NFC vendor DeviceFidelity has announced an equity investment and strategic partnership with Datacard Group, a supplier of secure ID and card personalisation solutions. Datacard is joined as an equity partner by Dallas Venture Partners which specialises in tech industry investments. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The strategic alliance means Datacard will offer DeviceFidelity’s solutions which enable mobile operators to retrofit existing smartphones with an NFC capability.

DeviceFidelity’s customers include Isis, the mobile payment venture between three of the leading US mobile operators. The link-up was announced at the end of September 2011.  In reference to Datacard, Deepak Jain, president and CEO of DeviceFidelity, said the combination of the vendor’s NFC-enabled technology and its new partner’s expertise in card issuance and smart cards would “enable a high volume, flexible and integrated NFC microSD issuance and mobile personalisation model for our customers”. DeviceFidelity’s products include microSD cards as well as a device called the iCaisse which is a microSD-enabled case for the iPhone, both of which enable subscribers to upgrade their existing smartphones to NFC without swapping operators or handset.