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Proton World joins CEPSCO, new licensees signed up
News Electronic purse
Proton World joins CEPSCO, new licensees signed up Proton World, developer and licensor of Proton, the world’s most widely used electronic purse, has joined CEPSCO, the organisation formed to manage the development and administration of the Common Electronic Purse Specifications (CEPS). Other developments at Proton World include new licensees in Sweden, India and the Philippines and an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) deal with biometrics specialist Keyware Technologies. Proton World joins Cartes Bancaires (French banks), CEPSCO Espanola (Spanish banks), Euro Kartensysteme/ZKA (German banks), Europay International and Visa International as a CEPSCO member. Armand Linkens, CEO of Proton World, said, “From the moment CEPS were made publicly available [in March, 1999], we have been committed to incorporating the specifications into the Proton technology and advancing the commercial availability of CEPS-based smart card solutions.” Just signed as a Proton licensee is Svenska Handelsbanken, which joins three other Swedish banks – ForeningsSparbanken, MeritaNordbanken and SE Banken in issuing the Proton-based Cash cards. This means that 90% of the Swedish banking sector will now be issuing Cash cards, for transactions at 37,000 terminals. Another recent signing is Alittleworld.com (ALW), an Indian technology company, which has taken out a licence for Proton technology in India and the Philippines. ALW will offer Proton as the basis for an electronic purse or an EMV-compliant debit card, to issuers such as banks, post offices and telecom companies; the company aims to provide lowcost load and payment terminals and infrastructure support. The stated goal is to install one to two million terminals and to have 40 million cards in issue. Cards will carry the common brand name Alittlemoney; issuers will also be free to put their own brand and scheme names on the card. In the Philippines, ALW will implement its Proton-based scheme through a joint venture with VGM Corporation, Prosys (the previous holder of Proton licences for India and the Philippines), and other partners with banking, telecom and
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Internet interests. (Prosys is also a shareholder of ALW in India.) Both India and the Philippines are markets with small value currency units; these mean high costs for cash production and distribution. The majority of their populations do not have bank accounts. Anurag Gupta, director of ALW, said, “Proton offers an easy-to-use, fast alternative to cash for consumers, and offers savings to issuers…who can benefit from complete auditability and the highest levels of protection against fraud.” Proton World has also signed an OEM agreement with biometric specialists Keyware Technologies. Proton World is to offer an optional biometrics component using Keyware’s Layered Biometric Verification (LBV) system as an ‘add-on’ to other applications. The new component will include a fingerprint verification module; this will read fingerprints, compare them with bio-prints stored on the Proton card, and then send encrypted data to the Proton terminal. Terminal software development is to be carried out by Proton World; the interface between the module and the terminal will be designed and developed by a joint Proton World/Keyware Technologies team. Armand Linkens said, “Biometrics is the nextgeneration technique, which will replace PIN codes whilst remaining user-friendly. This agreement allows us to respond immediately to requests we have already received from our licensees in developing countries.” Contact: Dominique Hautain at Proton World, Tel: +32 2 724 5111, e-mail: [email protected] Lars Wikstrom at Svenska Handelsbanken, Tel: +46 8 701 4501, e-mail: [email protected] Anurag Gupta at Alittleworld.com, Tel: +91 98 100 44419, e-mail: [email protected] Liz Marshall at Keyware Technologies, Tel: +1 781 933 1311, e-mail: [email protected]
Multi-application cards
Bull to offer RISC-based cards in 2001 Bull Smart Cards and Terminals is to release a new generation of high-security micro-processor smart cards, based on research and development work carried out under the European Union’s Multi-Application Secure Smart Card (MASSC) project. The new cards, promised for the year 2001, will operate on a RISC-32 microprocessor, and will offer ‘unprecedented’ processing power. Bull says that issuers are attaching more and
Proton World joins CEPSCO, new licensees signed up Proton World, developer and licensor of Proton, the world’s most widely used electronic purse, has joined CEPSCO, the organisation formed to manage the development and administration of the Common Electronic Purse Specifications (CEPS). Other developments at Proton World include new licensees in Sweden, India and the Philippines and an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) deal with biometrics specialist Keyware Technologies. Proton World joins Cartes Bancaires (French banks), CEPSCO Espanola (Spanish banks), Euro Kartensysteme/ZKA (German banks), Europay International and Visa International as a CEPSCO member. Armand Linkens, CEO of Proton World, said, “From the moment CEPS were made publicly available [in March, 1999], we have been committed to incorporating the specifications into the Proton technology and advancing the commercial availability of CEPS-based smart card solutions.” Just signed as a Proton licensee is Svenska Handelsbanken, which joins three other Swedish banks – ForeningsSparbanken, MeritaNordbanken and SE Banken in issuing the Proton-based Cash cards. This means that 90% of the Swedish banking sector will now be issuing Cash cards, for transactions at 37,000 terminals. Another recent signing is Alittleworld.com (ALW), an Indian technology company, which has taken out a licence for Proton technology in India and the Philippines. ALW will offer Proton as the basis for an electronic purse or an EMV-compliant debit card, to issuers such as banks, post offices and telecom companies; the company aims to provide lowcost load and payment terminals and infrastructure support. The stated goal is to install one to two million terminals and to have 40 million cards in issue. Cards will carry the common brand name Alittlemoney; issuers will also be free to put their own brand and scheme names on the card. In the Philippines, ALW will implement its Proton-based scheme through a joint venture with VGM Corporation, Prosys (the previous holder of Proton licences for India and the Philippines), and other partners with banking, telecom and
2 • Ctt September 2000
Internet interests. (Prosys is also a shareholder of ALW in India.) Both India and the Philippines are markets with small value currency units; these mean high costs for cash production and distribution. The majority of their populations do not have bank accounts. Anurag Gupta, director of ALW, said, “Proton offers an easy-to-use, fast alternative to cash for consumers, and offers savings to issuers…who can benefit from complete auditability and the highest levels of protection against fraud.” Proton World has also signed an OEM agreement with biometric specialists Keyware Technologies. Proton World is to offer an optional biometrics component using Keyware’s Layered Biometric Verification (LBV) system as an ‘add-on’ to other applications. The new component will include a fingerprint verification module; this will read fingerprints, compare them with bio-prints stored on the Proton card, and then send encrypted data to the Proton terminal. Terminal software development is to be carried out by Proton World; the interface between the module and the terminal will be designed and developed by a joint Proton World/Keyware Technologies team. Armand Linkens said, “Biometrics is the nextgeneration technique, which will replace PIN codes whilst remaining user-friendly. This agreement allows us to respond immediately to requests we have already received from our licensees in developing countries.” Contact: Dominique Hautain at Proton World, Tel: +32 2 724 5111, e-mail: [email protected] Lars Wikstrom at Svenska Handelsbanken, Tel: +46 8 701 4501, e-mail: [email protected] Anurag Gupta at Alittleworld.com, Tel: +91 98 100 44419, e-mail: [email protected] Liz Marshall at Keyware Technologies, Tel: +1 781 933 1311, e-mail: [email protected]
Multi-application cards
Bull to offer RISC-based cards in 2001 Bull Smart Cards and Terminals is to release a new generation of high-security micro-processor smart cards, based on research and development work carried out under the European Union’s Multi-Application Secure Smart Card (MASSC) project. The new cards, promised for the year 2001, will operate on a RISC-32 microprocessor, and will offer ‘unprecedented’ processing power. Bull says that issuers are attaching more and