As smart cards put technology literally in the hands of the general populace, e-government is never an easy build. E-government is all about transforming and streamlining traditional services like driving licenses, library cards and immigration services. The changeover means privacy issues and secure identification techniques must be addressed.

Iao stated that Macau CE Edmund Ho's mandate to boost government services by improving efficiency and transparency has brought new business to Macau-based SMEs like his firm. "There are 64-65 government departments in Macau," said Iao, "each with its own budget." Iao added that while some of these departments were small units with as few as 50 employees each, the smart cards with their embedded e-certificates were drivers for new business. "We have CA [certification authority through Macau Post and PKI [public key infrastructure]," he added. "The aim is to electronically consolidate government services."

One such example is Macau's automated immigration clearance gates which are now operating at the Macau-Zhuhai border. Similar to the automated gates at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen, they operate via a two-factor authentication system: a smart card opens the first gate while the second factor (a fingerprint) opens the second gate, allowing travelers to clear immigration without the need for an immigration officer present.

East Asian Games 2005

"Our firm built the infrastructure for the East Asian Games, held in Macau in October/November 2005," said Mok. The quadrennial event (previously held Shanghai, Pusan in Korea, then Osaka-next stop: Hong Kong 2009) required network infrastructure comprising two redundant datacenters. Mok said that one of the datacenters at the Games' headquarters and one at the Macau Dome where several events will be held. According to Vodatel's website, the data center contract was valued at HK$43.4 million (US$5.6 million) with an additional contract of HK$19.6 million for "the provision of a hospitality system, system integration and project management."