ViVOtech's Infrastructure Software For Contactless and NFC Mobile Phone Payments Named Finalist In SESAMES Awards

Business Wire, Oct 24, 2007

Following Successful Worldwide NFC Payment Field Trials, ViVOtech Readies Broad 2008 Commercial Roll Out With Multiple Network Operators

SAN FRANCISCO -- ViVOtech, the leading provider of contactless Point of Sale terminals and NFC software technologies, today announced its ViVOnfc Suite 2.0 infrastructure software for Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile phone payments and promotion applications has been selected as a finalist in the best software category for the prestigious SESAMES Award, to be presented at CARTES 2007.

"We are honored to be recognized by the SESAME Awards for our NFC mobile payments and OTA promotions infrastructure software," said Michael Mullagh, ViVOtech's CEO. "This recognition validates our leading position in the industry and underscores the value of our technology strategy for contactless payments. Today, the ViVOnfc solution has been proven in multiple pilot programs all over the world, where it has consistently delivered a positive consumer experience while introducing wireless operators, banks, merchants, and service providers to a strong value proposition that can be facilitated by using NFC technologies in their businesses."

The SESAMES Awards are presented annually as part of the Cartes and IT Security exhibition and conference and are widely regarded to be the highest accolade in the industry. The awards are decided by a jury made up of international experts and journalists in the smart card industry. From a field of over 200 applicants in 2007, judges selected finalists based on criteria to determine the most innovative products across 10 categories including hardware, software and applications. Winners will be announced at the SESAMES Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 12, 2007 at CARTES & IDentification 2007 Congress in Paris, France.

ViVOtech Pioneering Mobile Phone Payments With Near Field Communication (NFC)

ViVOtech utilizes NFC technology to deliver their payment and promotion solutions. NFC is a 13.5 MHz radio frequency based technology that provides up to 4 inches of wireless connectivity between two enabled devices, allowing mobile devices to electronically interact with point of sale payment systems, ATMs, kiosks, smart posters, promotions, and self-service check-in systems. Industry analyst firm ABI Research recently forecasted that NFC chips will be embedded in 292 million handsets, or 20% of all phones worldwide, by 2012.

The ViVOnfc suite of Infrastructure Software has been successfully deployed in more than 15 trials conducted in the United States, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China with a variety of players across the NFC ecosystem from major card associations, branded and retailer card issuers, merchants, major mobile phone manufacturers, to mobile phone operators (wireless carriers). To view more details about these programs, go to ViVOtech's website (www.vivotech.com).

These pioneering trials featured a number of "Firsts" including:

* First Asia e-purse NFC phone solution with top-up using a national stored value prepaid card - Singapore, September 2007

* First global NFC phone wallet solution enabled with biometric control - United States, June 2007

* First global over the air (OTA) provisioning solution for both coupons and payment cards into NFC mobile phones - Taiwan, February 2007

* First global over the air (OTA) provisioning solution for both credit and debit - New York, Chicago and other cities in the United States, January 2007

* First global over the air (OTA) provisioning of merchant loyalty cards into NFC mobile phones - China, August 2006

* First global NFC mobile phone payment and service discovery Trial - United States, December 2005

ViVOnfc infrastructure software plays a central role in creating a positive user experience for both consumers and other key participants in the mobile phone payment ecosystem. Participants in the trial programs were provided with NFC mobile phones pre-programmed with ViVOwallet software and could easily download credit, debit, stored value cards over the air into their mobile phones using ViVOnfc over the air (OTA) infrastructure software. Users were able to make payments at tens of thousands of contactless enabled merchants, instantly 'pick up' coupons or dynamic promotions to get information about products from smart posters and redeem coupons or promotions electronically at the point of sale using ViVOtech's contactless readers.

Trial participants' overwhelmingly accepted paying using mobile technology, reporting they were ready to use mobile payments for every transaction they make at merchant locations and expressed interest in having multiple applications available on a single mobile device. They also reported they would like to see expanded use for transit, loyalty and digital content applications.

Merchants participating in trials using the ViVOnfc solution also reported success, pointing to faster check out lines when they provided customers with a way to pay using an NFC mobile phone. These same merchants also said they were able to drive traffic into their stores by sending out instant promotions through either smart posters or through the provisioning of coupons over the air to mobile phones.