GlobalPlatform and StoLPaN Guarantee Compatibility
16 February 2009 – Europe has taken another step towards establishing a standardized approach to mass market deployment of near field communication (NFC) enabled services like payment and ticketing following the announcement today that GlobalPlatform and StoLPaN will ensure the compatibility of their work within this market.
International specification body for smart card infrastructure, GlobalPlatform and StoLPaN, the pan-European consortium which aims to identify the technical and commercial frameworks required to securely deliver NFC-applications to mobile devices, have aligned their activity to ensure long-term compatibility between their respective approaches to the development of NFC deployment. At present the business model of StoLPaN, which allows an end user to have a direct relationship with a service provider and the ability to load a service onto their handset, can be delivered using GlobalPlatform’s UICC Configuration. This technical document, downloadable from www.globalplatform.org, outlines a neutral environment to securely deliver over-the-air mobile services to consumers.
Andras Vilmos , Project manager from StoLPaN, comments: “Our role is to define the business rules and technical requirements for the successful commercial deployment and dynamic management of third party applications on an NFC-enabled mobile device. This will allow consumers to tailor NFC solutions to meet their individual needs, while encouraging service providers to deliver their offering via this channel. By working with trade associations such as GlobalPlatform, StoLPaN aims to achieve a sustainable and standardized NFC ecosystem in Europe.”
GlobalPlatform’s soon-to-be-released technology that will allow an application provider to deploy contactless services in a secure element located in a mobile handset, and communicate directly with the customer, will align with the end user role and handset application business model as defined by StoLPaN.
Gil Bernabeu, Technical Director at GlobalPlatform and Technical Advisor for the Standardization and Technology Department at Gemalto, adds: “The launch of this technology will create a fundamental transition in consumer payment habits. For example, today’s selection by the end user of choosing one card from his or her personal wallet will be replaced by the selection of a contactless service via the screen of a mobile handset.
“By ensuring GlobalPlatform technology is compliant with the efforts of StoLPaN we can guarantee that our infrastructure is supported by this important European NFC business environment and will be used to its full potential. This is essential if the industry is to achieve long-term user adoption of NFC initiatives.”
As of October 2008, two billion mid range USIM/SIM cards worldwide are estimated to use GlobalPlatform card technology to enable over-the-air (OTA) application downloads for 3G and GSM mobile networks, while over 100 million cards have been issued by the mobile telecommunications sector using the entire GlobalPlatform infrastructure. These figures are predicted to rise significantly by the end of 2009.
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For further media information, please contact Sarah Jones or Sam White at iseepr: globalplatform@iseepr.co.uk or telephone + (0) 1943 468007
About GlobalPlatform
*2009 is the 10 th anniversary of GlobalPlatform - to learn more about its achievements click here*
GlobalPlatform is the world leader in smart card infrastructure development. Its proven technical specifications for cards, devices and systems are regarded as the industry standard for achieving interoperable, sustainable and flexible smart card deployments that support multi-application, multi-actor and multi-business model implementations.
GlobalPlatform is a member driven association with cross-industry representation from all world continents. As of October 2008, an estimated 305.7 million GlobalPlatform-based smart cards had been deployed globally and an additional two billion mid range USIM/SIM cards worldwide are estimated to use GlobalPlatform card technology to enable over-the-air (OTA) application downloads for 3G and GSM mobile networks. www.globalplatform.org
About StoLPaN
StoLPaN is a pan-European consortium supported by the European Commission’s IST program which aims to define open commercial and technical frameworks for NFC-enabled services on mobile devices. StoLPaN will define a single platform, multi-application NFC environment that could host besides a set of different service applications - like ticketing, access, loyalty, etc - also financial instruments from various banks. This will facilitate the deployment of NFC-enabled mobile applications across a wide range of vertical markets, regardless of the phone type and the nature of the services required. The work also encompasses the elaboration of the necessary business model, to motivate all key actors, like banks, card issuers, network operators, service providers as well as the users.
StoLPaN has recently published two White Papers that summarize its concept on Application issuance and Application management.
