Laurent Den Hollander, Sharp Microelectronics Europe receives the ID Trail Blazer Award

The ID PEOPLE Awards are presented to the outstanding individuals of the ID Community who have distinguished themselves in 2004 for their vision, commitment, leadership and achievements, in fostering the deployment of advanced ID concepts. Laurent Den Hollander receives the ID Trail Blazer Award, assigned to the person who is helping the ID Community envision what will happen in the coming generations. Den Hollander works for Sharp Microelectronics as a Business Development Manager for ID and Secure Devices and directs e-passport projects on a worldwide basis. In October, Sharp Microelectronics became the first vendor to publicly announce volume shipments of ICAO-compliant contactless chips for an e-passport program. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has ordered 10,000 Sharp ICAO-compliant IC modules for its e-passport pilot program. The chip incorporates 512 kbyte flash memory ­ enough capacity to hold the ICAO-defined standard passport data as well as the optional biometrics data set by ICAO ­while offering 424 kilobit per second transmission speeds.