Open platform cards - Brief Article

Electronics Times, Feb 7, 2000

The deployment of open platform cards is expected to accelerate with the creation of standards for chip card operating systems (OS). There are currently three available: Sun with JavaCard, MAOSCO with Multos and Microsoft's Smartcard for Windows.

In providing a universal chip card OS, application developers are able to write applications independently of card issuers and ultimately enables card users to decide which application programs they would like their card to contain. An example of this is the recent creation of a standard for Java SIM cards by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) for the GSM market.

At the Cartes show last November, applet interoperability was demonstrated, confirming that operators will be able to buy their Java SIMs from multiple suppliers. This will provide a boost for network operators and third-party content/service providers developing applications for the digital mobile cellphone marketplace - now numbering over one billion users globally.

Mats Bertilsson, Schlumberger's director field marketing Europe, said: "The application development freedom and confidentiality of open platforms will drive the smartcard market forward in 2000."

Schlumberger believes 2000 will see the open platform trend extended to the next-largest microprocessor card application sector - banking and retail. Shipments of Java and Multos multi-application card technologies are expected to account for up to 7% of total banking shipments by the year end.

Dataquest predicts the long-term outcome of the competitive situation between OS is likely to conclude with each OS being favoured in a particular application segment. JavaCard currently has the lead in GSM applications and Multos is competing with proprietary solutions in financial applications. But preferences of the Common Electronics Purse and banking industry will be vital in deciding the leader in this sector.

Microsoft will primarily aim for e-commerce and network security applications with its OS, although the speed at which it has been rolled out has disappointed many. Schlumberger believes Microsoft's SmartCards for Windows is unlikely to play any significant part in this segment until its security has been proven in field trials.

Karen Hoffman, senior analyst at Dataquest, said: "Microsoft has globally more weight than Multos but they have been so slow in bringing it to market. Multos is the current platform of choice but that simply is because there hasn't been much else to choose from."

Microsoft may also use chip cards as an authentication tool to enable software and prevent fraudulent copying.