Forest for the Trees

A recent article in Internet Week talks about the Department of Defense is trying to rollout a system of smart cards to their 4 million people, and how health care companies are rolling out card to their members, but they're facing all kinds of problems due to the size of the user base.

Here's a great quote:

"When you're getting into that kind of
environment, you're pushing the limits of
everything," said Jamie Lewis, an analyst
with the Burton Group. "How do you get it
up that big and make it workable?"

Can you imagine a system that provides each user with a card, allows them to authenticate themselves at the place they require service, and works for a large populace?

How about the ATM card?

Here we have an existing system that might contain some lessons for these new systems. But sometimes, it's just not that clear.