Nine Percent of Consumers Are Using Contactless Payment and Loving It, Smart Card Alliance Reports

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., September 17, 2008–After two years of fast growth in contactless payments, the verdict is in: Once consumers try contactless, they like it! And with large issuers including American Express, Chase, Citibank, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo and many others issuing contactless cards, the number of users is growing fast.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, September 17, 2008–Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, today announces it has been selected to supply Gemalto’s Sealys eTravel solution to India’s National security printer, India Security Press. This solution is used to start India’s electronic passport rollout for Indian Officials and Diplomats. This marks a major milestone for the Indian Government’s Ministry of External Affairs, India Security Press, National Informatics Centre and Gemalto in improving immigration processing at airports and border control points as well as bolstering national security.

Convenience Meets Security at the Desktop

IRVINE, Calif., September 15, 2008–HID Global, the trusted leader in providing solutions for the delivery of secure identity, today announced that it is expanding its position within the access control space to include logical access control products and solutions for converged security environments. By collaborating with IT industry leaders, the company offers an extensive portfolio of logical access offerings to meet market requirements, enabling physical access control integrators to use HID technology to provide complementary logical access solutions.

October 1-2, Olympia, London–VeriFone, the global leader in secure electronic payment solutions, will be displaying a wide variety of payment systems at KioskCom, from rugged, unattended kiosk solutions to devices which make it easy to integrate the latest contactless technology. There will also be the opportunity to see VeriFone’s newest payment solution, due to launch at the Show.

ASIS INTERNATIONAL 2008, ATLANTA, Ga., September 15, 2008–Through its white papers, panels and demonstrations at industry events, and feedback on new standards, the Smart Card Alliance Physical Access Council has become the go-to resource for U.S. government agencies migrating to new physical access control systems (PACS). Today the Council announced new officers and steering committee, highlights of activities from the past year, and upcoming projects.

Gemalto’s Smart Video Card represents a unique communication tool to promote new mobile services

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Sept 11, 2008–Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, today announces that it is providing Italian mobile operator WIND with Smart Video Card, a technological breakthrough that embeds a DVD-compliant optical disc into the card body of a regular SIM card. Smart Video Card can store any digital content including video, software or Internet links and can be played on any DVD drive. WIND will use Smart Video Card to deliver software to allow wireless Internet access from a PC. Once WIND subscribers have connected their mobile phone to their computer, in order to enjoy the whole range of Internet services from their PC, such as e-mails or web browsing, all they have to do is introduce their Smart Video Card in the DVD reader of their computer and download the software from it. A set of interactive user guides also available on the disc will make use simple and efficient. Commercial deployment started in July.

As Deadlines For New Federal ID Near, Will New Administration Keep Momentum Going?

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., September 10, 2008–What affect will the new administration have on the widespread adoption of government smart card identity and security initiatives currently underway? The 7th Annual Smart Cards in Government Conference will look at the industry challenged with meeting a new administration’s timetable and market demands, as well as what lies ahead for government issuers, accreditation and testing authorities, and procurement programs.

Consumer mobile TV trial in Singapore is world’s first to use OMA BCAST SCP standard together with a comprehensive viewership measurement system

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Sept 9, 2008–Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, today announces that the world’s first Open Mobile Alliance Smart Card Profile compliant mobile TV consumer trial is to be enabled by Gemalto’s UpTeq™ mobile TV Subscriber Identity Module and viewership measurement service in Singapore. Working in conjunction with an advanced live measurement platform, the UpTeq high-end SIM will study usage patterns, making it the ideal mobile content customer relationship management tool.

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., September 8, 2008–Using mobile phones for banking and payments is emerging as a new consumer payment wave for the future. This topic will kick off a new webinar series produced in partnership by Smart Card Alliance and Electronic Transactions Association (ETA). The webinar is the first of four in the organizations’ Smart Card Payments Application Series addressing the use of smart card technology within the payments industry.

Vertical Payment Solutions Deploys INSIDE Contactless Technology to Implement CAMPUS System

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France, September 8th, 2008–INSIDE Contactless, the world leader in advanced contactless microprocessor platforms, today announced its contactless payment technology has been used to implement the first CAMPUS cashless payment system in Thailand at the International School of Bangkok (ISB). Combining INSIDE’s PicoPass contactless memory card technology, Accesso® desktop USB contactless reader, M210-2G contactless coupler and Hand’IT-2G Compact Flash contactless reader, Vertical Payment Solutions Pte Ltd has integrated the CAMPUS cashless payment application into the identity cards carried by students and staff to create one of the world’s first completely cashless schools.