IBM and Intellect form smart card alliance; distribution agreement will bring revolutionary electronic wallet to consumers

Business Wire, Feb 6, 1996

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 6, 1996--Intellect Electronics announced today it has signed a distribution agreement with IBM.

Under terms of the agreement, IBM will market and distribute Intellect's revolutionary MicroBank terminal and other Intellect products to targeted global markets, including North America.

The MicroBank is the world's first hand-held programmable "smart card" terminal. It enables the user to transfer money securely from bank accounts on to a smart card anywhere in the world, using the telephone system. Consumers can then use the smart card to spend their "money" at retail outlets, vending machines, even send payment directly over the Internet using MicroBank's patented serial port for modem/PC connection.

"IBM has signed this agreement because it sees significant potential for the MicroBank as a strategic ingredient in our solutions to address the needs of world-wide banking in the future," said Graham Murray IBM's director of Retail Banking for the Asia Pacific region.

The MicroBank is a pocket size ATM and comprises a keyboard, smart card reader, display and security technology. It represents a major advance in Electronic Commerce products because it can be programmed by the user and can run applications from smart cards which, in other devices, are only used to store data.

"IBM's acceptance of the MicroBank is a stamp of approval for our product and a huge reward for all the people at Intellect who have helped develop this unique and revolutionary terminal," said Ross Leighton, chairman and CEO of Intellect.

Intellect develops, manufactures and distributes electronic funds transfer (EFT) technology. The breadth of these payment devises ranges from stored value card readers to point-of-sale PIN pads. Intellect is a public company which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in December 1994. They have offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Brussels, Geneva, Aachen and San Jose, with its head office in Perth.

Intellect's clients are major multinational computer companies such as AT&T GIS, Unisys, IBM, Siemens-Nixdorf and Fujitsu/ICL which supply Intellect products to the rapidly expanding global electronic funds transfer market. Current users of Intellect products include Coles Myer, Australia Post, BP, Shell, Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation, other major banks in Australia, Belgium, Holland and Norway and leading retailers throughout Europe.

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