PARIS, (BUSINESS WIRE), July 28, 2003–Schlumberger Smart Cards & Terminals, a business unit of Schlumberger Limited, today announced that it has signed a four-year contract with National Australia Group Europe to supply over 2.5 million of its top-level security e-Galleon(1) cards a year.

MINNEAPOLIS, July 22, 2003–Fargo Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq: FRGO) and ImageWare Systems, Inc. (AMEX:IW) have entered into an agreement that will establish Fargo as a master distributor of ImageWare’s off-the-shelf photo ID badge design and management software. ImageWare develops software solutions for the creation of secure photo IDs and credentials that are used for driver’s licenses, passports, national IDs, secure access control and more. Fargo creates innovative printing systems that personalize plastic identification cards, complete with digital images and text, lamination and electronically encoded information.

Princeton Junction, NJ, July 21, 2003–The United States government is today making broad use of smart card technology and is headed toward a single smart card identity credential for all federal employees. To ensure these smart IDs work across all of the government, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) established a new committee, the Federal Identity and Credential Committee (FICC), one of the many policy and standards topics discussed at the Smart Card Alliance Government Conference and Expo held last week in Arlington, VA.

SAN FRANCISCO, (BUSINESS WIRE), July 21, 2003–Visa International announced today the launch of a new smart card product costing just US$1.98 and has further reduced the costs of a range of card products launched under the Visa Smart Breakthrough Card program. The price reductions mean that Visa smart card costs have fallen up to 40 per cent since the start of the program in 2000, helping to drive the global adoption of the next generation of payment products.

Geneva, July 17, 2003–STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) today announced that CSOB Bank in the Czech Republic and Kredyt Bank Poland have received VISA certification for the personalization of their Proton Prisma cards and will begin a mass roll-out of these cards in the next few weeks. Both banks are part of the KBC Bank & Insurance Group, one of Europe’s important financial groups and leading financial institutions in Central and Eastern Europe, which signed a license agreement with Proton World International in 2002 allowing a number of KBC’s associated banks in Central and Eastern Europe to start implementing the Proton Prisma multi-application smart card technology.

SAN DIEGO & BRISBANE, Australia, July 18, 2003–The transportation subsidiary of San Diego, California-based Cubic Corporation (AMEX:CUB) and its Australian subsidiary, Cubic Transportation Systems-Australia Pty Ltd., have signed a US$95 Million (Aus $134 Million) contract with the Queensland Government to design, build, operate and maintain the first smart card-based integrated ticketing system and regional services for public transport in South East Queensland, Australia.

Princeton Junction, NJ, July 15, 2003–Government agencies and commercial businesses alike are attracted to the dual advantages of higher security and more applications when using smart ID cards, generating more interest and numerous implementations here in the United States, according to a new Smart Card Alliance white paper released today.

“Smart Cards in Government 2003” Arlington, VA, July 14th, 2003–The Smart Card Alliance Conference and Expo, opening July 15th in Arlington, will focus attention on the rapidly growing use of smart cards as the security technology of choice for identity credentials throughout the Federal government. Speakers include representatives from 10 government agencies issuing smart cards, including the Department of Homeland Security, which just announced plans to issue smart card identity credentials to its 180,000 employees.

Fremont, CA, July 10, 2003–Taking a major step forward to open the Digital World, SCM Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCMM, Prime Standard: SMY) announced that the company is among the first three worldwide to achieve FINREAD compliance. Development and testing under the Trusted FINREAD Initiative has proved that SCM’s STR-FINREAD smart card readers provide a verifiable foundation of trust for Internet transactions.

SAN DIEGO, (BUSINESS WIRE), July 9, 2003–Transport for London’s annual and monthly season ticket holders have begun using a new smart card-based ticketing system developed by the TranSys consortium led by San Diego-based Cubic Corp. (AMEX:CUB) and EDS (Electronic Data Systems).