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White Paper and Case Study Outline GlobalPlatform’s Value To Smart Government ID Programs

26 November 2007 – GlobalPlatform, the international smart card specifications body, has published a white paper – along with a use case scenario - to explain the value GlobalPlatform Specifications bring to smart card based government ID programs worldwide. The white paper clearly defines the advantages of deploying GlobalPlatform’s open and interoperable card management infrastructure in place of a proprietary solution, and provides a detailed overview of how and where GlobalPlatform technology is applied across an ID management program and to what effect.

GlobalPlatform’s impact relative to the ID card itself and different roles within a card management system are also explored within the document, and the role that GlobalPlatform plays in facilitating interfaces and data exchange between different actors in an ID management program is outlined.

The white paper, which is intended to aid government officials, project managers and consultants advising on the implementation of smart card based ID programs in government, is informational, rather than technical, to ensure that it is accessible to the widest possible audience.

GlobalPlatform technology for smart cards and card management systems is known to have been used within sixteen successful government ID implementations throughout the world to date*. One of these widely recognized use cases - the U.S. Department of Defense’s Common Access Card – is used as a case study throughout the white paper to illustrate how the GlobalPlatform Specifications can be applied across the entire smart card infrastructure to benefit the issuance and management of smart ID cards and applications in a government program. It is intended that other use-cases, originating from Europe and Asia-Pacific, will be developed and explored in future editions of this white paper series.

Bob Beer, Vice President of Business Development at Datacard Group and Chairman of GlobalPlatform comments: “The launch of this white paper is a significant step forward in GlobalPlatform’s efforts to educate government audiences worldwide about the relevance and value of GlobalPlatform technology to smart ID programs. The paper casts light on a key challenge for governments responsible for deploying a smart ID program for the first time. This challenge is how to select a secure and cost-effective technology infrastructure before all future possibilities for the program, such as additional applications or potential partners from the public or private sector, are known and scoped. The paper illustrates how a standardized approach – such as basing a program on GlobalPlatform Specifications - can ensure the future security of government programs and protect current infrastructure investment, regardless of future business decisions, thanks to the scalability of the GlobalPlatform architecture.”

As with all GlobalPlatform deliverables, the white paper is the result of industry collaboration and was developed jointly by the following members of the GlobalPlatform Government Task Force: ACI Worldwide Inc., ActivIdentity, Gemalto, IBM Global Business Services, Thales e-Security and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Separately, in June 2007, GlobalPlatform announced that it had developed a special configuration of its Messaging Specification to support the personalization of Personal Identification Verification (PIV) cards by the U.S. Government. While the development of the PIV configuration for Messaging v1.0 meets the enhanced identification and authentication requirements of the U.S. Government, it is a publicly available document and can therefore be adapted to offer standardization benefits for governments worldwide choosing to deploy similar smart card based ID programs.

The White Paper is publicly available at www.globalplatform.org

 -ENDS-

For further media information, please contact Lee’ann Kaufman or Sarah Jones at iseepr: leeann@iseepr.co.uk / sarah@iseepr.co.uk or on +44 (0) 113 274 5252

 * Current known implementations of GlobalPlatform technology in government ID programs include:

  • Austrian Citizen Card,
  • BioPass ( Singapore Biometric Passport),
  • CNS Italy,
  • Daejeon Project ( South Korea),
  • Hong Kong National ID Card,
  • Kingdom of Belgium ICAO e-Passport,
  • Macau Special Administrative Region Project,
  • Moroccan National ID Card,
  • Polish Transport Authority Project,
  • Qatari National ID Card,
  • Saudi Arabia ’s King Fahd University ID Card,
  • Sultanate of Oman National ID Card,
  • Taiwan National Health Insurance Card
  • US Government Agency initiatives from the Department of Defense, the General Service Administration and the Transportation Security Administration.

About GlobalPlatform

GlobalPlatform is the global leader in smart card infrastructure development and its proven, technical specifications for cards, devices and systems are known as the standard for smart card infrastructure. GlobalPlatform is a member driven association with cross-industry representation from all world continents. For more information about GlobalPlatform, visit: www.globalplatform.org

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If you are a media representative, analyst, or conference organizer with a question, please contact iseepr:

Tel: +44 (0) 113 350 1922
Email: pressoffice@globalplatform.org

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