Panasonic NFC Tag ICs / evaluation boards will be available on Farnell Element 14 from November 2014.
NFC stands for Near Field Communication that is well known for mobile payments and ticketing but not limited to these applications.
NFC is also widely used as an easy and cheap possibility to add wireless connectivity to embedded systems, for example as an extended user HMI or a diagnostic interface for the service.
The Panasonic NFC Tag ICs are an ideal solution for such value added connectivity features because
(1) They do not only provide RF - and serial communication mode but also a tunnel mode communication that allows direct access from the RF side to the host side.
(2) The RF communication can be secured thanks due the built-in AES encryption which is for example required for secure diagnostics, firmware updates and plagiarism detection.
Data sheets, application notes, NFC apps, etc can be downloaded from http://www.semicon.panasonic.co.jp/en/products/logic/nfctags/lsis/#products-document
And http://www.semicon.panasonic.co.jp/en/products/logic/nfctags/lsis/#support
shows that that Panasonic offers not only advanced NFC Tag ICs but also a complete support package including an antenna design tool with that you can easily design your NFC antennas.