Eurosmart has released some buoyant data for smart secure shipments for 2011 and says prospects for 2012 are excellent.

The organisation, which publishes a data and market analysis of the smart security market twice a year, has confirmed that more than 6bn microprocessor-based smart secure devices will be shipped this year. Double-digit growth in the government, telecoms and banking segments is set to continue in 2012. It says that in the government sector this expansion will be driven by strong growth in national eID programmes in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It also points to the strength of smart healthcare programmes, such as the current deployment in Germany, which continue to contribute to growth.

Eurosmart says NFC technology has also made progress with commercial deployments of NFC-enabled handsets and infrastructure starting this year. It predicts that this segment will grow strongly in 2012, particularly in the payment and ticketing markets.

According to the organisation, there is a clear trend for multi-application contactless cards that combine two or more of identity, payment, social benefits and transport functions.

With the growing number of online services and the advent of the Internet of Things, Eurosmart predicts increasing security demands in addition to the established smart card-based applications. For example, this includes embedded secure elements and the associated secure remote management solutions for smart metering, eCall, smart grid and cloud computing.

The organisation predicts that the number of smart secure devices shipped globally will reach 6,135 million units in 2011 with the figure increasing by 13% in 2012 to top the 6,925 million mark.Government/healthcare is expected to ship 240 million units in 2011 and 300 million in 2012, an impressive 25% year-on-year increase.

It estimates that 460 million secure contactless devices will be shipped this year and 580 million units next, an annual increase of 26%. The Government/healthcare sector is expected to ship 125 million secure contactless units in 2011 and 160 million in 2012, a 28% year-on-year increase.