Westport, Connecticut, January 19, 2005–ASK Smart Paper ID, a solution for contactless travel documents, has been selected on January 12th by the US Government Printing Office (GPO) for the first phase of the American electronic passport project. Passport test samples and readers are currently being delivered, these products will be formally evaluated within two months.

ASK solution for the US ePassport is based on an ICAO compliant contactless chip with 72 KBytes E_PROM memory enabling the storage of the facial picture and other biometrics elements. The electronic feature is embedded in the cover with a maximum thickness of 700µm and compatible with the existing passport manufacturing process.

ASK Smart Paper ID has received a Sesame award in November 2004 for its unique and innovative technology. “ASK vision was that contactless technology would be selected in more and more applications in the future. This contract proves that dedicating all ASK resources to contactless since its inception was the right decision ” says Georges Kayanakis, CEO at ASK.

Based on a silver ink printed antenna and a contactless chip mounted by flip-chip, this technology has been proven in the field for several years with over 50 million contactless smart cards, tickets and RFID labels. It provides the thinnest packaging for eID documents, new security features, tamper evidence. Convenience, robustness, durability and low cost constitute key features of SPID.

About ASK:

Founded in 1997, ASK is today the leading supplier of a comprehensive range of contactless cards, tickets, RFID tags and readers, complying with ISO and EPC standards. They address the mass transit, access control and e-government ID markets as well as the supply chain and logistics market. 50 million RFID cards, tickets and labels are already in use worldwide. Manufacturing is located in Sophia-Antipolis, France. Local offices are based in Paris, Singapore, Taiwan and Westport, USA.