Notes and Domino have been able to use X.509 certificates placed on Smartcards by third parties since 6.0.2, but it has always been necessary to manually import those certificates into the user Notes ID files before they could be used. This resulted in potential administrative issues for keeping the certificates in the ID file synchronized with those on the Smartcard.  It also made switching between Smartcards or upgrading those certificates difficult.  Additionally, the only way for users to switch among different S/MIME signing certificates involved a multi-step process to change the default S/MIME signing certificate.  

This all changed in 7.0.2. Notes presents all certificates found on Smartcards to users as if they were in the ID file. This eliminates the administrative burden of having to store the X.509 certificates in two places,  and greatly simplifies the user experience.  We also added a new dialog that allows users to select the signing certificate for an individual S/MIME message. The dialog is also presented to users when creating an S/MIME signature if certificates are found on a Smartcard that are not also stored in the ID file.

This enhancement makes life a little easier for Domino admins - namely, through simplified administration and user configuration. We hope that this results in decreased cost of ownership and improved usability.