I guess that proper access to hardware might be an issue here, so I think that we could help out with a proper kit here to make any kind of work easier here.
So what we can offer here is first of all a PC-Card Smartcard reader from IBM (actually it's an OEM version of the GemPlus cards):
and of course a smartcard to play around with - the card we can include is 4K (or was it 1K) card that is used primary for single sign on solutions. And there is actually drivers available from IBM for this kind of solution. But finding this today is just waste of time. But here is the card:
If the problem is that you're not at all working with a laptop, well I got this card from Tommy (OS2 World Sysop) who donated this card for development purpose:
I've lately also manage to get hold of a USB smartcard reader that can be used for development and try outs.