GLOBALPLATFORM ATTRACTS NEW MEMBERS
PARIS, November 16, 1999 – Eleven more organizations have joined GlobalPlatform, the cross industry smart card group announced last month to advance a standardized infrastructure for multiple application smart cards. This brings the total number of members to 30 representing the payments, communications, government and vendor communities.
New members include: French card payments group, Carte Bleue; South Korean government agency, TTA; Irish communications company, eircom (formerly Telecom Eireann); transaction processor, First Data Corporation; Nordic banking group, MeritaNordbanken; provider of processing services, Digital Courier Technologies; and technology vendors, ACI Worldwide, Cards Etc, and Ingenico. Two other large organizations have joined and will be announced at a later date. Collectively, GlobalPlatform members reach more than one billion consumers worldwide and have already issued in excess of 70 million smart cards.
GlobalPlatform is attributing the quick uptake in membership to the clear industry need for open standards and to the credibility of the Open Platform specifications. Developed by Visa International and contributed to GlobalPlatform, the Open Platform is a comprehensive smart card architecture and associated specifications addressing cards, terminals and systems infrastructure for dynamic, multiple application smart cards.
Dr. Suh, TTA South Korea, said: “For us, GlobalPlatform represents an opportunity to work with leading companies in a range of industries to ensure that a common smart card infrastructure is developed which meets the needs of all parties. It is only through such cooperation that we can ensure that products and applications are developed which entice consumers and offer multiple services from multiple industries.”
In addition to expanding its membership, GlobalPlatform has also appointed an initial board of directors. Representatives from British Telecommunications, JCB, NTT, TTA, Visa International and two other organizations which are still to be announced will sit on the board. The first board meeting, together with a full member meeting, will be held on Thursday 18 November in Paris. The board will define the structure and work of various committees. In turn, the committees will develop conventions needed to facilitate card issuance, application deployment, card acceptance devices, and post-issuance loading and management of on-card services. This is intended to result in secure systems for all industries, making it cost effective and easy for a card issuer to offer a variety of functions on one card.
GlobalPlatform was established to reduce the barriers hindering the growth of cross industry, multiple application smart cards but continue to allow smart card issuers the freedom to choose from a variety of cards, terminals and back-end systems. The organization is open to all parties with an interest in the development and use of smart cards, including issuers, vendors, industry groups, public entities and technology companies. Members include British Telecommunications, JCB, Microsoft, Nokia, NTT, Sun Microsystems, and Visa International.
More information on GlobalPlatform can be obtained from www.globalplatform.org.
