ACG, a German hi-tech broker with locations in Wiesbaden and Munich, claims to have debuted the world's first portal for the smart-card industry, a market that a Dataquest study says could be worth 3.5 billion euros ($3.3 billion) by 2003.
The company expects to expand the portal during the third quarter into a virtual marketplace for all smart card products and services. It already offers current information regarding products and applications as well as links to other smart-card enterprises that can use the platform as a marketing instrument.
ACG, which specializes in chips and chip cards, employs 400 and is represented in 17 countries.