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Case Study
Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI)
Kuwaiti Public Authority Streamlines Services with New Single Sign-On Verification Gateway
Posted: 6/8/2007

Kuwait’s Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) released a Web service developed on the Microsoft .NET Framework using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. The new service, called ePin.Net, enables government departments and private organisations to securely verify the identity of citizens and customers online without having to create their own identity stores. The highly secure solution was developed in record time and promises to exponentially reduce the cost of identifying users as more public and private organisations adopt this service. It also improves citizen, resident and business experience by enabling a single unified verification process to start e-government or e-business online transactions.
Situation

Each of Kuwait’s 3 million citizens, residents and businesses is issued a civil identity card which is used in a vast array of official administrative tasks; from applying for passports, opening a bank account, hospital admittance, registering in schools, registering a commercial business, voting for parliament candidates to setting up telephone lines and paying parking fines. This identity card contains a range of information such as a citizen’s full name, date of birth, local address, blood group, sponsor, and telephone number. The Civil Identity card contains a unique number that remains unchanged, even if foreign nationals leave the country and return many years later.

This card, which is issued by the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI), makes it much easier for the Kuwaiti government to administer its services by authenticating all citizens to access a range of government services including Ministry of Education, Public Institute for Social Security, among others. In addition, it enables private sector organizations, such as banks, to verify the identity of customers, cut down on administrative tasks and eliminate fraudulent transactions.

PACI uses the latest technologies to issue Civil ID cards and to provide identity information to individuals and organizations. The authority has created self service card dispensers where citizens can pay for and collect new cards. There is also a telephone line that enables citizens and businesses to track the progress of their card applications.

With the worldwide move towards delivering government services online, PACI began looking for ways to verify civil identity information via a Unified Single Sign on Verification Gateway service to serve all public and private sectors. In doing this, it provides an easy way to integrate all organizations to allow verification of a citizen’s identity online across the full spectrum of government departments. PACI also wanted to make identity information available to authorized private sector organizations such as banks and telecommunications providers.

With identity information stored in a central location, the challenge was to be able to access effectively from any government department or commercial organization.
One approach to this problem would be to build a government-wide network, but this was found to be slow, costly and inflexible when it came to adding new departments.

Instead, the authority needed to create a Web-based verification gateway to the information which would provide secure access for any number of departments or users via a simple browser interface.

*
* We can now ensure that data relating to Kuwait’s population verification is consistent and easy to manage. With e-Pin now, the fundamental infrastructure and tools necessary to develop and guarantee the growth of e-business and e-government through the web are available to government and private organizations. This process encourages the implementation of e-government technology in the country. *
Mr. Mansour Al-Methen, IT Director, Public Authority for Civil Information, Kuwait
*

PACI also needed to establish the same level of trust with the online identification system that it has established with its physical ID cards. That means government organizations, private companies and citizens needed to be sure that the system would be absolutely secure at all times.
Solution

In the year 2000, PACI used Microsoft technologies to build a Web site where citizens and businesses could access identity information online. This helps both public and private sector organizations validate and conduct all kinds of transactions securely, from bank withdrawals to tax payments. To increase the flexibility of the identification solution, PACI also decided to provide access to identity information using a Web service called ePin.NET.

ePin.NET enables individuals, private and public sector organizations to verify identity information from PACI from a range of public and private sector Web sites. For example, a bank might have a specific section of its Web site for opening new accounts. When customers apply for new accounts online, the bank’s systems can now call on the PACI systems via ePin.NET to verify the identity of the applicant. The Web service was developed using the Microsoft® .NET Framework and Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET development tool. It is protected by secure socket layer (SSL) encryption technology and secure algorithms. It is also protected by Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server, which authorizes users whose identities are defined in PACI’s Civil Information Data Bank. The e-Pin solution is supported by the Microsoft Windows® 2003 Server Enterprise Edition operating system and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 Enterprise Edition.

To ensure the tightest possible security for the new system, Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) personnel and Microsoft consultants from Microsoft Corp. HQ Redmond in the USA offered consultation and support with the implementation. Engineers from Microsoft Kuwait were also involved.

To date, the PACI e-Pin.NET Web service has been adopted by Kuwait’s Ministry of Education, Public Institution for Social Security, among others. These organizations interact with more than 1 million people out of a 3 million population.

The Web service maximizes the value of legacy technologies by enabling organizations to access data at PACI with no upgrades or architecture redesigns. It also has the capacity to integrate diverse systems and applications without expensive hard coding, irrespective of the platforms they run on.

In Kuwait, the Government national IT committee decides the strategic direction for the use of IT in government. This group has declared the ePin.NET Unified Verification Gateway as the certification standard for all government services in the future.
Benefits

Rapid Development Times
The Microsoft .NET Framework enables programmers to develop XML Web services and bring them to market rapidly. In the case of the PACI application, code written for the existing ASP page could be replicated and rendered as a .NET Web service, saving time and money.

Visual Studio .NET enabled MCS developers to target pre-built code elements in the class libraries of the .NET Framework. It also helped them check and compile code quickly and easily, ensuring excellent productivity and rapid development times.

Mohamed Al-Tura, Public Sector Manager, Microsoft Kuwait, says: “Because we were developing the Web service using the Microsoft .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET, MCS were able to meet PACI’s requirements in less than 3 months. The result is a service that enables other government departments and authorized private sector organizations to build the identification verification process into their own business processes quickly and securely with no custom coding whatsoever. Because they don’t have to waste time reinventing the wheel, the time savings we have seen so far are only the tip of the iceberg. This facilitates an infrastructure for healthy economical growth for the State of Kuwait”

Enhanced Citizen Experience
The PACI ePin .Net service enhances the experience of customers accessing government and private sector services online. Whether they wish to apply for a driving license, set up an account with a telecommunications provider, or pay a parking fine they can prove their identity and exact transactions quickly and easily.
Mr. Mansour Al-Methen, IT Director, PACI, says: “To date, The Ministry of Education, and the Public Institute for Social Security among others are the first subscribers to use ePin.NET. PACI is also negotiating agreements with banks within Kuwait and oil companies. As more and more departments and businesses adopt the service, it will become increasingly easy and convenient for citizens to perform administrative tasks online. This ease of use promises to drive the development of successful online services in the years to come.”

Highly secured availability and efficiency 24/7
Because ePin.NET now provides a single point of access to verify identification information, PACI can maintain and manage its data centrally.

Al-Methen says: “We can now ensure that data relating to citizen identification is consistent and easy to manage. Whereas different agencies were collecting information and updating disparate systems, we can be certain that PACI’s information is accurate and up to date at all times. The financial savings this will bring us are considerable.”

Integration with Smart Card Technology
In the future, PACI plans to use this single source of information to connect online identity information with the traditional identity card. It will do this by fitting cards with smart-card technology, enabling citizens to carry out secure transactions from kiosks and other public devices.

Mr. Musaed Al-Asousi, General Director, PACI says: “We will ultimately integrate our traditional identity cards with the online system. Microsoft uses smart cards in its own organization and is ideally positioned to help us implement this technology ourselves, and bring a new set of benefits to the citizens we serve.”

A Platform for the Future
Because the identity service is available as a Web service, it can be accessed quickly and easily by a growing number of authorised organisations and individuals. This flexibility ensures that the scope of the project can be increased quickly and easily.

In addition, internal infrastructure such as applications and databases can be upgraded without impacting on the identity service.

Al-Asousi says: “Using .NET technologies, we have been important contributor to the success of Kuwait e-government investments as we able to connect our database with external private and public sector partners, irrespective of the technology platforms they are using. As technology continues to evolve, we will be able to deliver the service seamlessly without any requirement for expensive, time consuming recoding projects. All this means that we will be agile enough to deliver the best possible identification services, whatever the future holds.”
For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about Kuwait’s Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) products and services, visit the Web site at: http://www.paci.gov.kw/eng/index.htm
Microsoft .NET

Microsoft .NET is software that connects people, information, systems, and devices through the use of Web services. Web services are a combination of protocols that enable computers to work together by exchanging messages. Web services are based on the standard protocols of XML, SOAP, and WSDL, which allow them to interoperate across platforms and pro-gramming languages.

.NET is integrated across Microsoft products and services, providing the ability to quickly build, deploy, manage, and use connected, secure solutions with Web services. These solutions provide agile business integration and the promise of information anytime, anywhere, on any device.

For more information about Microsoft .NET and Web services, please visit these Web sites:
www.microsoft.com/net
www.msdn.microsoft.com/webservices

© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Knet participated in the Electronic Government Exhibition which was organized by Kuwait University / College of Engineering and Petroleum, Khaldiya. The exhibition aimed at spreading knowledge of the application of e-government, and how government services could be computerized so as to be readily accessible and more effective for the public. The University had invited several organizations to participate in the exhibition (which took place over three days in March), to display their applications, perspectives and their vision of future services in the government.

Knet was privileged to be a sponsor and part of this very successful exhibition, where the Knet services of POS, Kiosk, and especially Payment Gateway were showcased, particularly as these services could be used as vehicles for provision of e-government services. All types of POS terminals were exhibited, paying special attention to three categories, i.e, the Desktop, the Wireless, GSM and the GPRS. Knet’s Desktop Point-of-Sale was showcased as a possible channel that could be employed by ministries to facilitate payment of bills using bank cards rather than through cash, wherein shortage of amounts on hand was a common hazard. The wireless could be utilized in locations with limited infrastructure or in the case of GSM and GPRS, those with no infrastructure at all, as it operates through the mobile SIM card provided by local telecommunication companies. These communication subsystems, like GPRS, in the point of sale technology also offer unlimited mobility, and a possible application would be for the Ministry of Interior in aiding the collection of traffic fines.

Such services would also reflect positively on the government’s ability of dealing with money, whereby instead of counting, collecting and hiring security to convey the bulk amounts to the bank, the fees collected would be directly credited to the respected ministry’s account, thereby minimizing or even eliminating the need to handle cash. Another benefit to be reaped from these applications is the minimization of cash handling cost and risks for the amount that will be deducted from the citizen’s bank account and credited directly to the ministry’s bank account within seconds.

Another payment channel exhibited was that of Payment Gateway, enabling customers to go online and check their bills, in addition to paying them using their debit cards. Knet gave complete demonstrations to those who visited with the purpose of learning how the PG service worked, by recharging their mobiles there itself with KD.1, as a small gift from KNET.

The Mobile Payment option was another service exhibited, at which payment could be made through a page especially designed for mobiles. This payment option could also be utilized by the ministries for payment of utility bills like electricity and water.

Yet another service was the Kiosk service, another way of enabling the public to pay their bills received from governmental organizations.

The exhibition of these services served to demonstrate how they could work in conjunction with the numerous governmental organizations to help the public in paying for the various services provided by the government of Kuwait, in an entirely uncomplicated manner.

Severed cable disrupts net access

Internet and phone communications between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia have been seriously disrupted after submarine cables were severed.

It is thought the FLAG FEA, SMW4, and SMW3 lines, near the Alexandria cable station in Egypt, have all been cut.

A fault was also reported on the GO submarine cable 130km off Sicily.

Experts warned that it may be days before the fault is fixed and said the knock on effect could have serious repercussions on regional economies.

Jonathan Wright – director of wholesale products at Interoute which manages part of the optical fibre network – told the BBC that the effects of the break would be felt for many days.

“This will grind economies to a halt for a short space of time,” he said “If you look at, say, local financial markets who trade with European and US markets, the speed at which they get live data will be compromised.”

“If you think how quickly trades can be placed, if they are suffering from bad latency times, then by the time a trade is placed, the market may well have moved on.”

The cause of the break is as yet unknown, although some seismic activity was reported near Malta shortly before the cut was detected.

In a statement released in relation to one of the breaks, France Telecom said: “The causes of the cut, which is located in the Mediterranean between Sicily and Tunisia, on sections linking Sicily to Egypt, remain unclear.”

The French firm said it was sending a ship out to fix the line between Italy and Egypt, although it could take until 31 December to fully repair the line.

The main damage is to the four submarine cables running across the Mediterranean and through the Suez Canal.

It is thought that 65% of traffic to India was down, while services to Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Taiwan and Pakistan have also been severely affected.

Earlier this year, the same line was damaged in the same area – off the Egyptian coast – although only two lines were snapped then.

“We’ve lost three out of four lines. If the fourth cable breaks, we’re looking at a total blackout in the Middle East,” said Mr Wright.

“These three circuits account for 90% of the traffic and we’re going to see more international phone calls dropping and a huge degradation in the quality of local internet,” he added.

“Normally you would expect to see one major break per cable per year. With four you should have an insurance policy. For this to happen twice in one year, on the same cable, is a serious cause for concern.”

—————————— Begin of SP ——————————

if exists (select * from dbo.sysobjects where id = object_id(N’[dbo].[PURE_NAME]‘) and OBJECTPROPERTY(id, N’IsProcedure’) = 1)
drop procedure [dbo].[PURE_NAME]
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

CREATE procedure PURE_NAME
(
@DirtyName varchar(255),
@PN varchar(255) output
)
AS
declare @I bigint ,
@L bigint,
@XN bigint,
@S varchar(255) ,
@X varchar(255),
@PureName varchar(255)
begin
set @S = ”
set @L = len(@DirtyName)
set @I = 1
while @I <= @L
begin
set @X = substring(@DirtyName,@I,1)
set @XN = ascii(@X)
--print @X
--print @XN

--if @XN = 199 then @X= char(199) --ا
if @XN = 195 begin set @X= char(199) end --أ
if @XN = 197 begin set @X= char(199) end --آ
if @XN = 194 begin set @X= char(199) end --إ
--if @XN = 237 begin set @X= char(237)end --ي
if @XN = 236 begin set @X= char(237) end --ى
--if @XN = 229 begin set @X= char(229)end --ه
if @XN = 201 begin set @X= char(229)end --ة
--if @XN = 32 begin set @X= char(32) end --space
if @XN = 32 begin set @X= '' end -- no space

set @S = @S + @X

set @I = @I +1
end
set @PN = @S
--print @PureName
--return @PureName
end

GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

------------------------------ End of SP ------------------------------

Thanks to an RFID-based tracking system, parents can drop off their kids at an indoor playground, then view them in real time at kiosks located throughout the store.

Feb. 11, 2008—Kuwait retailer MS Retail is offering an RFID-based tracking system at its new children’s superstore, Baroue, to enable parents to monitor their kids as they play in the store’s playground. The system is provided by Mideast systems integrator TagStone using Ubisense RFID readers, tags and cameras and Ubisense’s Spatial Location Platform software.

Baroue is a 6,500-square-meter (70,000-square-foot) store selling 20,000 products for children, including toys, clothing and infant accessories. Dubbed as the store that offers “extravagance for kids,” it is designed to encourage families to take their time when visiting. Baroue features a juice and coffee bar, a photo booth and workshops, as well as a playground featuring a giant sea serpent kids can climb on, straight and spiral slides, a “magical” harp that plays without strings, a sand pit and a jungle gym.

At the playground, parents can leave their children with staff members who provide childcare. Parents can then monitor their kids from one of five information terminals located around the store, says Hergen Meyer, TagStone’s business development manager.

At the entrance to the Sea Serpent playground, each child is assigned a wristband in the form of a plush toy lion. Inside the wristband, according to Charles Sturman, Ubisense’s marketing VP, is a Ubisense ultra-wideband (UWB) battery-powered RFID tag. The parents are given a ticket with a number corresponding to that child’s unique ID number.

As a child plays, the wristband transmits a stream of extremely short 6-to-8 GHz signals encoded with that child’s ID number. The signal is picked up by several of the 20 RFID readers deployed throughout the playground. The ID number and transmission strength are forwarded to the store’s back-end system via an Ethernet connection. Ubisense software interprets the data as it is captured, then calculates the child’s location within 5 centimeters (2 inches) by measuring the tag’s elevation and angle of transmission, as well as the transmission’s time distance of arrival (TDOA) at several readers.

As parents shop, they can stop at one of the store’s information kiosks and input the ticket’s ID number. A screen displays a map of the playground with a small dot indicating their child’s exact playground location. The parents can then press another prompt to display digital images of the child at play.

Sturman says the use of ultra-wideband RFID is essential to pinpointing a child’s location within a few centimeters. “Ultra wideband is used for sending a pulse with a very short signal,” he says. “With that short pulse, you can measure how long it took to receive that signal,” and determine the location with great accuracy.

Previously, TagStone piloted a UWB system at an exhibit hall, locating employees as they moved around a large room. However, Meyer notes, this is the first use of a UWB RFID people-tracking system with cameras. Similar systems have been deployed for logistics tracking (see RFID Helps Cordes & Simon Document Shipments).

According to Sturman, Baroue’s child-tracking system has not had any glitches since operation began. “The only problem has been availability,” he says. The playground’s capacity is limited because the store has a total of only 200 RFID wristbands (at a cost of about $80 apiece), which means that no more than 200 kids can use the playground at any given time. As a result, children and parents queue up for the playground in very large numbers, sometimes causing a delay.