SETEC TO PROVIDE PROTON PRISMA CARDS BASED ON PROTON WORLD MASK

SETEC TO PROVIDE PROTON PRISMA CARDS BASED ON PROTON WORLD MASK A new business approach to give card issuers & card vendors easy access to more Proton Prisma card profiles Brussels / Helsinki, 5 November 2002: Today Belgian card technology provider Proton World and smart card company Setec from Finland, announced that they have come to an agreement to sign a license by which Setec gets the right to manufacture and market smart cards based on a Proton World developed mask. With this license agreement Setec will be able to provide Proton Prisma DP cards to its banking customers worldwide. Today two profiles are on the market ready for implementation: the Basic Profile (BP) and the Embedded Profile (EP). The DP profile complements the offer, widening the range of Proton Prisma card profiles on the market to the issuers. DP stands for Dynamic Profile and represents the high-end side in the range of Proton Prisma smart card profiles that Proton World proposes its customers. It contains the Card and Application Life-Cycle (CALC), the DataFile Manager (DFM), a cryptoprocessor and a Java CardTM Virtual Machine. The applications that are included as a standard in the profile are: a R3 domestic and CEPS e-purse, EMV credit/debit with SDA or DDA/CDA, and ASPIC (a toolbox for PKI applications). The DP card profile supports dynamic downloading of new applications after issuance. The agreement with Setec is the first agreement in the context of an "open embedding" business model which reinforces and completes the already existing "open licensing model", in which card vendors obtain a license to retrieve the Proton Prisma technology specifications necessary to build their own mask, with which they then create and commercialise their own Proton Prisma cards. Under the "open embedding" business model, card vendors manufacture cards making use of a ready-made mask provided by Proton World. Thus they avoid investments in time and resources, necessary for proper development. The time to market is reduced and the initial investment risk diminished. Proton World will continue to offer both business models in parallel to card manufacturers who can make a choice on whether or not to produce their own mask in function of their strategic priorities, business objectives and market requirements. Armand Linkens, CEO of Proton World explains this new approach as follows: "By building our own masks and making them available to card manufacturers in an "open embedding" business model, we facilitate the access to Proton Prisma technology and make more card profiles available on the market to our customers. Our first goal is to make sure that card issuers have a wider choice of cards from a broad range of sources at competitive prices. We are delighted to sign this first open embedding agreement with Setec, a leading card manufacturer who is at the forefront in providing time-to-market and efficient smart card solutions to its customers world-wide." Lauri Pesonen, Executive Vice President of Setec sees the license of Proton Prisma DP mask fitting well in Setec's smart card offering. "We are investing substantially into EMV market and our strategy is to be able offer a wide range of chip card products and related applications and services to our banking customers worldwide. Proton is one of the strongest technologies in the industry, and the addition of a Proton Prisma DP product with EMV and multiapplication capabilities clearly strengthens our offering.", says Lauri Pesonen. END NOTES FOR EDITORS About Setec Setec is a leading provider of smart card based solutions for secure electronic transactions in open networks and face-to-face environments. Setec focuses on high-end smart cards with enhanced security, such as PKI. The group is operating on a global basis with leading telecom operators, banks and public authorities as the major customer segments, to whom Setec offers complete card solutions. Setec's card solution consists of smart cards with SetCOS(TM) card operating system, smart card applications, personalisation solutions and services, card interfaces, middleware components and consultation. Setec offers to GSM operators its enhanced eSIM(TM) cards with leading edge features such Wireless Internet Browser and PKI based security for mobile transactions. Setec addresses the banking market with innovative multiapplication chip cards with EMV and PKI in the key roles. High security visual documents - such as ID cards and passports - based on laser-engraved polycarbonate are the core of Setec's products to public authorities issuing ID documents. The ultimate product in this field is the electronic ID card combining Setec's smart card expertise with the unforgeable visual security. Setec Group has operations in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Singapore and Thailand. The turnover of the year 2001 amounted to EUR 69.8 million and the company employed 466 people. For more information, please visit the Setec website at http://www.setec.com or contact: Mr Jarmo Rouhiainen, SVP Sales, Banking & Retail, at Setec, Finland Telephone +358 9 89411 Fax +358 9 8941 4141 e-mail jarmo.rouhiainen@setec.com You can find Setec Oy at the Cartes 2002 exhibition on stand 4S040. About Proton World PROTON WORLD develops, licenses and delivers high security payment and identity smart card systems based on the market-leading Proton technology. There are Proton licensees in 35 countries: together they have so far installed over 700,000 terminals, where their 40 million cardholders perform millions of transactions each month. Building on the solid foundations of its expertise in and its extensive network throughout the banking and finance sector as provider of the world's most frequently-used electronic purse technology, Proton World has developed Proton Prisma, a family of products that provides an infrastructure for secure multiple-application smart card programmes (debit, credit, domestic and interoperable purse, PKI and others), that offers issuers a wide choice of certified hardware vendors, simplified mass personalisation, dynamically-downloadable applications and multi- vendor card sourcing. Proton Prisma implements international smart card standards, such as CEPS, EMV and GlobalPlatform. Proton World's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, with regional offices in the USA and Asia. Proton World is a member of the ERG Group, a global technology group, and specialist in transit and multi-application systems. For more information, please visit the Proton World website at http://www.protonworld.com or contact: Ms Dominique Hautain, VP Sales & Business Development, at Proton World in Brussels, Belgium Telephone +32 2 724 5111 Fax +32 2 724 5060 e-mail info@protonworld.com You can find Proton World at the Cartes 2002 exhibition on stand 3F019. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/11/05/20021105BIT00130/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/11/05/20021105BIT00130/wkr0002.pdf