim to dedicate some agenda time to examining what is happening, and what still needs to happen, to allow service providers to gain easier access to their customer base through NFC-enabled SIMs. As such, mobile network operators are also welcome to attend, particularly those who are keen to explore the issue of increasing subscriber access to NFC service providers."  

Forty free workshop passes are available on a first-come-first-served basis for delegates representing banks, other secure NFC service providers (e.g., merchants, transit operators, etc.) and MNOs. To register attendance, email [email protected] 

Further information on SIMalliance's "Evaluating NFC Security Strategies: The Role of the Secure Element (SE) in the Evolving HCE Landscape" workshop, including confirmed speakers, can be found at www.hcesummit.com.