Arlen R. Lessin, who brought smart card technology to the United States in 1983 but stumbled in a reluctant market, said he is reentering the business to capitalize on renewed interest.
The smart card pioneer announced recently that he will establish a company called SmartCard International Inc. - the same corporate name he used in the 1980s - to lead the way "toward the real acceptance and proliferation of this technology."
Some industry observers said Mr. Lessin's zeal for smart cards was never backed up by tangible products.
"His failing over the years is that he's been overly optimistic," said Stephan Seidman, editor and publisher of Smart Card Monthly, a newsletter based in Washington State's San Juan Islands. "What he thought would happen 10 years ago is just happening now."
Mr. Lessin, 57, said the company he expects to open in New York in a few months will design software for using smart cards in financial services, health care, and other industries. He said he plans to raise capital through private placements and public offerings, and hire a staff of programmers to develop software.
Though sources for smart card hardware abound, Mr. Lessin said sophisticated operating systems are harder to come by. "There needs to be knowledgeable sources for smart card applications."
Even so, Linda K.S. Moore, president of Moore & McGeough Inc., a Washington-based consulting firm, said many companies are developing software for smart cards, including Danyl Corp., Microsoft Corp., and others.
"Just writing the software is not the problem," said Ms. Moore. "It's sorting out the security issues that slows people down."
John M. Sues, principal of Cardinal Funding Concepts, New York, which will help Mr. Lessin raise cash for his company, said SmartCard International will "fill a niche that others don't.
"It's a very good time for him to get" back in the business, Mr. Sues said.
Mr. Lessin, a consultant for the telecommunications industry, first came in contact with smart cards at the Intelcom 1980 conference, where the French government was demonstrating new technology. Though he noted several "more impressive exhibits," Mr. Lessin was attracted to a small table littered with plastic cards and a sign saying "Carte a Memoire" - memory card.
"The man in the both called it the new wave of banking - the electronic checkbook," said Mr. Lessin. Intrigued by the possibilities of this kind of technology, Mr. Lessin initiated a relationship with Intelmatique, the French government's technology group, to help establish smart card technology in North America.
For three years he represented the French in the United States, trying to introduce the technology to financial institutions, telecommunications companies, and the U.S. government. But timing was against him. Magnetic stripe technology was just taking hold, and the infrastructure was too solidly in place to find much acceptance for the new technology.
Though smart cards took over the French payment system, there were few takers here. His clients, the French government and major French technology companies such as the Bull Group, Schlumberger, and Philips, became less enthusiastic.
Undaunted, Mr. Lessin decided to pursue his ambitious plans for smart cards on his own. He licensed the technology from Roland Moreno, the French inventor of the computer chip card, and formed SmartCard in 1983.
His accomplishments include the prototype of the first U.S. intelligent card, which looked like a calculator, with an embedded chip, a keyboard, and liquid crystal display. The Super Smart Card, funded by Visa U.S.A., was unveiled at a San Francisco technology conference in 1986. Mr. Lessin hawked the concept to other companies including Thomas Cook Financial Services, Midland Bank, and Connecticut Mutual Insurance.
Though he said the concept was sound and "the card worked quite well," no Super Smart Cards were ever issued.
Mr. Lessin sold his interest in SmartCard International in 1987 and formed Lessin Technology Group Inc., a consulting firm, in 1989. He said its clients have included Merrill Lynch, Scientific Atlanta, Global Teleworks Inc., and Bell South Corp.
