Ctt April 2000 • 9

Other news in brief

● UK Chancellor of the Exchequer GordonBrown promised in his annual Budgetspeech to introduce legislation to open theUK money transmission system to newentrants. And he called on banks and thePost Office to create a basic banking serviceto handle bill payments. The moves followcriticism by Don Cruickshank, theTreasury’s special banking investigator, ofthe monopoly ownership by a handful oflarge banks of the nation’s cash, cheque andplastic card networks. In his report,Competition in UK Banking (www.bankreview.org.uk) Cruickshank arguedthat consumers pay too much forwithdrawals from cash machines, retailerspay too much to accept credit cards and e-commerce is being hindered. Cruickshankhas already intervened in the Link cashmachine network’s plans to allow extra cashwithdrawal charges. ● Hitachi Europe has launched SmartCommerce, an end-to-end systems andconsultancy business to aid companiesseeking to do business over the Internet. Inparticular, Hitachi aims to help companiesintegrate their existing IT systems andbusiness processes with e-commercetechnologies, “to make the transition fromblue chip to new chip”. Smart Commerce isoffered at three levels – Smart Business,Smart Services and Smart Centre ( a backoffice processing service). Products on offerare:

• Smart Money – for banking and financeapplications, including e-purse.

• Smart Leisure – where consumers usesmart cards to gain access to ‘portals’ wherethey shop and pay for tickets, holidays,goods and services.

• Smart Community – where citizensaccess and control data held by governmentand can use smart cards for transport,parking, libraries, welfare, voting andopinion polls.

• Smart Office – focussed on managingcustomer relationships based on theintegrated use of in-house systems and webtechnologies.Contact: Tony Jones at Hitachi Europe, Tel: +44 1628 585335, www.hitachi-eu.com

● ICL, the UK IT services company, isdeveloping software that will enable Visamember banks to manage locally thecollection and processing of Visa Cashpurchase transactions. ICL will launch andmarket the system direct to Visa memberbanks in mid-2000. The ability to managetransactions locally should provide bankswith a range of benefits – including theability to produce customized reports forlocal merchants on the purchase activity of

their Visa Cash card customers. Thesemerchants will be able to use this data toadapt their marketing activities. ICL’sWindows NT-based system will also offeroptions to increase the speed of transactionsmoving through the network. Contact: Nigel Turner at ICL, Tel: +44 1753 555 280, e-mail: nigel.turner@icl.com

● French smart card equipmentmanufacturer Gilles Leroux has launchedtwo low volume machines, aimed at newentrants to the market. The COMBI 2000handles card milling and chip insertion; theGAP 1000 handles card personalization.Previously, the product line has beencentred on high volume machines, handling3000 cards per hour. The new milling andinsertion machine will turn out cards at amaximum rate of 2000 an hour; the GAP1000 is a scaled down model of the MPR3000, and will personalize up to 1000 cardsan hour. Gilles Leroux entered the smartcard business in 1985; it set up a subsidiaryin Philadelphia, USA, in 1998 and has plansto open a subsidiary in Asia later this year.Contact: Chloe Cupillard at Gilles Leroux, Tel : +33 2 3861 9800, www.gilles-leroux.com

● On Track Innovations (OTI), the Israelicontactless card specialist, has formed amarketing alliance with SiVault Inc(formerly GTE Smart Card Solutions).SiVault is a network based service bureauthat enables card issuers to download valueand applications to smart cards through avariety of intelligent devices. OTI’s portfolioof contactless cards includes the EyeconMultiCard system.Contact: Ohad Bashan at OTI America, Tel: +1 408 9195525, e-mail: ohad.bashan@otiamerica.com

● German systems house Atos haslaunched a mobile payment pilot withsmart card manufacturer Giesecke &Devrient, handset producer Motorola, andoperator T-Mobil, the Deutsche Telekomsubsidiary. Subscribers use the GeldKarteissued by the German banks in their dualslot Motorola Timeport P7389e handset topay for goods and services. Loading thecard, payments and banking transactions –balance queries and funds transfers - run onAtos’ e-commerce platform Poseidon IPS.Giesecke & Devrient has also developed anadditional application on the SIM card,based on the SIM Application Toolkit (STK)standard, to handle the dialogue betweenthe GeldKarte, the mobile phone and thePoseidon IPS server. The Timeport P7389ephone can provides Internet access via theWAP protocol.Contact Christian Treinies at Giesecke & Devrient, Tel: +49 89 4119 2125, www.gieseckedevrient.com

Joachim Hoffmann at Motorola, Tel: +44 1256 790693,e-mail: Joachim.Hoffmann@motorola.com

● Schlumberger and Webraska MobileTechnologies, headquartered in Poissy,France, are building a mobile phone-basedsystem to help motorists find parkingplaces. Motorists will obtain up-to-the-minute information on parking availabilityat their destination on the screen of theirWAP mobile phones. Users will key in theirlocation or destination; the combination ofSchlumberger parking data and Webraska’sInternet-based Distributed Navigation servicewill provide: real-time information onavailable parking in the surrounding streetsand car parks; en-route traffic information;and an on-screen map showing the bestroute to the chosen parking place. Over 95%of the Schlumberger parking terminalscurrently installed around the world can beupgraded to generate the necessary data. Contact: Dirk Hinze at Schlumberger, Tel: +33 1 47467950, e-mail: hinze@montrouge.tt.slb.com

● Corporate users of Windows 2000 will beable to secure their Internetcommunications through the use ofelectronic signatures and 128-bit encryptionsoftware from iD2 Technologies. The iD2Personal package, which incorporatesPrivate Key Infrastructure (PKI) and smartcard technology, has been awarded CSP(cryptography service provider) status byMicrosoft; it can also support the Windowsfor Smart Cards operating system. The ideais that organizations will not need to installproprietary software to add effectivesecurity to their infrastructure, but cancontinue using their existing applications,such as Microsoft Outlook or Explorer. “Incountries such as Sweden and Finland,where a number of smart card-basedinitiatives are already under-way, users willbe able to use the same electronic ID cardfor multiple services. In European countrieswhere the market is less mature, Microsoft’spresence is sure to accelerate the trendtowards establishing smart card-based PKIas the de-facto standard for Internetsecurity,” said iD2’s Rain Eriksoo. iD2demonstrated its product’s interoperabilitywith Windows 2000 at CeBit 2000 inHannover, Germany. The company, ownedby Cisco, Ericsson, Reuters, SAP andSchroder Ventures, has clients in banking,telecommunications, government andpostal services throughout Europe and Asia.Contact: Tim Smith at iD2 Technologies, Tel: +44 7957 311 189, e-mail: tim.smith@iD2tech.com

● Keyware Technologies has formed apartnership with Dutch systems integrator,Interstrat, to embed its biometric technologyinto smart cards that will be used by 15nightclubs in the Netherlands. The smartcard system will be used to identify patronswho have ‘created problems’ on previous

10 • Ctt April 2000

Other news in brief

1 – 4 May 2000 • Miami Beach, Florida, USA

CCaarrddTTeecchh//SSeeccuurrTTeecchh 22000000The 10th anniversary of the big US show where theEuropeans make their presence felt. One key issuewill be the role of the smart card as identifier forsecure e-commerce transactions. Will this be theyear when the US banks come on board?CardTech/SecurTech is also a major event in thebiometrics industry calendar.CTST, Fax: + 1 301 654 0287

20 – 22 June 2000 • Budapest, Hungary

CCaarrddssWWoorrlldd –– EEaasstteerrnn EEuurrooppee 22000000The event provides a meeting place for the keydecision makers and smart card systems houses inthis fast-growing region. Banking and healthschemes are already being implemented – whereare the next opportunities?AIC WorldWide, Tel: + 44 171 404 1166

4 – 6 July 2000 • Melbourne, Australia

CCaarrddss AAuussttrraalliiaa 22000000Held in conjunction with iSec (Information Security)and Mobile Commerce World, the major Australiancard show brings together exhibitors and delegatesfrom across the Asia Pacific region. A visit is also anopportunity to see just how successful are themulti-application card pilots launched in Australia’sbanking, telecoms and transport sectors.AIC Worldwide, Tel: + 61 2 9210 5573

20 – 23 September 2000 • Mumbai, India

SSmmaarrttCCaarrddss EExxppoo 22000000Contactless cards on buses in Mumbai, smart cardpayphones in Hyderabad and smart card drivinglicences in Gujarat are the first projects in India tomove from the pilot to the commercial phase. Addin the new standards for smart card-based bankingand financial institutions and India begins to looklike a market on the verge of lift-off. This, thesecond annual conference and exhibition, providesan opportunity to enter this promising market.Electronics Today, Tel: + 91 22 386 0436

28–30 November 2000 • Mexico City, Mexico

LLaattiinn CCaarrddss 22000000Central and South America are already majormarkets for telephone chip cards. Governmentshave also shown an interest in ID cards for suchapplications as drivers’ licences. This is theopportunity to see the scale of opportunitiesopening up for stored value cards and otherapplications. AIC Worldwide, Tel: + 525 533 5379

6-7 November 2000 • London, UK

GGlloobbaall MMoobbiillee RRooaammiinnggThis is the professionals’ conference, covering arange of subjects including agreements, charging,new services and the impact of new generationtechnology.IBC Global Conferences, Tel: + 44 171 453 5427

visits. Patrons of each nightclub will receive abiometric membership card and enroll theirface and finger bio prints on to themembership card. Each time a patron attendsa club, their physical characteristics will beverified against the bio print information onthe smart card, so that known troublemakerscan be recognised and excluded. Keywareand Interstrat plan to distribute the system inother sport and entertainment-basedfranchises. The smart cards can also be usedfor marketing purposes, such as adding‘disco-dollars’ to a member’s card; these aresimilar in concept to frequent flyer miles. Thebiometric card machines will be available indifferent shapes, colours and sizes based onthe atmosphere and location of the nightclub. Contact: Ann Lambrechts at Keyware Technologies,Tel: +32 2 721 45 74, e-mail: alambrechts@keyware.com

● Palmera, the latest version ofSchlumberger’s Cyberflex Java card, comescomplete with a range of applets coveringcredit/debit, e-purse, loyalty andauthentication. The idea is that banks willbe able to launch new services in as short atime as two months, compared with theyear or more required by non-Javasolutions. Applets can be added or deletedin the field, after the card has been issued. Contact: Diana Tomb at Schlumberger, Tel: +1 781 8347790, e-mail: dtomb@san-jose.tt.slb.com

● Funtastic Shows, one of the US’ majorcarnival operators, is introducing a storedvalue card system from Pathways Group onits Spring 2000 West Coast tour. Customersattending carnivals will load value on tosmart cards and then use them to purchaserides, play games and so on. The Pathwayssystem also enables the carnival operator tocollect up-to-the-minute details oftransactions from card terminals. Funtasticwas able to attract nearly two millionattendees to West Coast events in the fourthquarter of 1999; use of the Pathways systemshould introduce smart card technology tolarge numbers of Americans.Contact: Charles Dunn at Pathways Group, Tel: +1 707 546 3010, e-mail: cdunn@pathwaysgroup.com

● Dai Nippon Printing (DNP), theworld’s largest printing company, is todevelop and market ‘smart’ labelsincorporating Motorola’s BiStatix radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology(Ctt February ’00, p7). The paper-basedlabels will contain information stored incomputer chips that can be read andmodified through a wireless interface; thesmart labels can then be used for thetracking and efficient routing of materials.Dai Nippon Printing will apply BiStatixtechnology to books, magazines andpackaging. BiStatix RFID technology uses

silicon and printed ink, which enablessmart labels to be created more effectivelythan earlier generations of RFID labels,which required the incorporation of acostly metal coil and resonant capacitor. Contact: Dai Nippon Printing at www.dnp.co.jp

Mike Doheny at Motorola, Tel: +1 847 576-6931, e-mail: mike.doheny@motorola.com

● Schlumberger unveiled its CryptoflexWindows-powered smart card at theWindows 2000 Expo in San Francisco. Thenew card is a ‘plug & play’ card providingthe built-in security functions of MicrosoftWindows 2000 without requiring the instal-lation of additional software. Cryptoflexmiddleware is integrated into the Windows2000 operating system, making the cardready to use for secure log-on, e-mailencryption, digital signature and VirtualPrivate Network (VPN) functions. The cardcan manage X.509 certificates for Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), as well ascryptographic algorithms - DES, Triple DESand RSA. Contact: Diana Tomb at Schlumberger, Tel: +1 781 8347790, e-mail: dtomb.san-jose.tt.slb.com

● Gemplus is to collaborate withTelefónica Móviles, the leading mobilephone operator in Spain, to offer Java Cardtechnology to Telefónica subscribers.GemXplore Xpresso, the Java Card 2.1powered SIM card, is to be integrated intoMoviStar Activa, Telefónica Moviles’ prepaidservice. This will enable users to roam (usetheir phones outside Spain) and to obtain awide range of information-on-demand(IOD) services. Spain currently has morethan 15 million mobile phone users and isone of the world’s fastest expandingmarkets. The next generation of GemXploreJava Cards, GemXplore ’Xpresso v.2, featuresVisa’s Open Platform technology and willenable new mobile phone services to beadded, or existing services to be upgradedover-the-air, without the need to reissue aSIM card. Contact: Séverine Percetti at Gemplus, Tel: +33 4 4236 67 67, e-mail: severine.percetti@gemplus.com

● Schlumberger has received Mifarecertification for its Easyflow M8K contactlessmemory card from Arsenal Research, theindependent Mifare certification body. Theidea behind the certification is to assuresystems integrators that the Easyflow M8Kcard can be a fully interoperable componentin mass ticketing and access control systemsrunning on the Mifare systems developedby Philips Semiconductors. Easyflow M8Kis a contactless memory smart card that usesthe 13.56MHz carrier frequency (ISO/IEC14443 Type A standard).Contact: Dirk Hinze, Schlumberger, Tel:+33 1 47 46 79, e-mail: hinze@montrouge.tt.slb.com

Forthcoming events