Frost & Sullivan Awards Gemalto for its Innovative Solutions in Mobile Contactless Technologies

Business Wire, Oct 29, 2007

LONDON -- Netherlands-based Gemalto N.V. is the recipient of the 2007 Frost & Sullivan European Product Innovation Award in the field of mobile contactless technologies for its smart card web server (SCWS) technology. The SCWS offers a common platform for all mobile operators to organise and present their services to the subscriber, irrespective of location (network or local).

"While payment companies such as Visa and MasterCard spend millions of dollars annually in advertising their brand, their brand logo cannot be made visible while making a payment transaction with the near field communication (NFC) phone as the mobile phone does not itself contain the logo of the bank," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Rashmi Sundararajan. "This problem has been overcome by an innovative 'Web server on the SIM' developed by Gemalto; every time a transaction occurs, the colour logo of the financial service provider is displayed on the phone screen."

Gemalto has been a pioneer in developing smart cards with the same kind of protocols and interfaces as mobile phones and personal computers, thereby facilitating seamless communications with the latter and permitting an increasing number of Web applications to be written onto the card.

"Gemalto's SCWS residing on the SIM, stores HTML Web pages and servlets, which subscribers can view through the handset browser, reducing the time taken to access their operator's mobile Internet portal," adds Ms. Sundararajan. "Delivering content and services directly to the end-user significantly improves the user experience, while boosting the adoption of new services promoted by mobile operators."

With this technology, subscribers can update web pages over-the-air. SCWS also comes equipped with software called 'Service Portal,' which is designed to make home screens and menus more consistent across different phone models and subscriber segments. It is also possible to offer targeted service menus which respond to the needs of each user.

"The 'Service Portal' software could spell the difference in how the market responds to developers' efforts in integrating main Internet protocols and TCP/IP on prototype cards," comments Ms. Sundararajan. "This is because loading the software onto personal computers to communicate with smart card readers as well as programming Web servers to recognize the smart cards has until now been a major limitation."

Gemalto's SCWS's advanced features will ultimately pave the way for higher speed universal serial bus (USB) interfaces with heavier content being stored on the SIMs. Furthermore, the SCWS extends IP (Internet Protocol) connectivity to the SIM card for a more enriched user experience.

On the field, Gemalto is rapidly gaining experience in this domain. In Asia, Gemalto is partnering with Taiwan's FarEastTone Telecommunications Ltd. to launch the first trial for SIM-based NFC in Asia as part of the GSM Association initiative "Pay-buy mobile". FarEastTone subscribers involved in the pilot will be able to make purchases at any FarEastTone trial partner merchant with the same ease of use as an ordinary contactless card. This is a significant step in using NFC technology to link mobile devices with payment and contactless systems. The user interface for these services will rely on the Smart Card Web Server technology.

"With its proven expertise in developing innovative and cost-effective solutions in contactless and digital security for numerous industry verticals, Gemalto is well poised for robust growth, especially in view of the growing momentum driving the third phase of mobile telephony that is proximity services," concludes Ms. Sundrarajan. "Because of its consistent contributions to product development and innovation in mobile contactless technologies and solutions, Gemalto is a worthy recipient of the Frost & Sullivan Product Innovation Award."

The Frost & Sullivan Product Innovation Award is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in new products and technologies within their industry. The recipient company has shown innovation by launching a broad line of emerging products and technologies.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the leader in digital security with pro forma 2006 annual revenues of EUR 1.7 billion, more than 85 offices in 40 countries and about 10,000 employees including 1,300 R&D engineers.

In a world where the digital revolution is increasingly transforming our lives, Gemalto's solutions are designed to make personal digital interactions more convenient, secure and enjoyable.