EarlyRain’s splashy Web-site introduction portrays a company eager to harvest a bumper crop in the green-as-grass North American smart-card industry.

On entering the site for the Calgary company formerly known as Yes I.C. Technologies, one is welcomed by a slogan — to nurture growth, just add water — and then one clicks on a drop of water, which drips into a flower pot that magically sprouts a plant.

The analogy seems appropriate for both a North American smart-card industry that essentially remains in the germination stage and its chief executive, Hal Walker.

As a one-time Saskatchewan farmboy, Walker knows something about the rewards of early rain in the spring towards the growth of a bountiful crop.

“The company was a seed of an idea that had been sown and germinated and requires a bountiful early rain to make it into a new crop,” said Walker, a native of Wynyard, Sask.

EarlyRain made a big splash recently with an agreement with a major U.S. health-care corporation, Adventist Health System, in which the operator of the Florida Hospital Group will utilize EarlyRain’s smart-card technology for international visitors to Florida.

The agreement marks the roll-out of EarlyRain’s innovative Medical Insurance Card, providing tourists with cards containing personal information, medical profiles and travel-insurance policies.

Asked if his company was making in-roads in the Alberta health-care market, where smart cards have yet to be introduced, Walker said: “We’ve talked to groups in Alberta.”

EarlyRain’s immediate focus is on the tourist market. Through associations with major international tour operators, travel agencies and insurance providers, EarlyRain plans to roll out the Medical Insurance Card program with major hospitals and medical-service providers at renowned tourist destinations worldwide.

“This is a great endorsement of our product,” said Walker. “With 50 million visitors annually, central Florida is the ideal location to launch our innovative Medical Insurance Card solution that can save lives. Electronic card readers at every medical centre will allow visitors immediate access to the finest emergency care.

“We are currently working very closely with major travel companies and insurance providers in the United Kingdom,” added Walker, who did not divulge the monetary terms of the agreement.

A smart card looks like a credit card but has a computer circuit chip embedded in it with the power to encrypt sensitive information and conduct transactions. EarlyRain’s primary focus is on developing smart cards for the health-care, golf and merchandising sectors.

Although smart cards have flourished in Europe — virtually everyone carries one in France and Germany — integration of the technology has been slow in North America.

Investors have been cautious about embracing the concept.

The day EarlyRain released the news of the Florida agreement, the company’s stock, which trades on the Canadian Venture Exchange under the symbol ERN, stagnated at 75 cents on low volume and then dipped to 60 cents the following day, down 70 per cent from its year high.

Walker says he envisions smart cards becoming predominant in North American society and, to that end, he said his company would have more significant announcements in the first quarter of this year.

“You can’t steal my thunder,” said the prominent Calgary businessman, cautious about tipping his hand in a competitive marketplace. “We will have a lot of our cards throughout Alberta within six months. There’s a broad spectrum of uses for the cards.”

EarlyRain sowed its first seed in November in aligning itself with the Glencoe Club, where smart cards are used by members and employees for building access, point-of-sale transactions in the club and recording employee attendance.

“We’ve had very good reports from Glencoe,” said Walker, a member of Glencoe, an athletic and social club. “I can enter the building with the card in my wallet in my back pocket.”

The Glencoe smart cards were introduced by EarlyRain in conjunction with Telus as part of the companies’ strategic alliance. The cards are designed with the ability to add applications for multiple uses.

EarlyRain is also developing and marketing a card for management of tee-time bookings at golf courses.

Walker believes the North American market is ripe for smart cards. He cites substantially lower costs of cards and smart-card readers that have hindered growth of the technology and the development of chips with multiple uses.

“Now that there’s a computer on every desk in every office and people have a greater comfort with computers, people will be willing to accept smart cards,” said Walker.

Asked when he expects EarlyRain to turn a profit, Walker said: “I anticipate that within the next 12 months. We’ll be going back to the marketplace for another capital offering for the roll-out of applications. We’re very comfortable with revenues for the coming year.”

Web Watch:
www.earlyrain.com