SCM Microsystems today announced that it will release to the channel a new set of smart card readers that are small enough to be carried on key rings, in pockets or in purses starting this month.

The family of three new models are designed for connection through USB or Near Field Communication (NFC), giving clients the choice to deploy them for contact or contactless smart cards, regardless of the card’s manufacturer. Increasingly, many organizations are converging physical access to buildings with logical access to PCs via the use of smart card technology. End users can utilize their smartcards for entry into secure buildings and to authenticate for log-in onto PCs or into secure sites on the web via a smart card reader.

According to Felix Marx, CEO of SCM Microsystems, the new family of card readers was created to address both the growth of contactless technology and the convergence of physical and logical access within the enterprise.

A major challenge for many organizations has been finding the right PC smart card readers to either deploy in conjunction with new smart cards or to leverage already existing smart cards. SCM hopes to meet that need, Marx said.

"Organizations making large scale deployments need to provide their end users with ways to use smart cards for secure physical entry, as well as with PCs and over the Internet at home, at work or at school,” he said in a statement. “We engineered these personal smart card readers to fill that gap. They are compact and ultra-portable, so people can carry them to use with their smart cards wherever they go."

The family of new products includes three separate card readers. The first is the SCR 3500 Smart fold, a compact USB smart card reader made for traditional contact smart cards. The second is the. SCT3511, a USB token with contact and contactless capabilities that take advantage of both ISO 14443 and MIFARE formats.

Finally, the @MAXX lite is  a USB token with contact and contactless reading, plus the addition of integrated Flash memory that can be used to store digital identity certificates, plus encrypted and PIN-protected logins and passwords or even personal information to auto-fill Web forms.