--- begin forwarded text
From: davidk@air.com
X-Sender: saguaro@pop.tiac.net (Unverified)
Date: Sat, 17 May 1997 16:56:13 -0400
To: Robert Hettinga
Subject: MULTOS announcement from MasterCard --- FYI
Mime-Version: 1.0
MasterCard launches global smart card platform
Date: 97-05-15 16:38:28 EDT
From: AOL News
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 1997--
Platform provides MasterCard member financial institutions with
complete solution in migrating to chip-based payment products
MasterCard International today became the first payments brand to
begin implementing a complete solution for making the widespread use
of smart cards a marketplace reality by the new millennium.
By embracing a new open-platform technology called MULTOS as its
smart card operating platform, MasterCard member banks will now have
access to an unprecedented technology that will enable a single smart
card to support a number of different products, securely and
independently.
The MULTOS (multi-application operating system) technology, which
was announced today by eight of the leading silicon manufacturers and
smart card companies from the United States, Europe, Asia and
Australia uses the proven Mondex security architecture which allows
applications to be dynamically and securely loaded onto a smart card.
With MULTOS, not only can members load applications when the card is
issued, but cardholders will be able to load or change applications
after the card has been issued by going on-line to the card issuer,
via telephone, the ATM or across the Internet. This allows
applications and security upgrades to be introduced without reissuing
cards, and for cardholders to "customize" their card with the
applications they choose.
Paired with the MULTOS technology is a MasterCard migration plan
that gives financial institutions around the world the flexibility to
enter into the smart card arena when it's right for their markets and
their businesses. Together, MULTOS and the MasterCard migration plan
support a wide range of implementation schemes -- from the most
comprehensive to the most modest -- ensuring that member banks can
bring smart cards to market in a way that is useful for the
cardholder and profitable for the bank.
"The business case for smart cards varies among markets and
countries, and so the key to a successful migration from magnetic
stripe cards to smart cards is flexibility," said MasterCard
President and CEO Robert W. Selander. "In our migration strategy we
have a flexible approach that lets every member move to smart cards
at a time and pace that is best for their business. And in MULTOS we
have a superior technology that is `future-friendly.' MULTOS will
enable our members to embrace smart card technology, and at the same
time, give them the confidence that today's investment will not be
obsolete tomorrow. By incorporating MULTOS technology into our smart
card migration strategy, we are offering our members the only
complete smart card solution available today," he said.
"As an open-technology platform, we support the flexibility
MULTOS offers, and realize that by investing in MULTOS, we are
investing in the future of the industry," said Dudley Nigg,
executive vice president, Online Financial Services for Wells Fargo
Bank. "It also enables us to truly differentiate ourselves by the
types of services we provide our cardholders."
G. Henry Mundt III, MasterCard executive vice president, Global
Deposit Access, said the MULTOS technology offers distinct benefits
to members that other operating systems cannot. "Unlike other chip
delivery platforms in the marketplace today, MULTOS provides our
members with multiple sources of interoperable cards - eliminating
any risk associated with being locked into a single silicon supplier
or card manufacturer."
Mundt, who oversees MasterCard's smart card business, also
explained how members can use MULTOS to differentiate their services
to their cardholders. "What a MULTOS-based card becomes to the
cardholder is a lifestyle card, allowing the consumer to include the
standard applications of credit and debit, along with other
personally selected applications such as Mondex electronic cash, an
airline loyalty program and a transit pass. The ability for our
members to meet their cardholders' changing needs by adding or
deleting card applications that can be tailored in real time, through
the telephone, an ATM or across the Internet, is bringing the future
of money to life for the consumer, now," he added.
MasterCard's global smart card strategy incorporates the
following features and deliverables:
-- A set of product specifications and associated applications,
which will include MasterCard credit and debit, and Mondex electronic
cash, that can be combined with member proprietary programs.
Specifications will be available in the third quarter of this year,
and applications will be available in the first quarter of 1998. The
MULTOS API (application program interface) specifications will be
available in the third quarter of 1997.
-- The most advanced open-technology platform, introduced on a
non-proprietary "open systems" basis to enable it to be used as a
standard across various industries interested in using smart cards,
such as finance, retail, travel and telecommunications. MULTOS
technology will enable a single smart card to support a number of
different products, securely and independently. MULTOS applications
will need to be written only once and are compatible with any MULTOS
card, regardless of which company has manufactured the card or which
silicon chip is used. Applications on the card are kept totally
separate and independent by highly secure "firewalls."
-- A support infrastructure to ensure global acceptance of smart
cards. Revised rules and operating procedures for MasterCard members
will be available later this year.
-- A range of application development tools and protocols will be
provided in the third quarter 1997, to enable application developers
to produce products for MULTOS.
-- Compliance with industry standards: MULTOS is entirely compatible
with the EMV '96 standards related to integrated circuit cards for
payment systems created by Europay, MasterCard and Visa. MasterCard
credit and debit products implemented on MULTOS for the first quarter
1998 will be fully EMV compliant.
"MULTOS allows MasterCard and Mondex members to combine, for
example, the Mondex purse with their own products and services on a
single card - while being assured that the security and integrity of
each product or application is guaranteed by the firewalls that are a
unique feature of MULTOS," said Mondex President Michael Keegan.
"This is a great step forward for the financial services industry.
This means that, for the first time, card issuers can use the
security, reliability and flexibility of the smart card to deliver a
range of products and services to their customers - securely and
economically, allowing the consumer to carry fewer, more useful
cards."
MasterCard International, a payments company with one of the
world's most recognized brands, is dedicated to helping more than
23,000 financial institutions around the world offer consumers a
variety of payment options. MasterCard remains focused on helping
shape the future of money by expanding acceptance of its global
brands (MasterCard(R), Maestro(R) and Cirrus(R), the world's largest ATM
network; MasterCard also owns 51 per cent of electronic cash leader
Mondex International) and maintaining reliable, secure networks
facilitating global value exchange. MasterCard has 400 million
credit and debit cards that are accepted at more than 13 million
acceptance locations worldwide. In 1996, gross dollar volume
generated exceeded $550 billion. MasterCard can be reached through
its World Wide Web site at http://www.mastercard.com .
-0-
Note: On Thursday, May 15 at 9 a.m. EST, MasterCard's long-term
chip card strategy and the MULTOS technology will be announced during
a teleconference call. Participants can join the call by dialing
800-553-0272 in the U.S. and 612- 332-0523 outside the U.S.
MasterCard Launches Global Smart Card Platform May 15, 1997
CONTACT:
MasterCard International
Marianne Fulgenzi, 914/249-5443
Julie Jacobs, Shandwick, 212/309-0620
--- end forwarded text
-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/
