Awards Acknowledge Atmel’s Security Expertise

ROUSSET, France, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/–Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced today that its AT90SC9608RC and AT90SC9616RC crypto- controllers have been granted Common Criteria certification to EAL4+™ (Augmented to AVA-VLA.4. This vulnerability assessment corresponds to today’s highest known proven resistance against any security attack).

Both products, developed primarily for the high security smart card markets, feature 96K ROM with 8K and 16K EEPROM respectively and 3K RAM. They share the same common features of Atmel’s secureAVR™ family including its outstanding 8-bit/16-bit RISC CPU performance, and a host of security mechanisms, including firewalls and two cryptographic co-processors, one for asymmetric algorithms (RSA, DSA, Elliptic curves) and one for DES/Triple DES. These products have been designed into banking, government and Pay-TV applications where high security tamper-resistant designs are a pre-requisite for selection.

The certifications have been awarded by the French Administration, Direction Centrale de la Securite des Systemes d’Information (DCSSI). Common Criteria certification is rapidly becoming recognised as the worldwide standard for smart card security, especially for government applications.

Ian Duthie, Atmel’s Smart Card IC Marketing Manager, commented “These additions to our growing list of Common Criteria certifications re-enforce Atmel’s position as a leading suppliers of high security Smart Card ICs. The AT90SC9608RC was selected earlier this year as the silicon choice for the silicon platform for the development contract of the next generation for chip- based French bank cards, awarded to Sagem by Groupement des Cartes Bancaires “CB.” Sagem™ has developed the new generation card to meet the latest Europay® MasterCard® Visa® (EMV) banking specifications for credit and debit, incorporating the more secure option of Dynamic Data Authentication (DDA). A key requirement for Groupement des Cartes Bancaires “CB” is that the product meets EAL4 Augmented certification.”

About Atmel

Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, California with manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets worldwide, advanced logic, mixed-signal, non-volatile memory and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system-level integration semiconductor solutions using CMOS, BiCMOS, SiGe and high-voltage BCDMOS process technologies.

NOTE: Atmel® and combinations thereof and is a registered trademarks and secureAVR is a trademark of Atmel or its subsidiaries ARM® is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. Sagem? is a trademark of Sagem SA. MasterCard® is a registered trademark and Europay™ France is a trademark of MasterCard International Inc. Visa® registered of Visa International Service Association. Common Criteria® is a registered trademark and EAL4+? is a trademark of Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme (CCEVS). Terms and product names in this document may be the trademarks of others.

Information:

For more information on the AT90SC9608RC, go to: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=2960

For more information on the AT90SC9616RC, go to: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=2616

Press Contacts:

Tamara Van der Pyl,
Smart Card ICs MarCom Manager,
Tel: +33 4 42 53 60 52
Email: tvanderpyl@atmel.fr

Veronique Sablereau,
Corporate Communications Manager–Europe,
Tel: +33 1 30 60 70 68
Email: veronique.sablereau@atmel.com

Clive Over,
Director of Public Relations–USA and Asia,
Tel: +1 408-451-2855
Email: cliveover@atmel.com