CASSIS International, INSIDE Contactless, Sagem Orga and Sagem Wireless Participate in Banka Koper NFC Field Trial

CASSIS International, INSIDE Contactless, Sagem Orga and Sagem Wireless Participate in Banka Koper NFC Field Trial

Aix-En-Provence and Paris, France, and Paderborn, Germany, February 11, 2010–An international consortium of payment and wireless industry leaders today announced their participation in a field trial being conducted by Banka Koper to bring SIM-based NFC mobile payments to Slovenia. CASSIS International, INSIDE Contactless, Sagem Orga and Sagem Wireless, in cooperation with Mobitel, the leading mobile service provider in Slovenia, have provided Banka Koper with the payment infrastructure and applications for this trial, which will run through June 2010.

Using their Mobitel handsets, participants in the trial will be able to make purchases at any of the merchant locations in Slovenia that accept MasterCard® and Maestro® PayPass™ contactless payment cards. Trialists will also benefit from a set of interactive mobile services based on “smart posters,” including contextual information, advertisements and coupons.

“This pilot gathers state of the art technologies from leaders in the industry,” said Gojmir Nabergoj, senior advisor at Banka Koper. “We aim to leverage smart card and mobile technologies to enable simpler and more secure payments, and to offer value added products which really makes a difference to their customers.”

Banka Koper’s payment service will be provisioned over-the-air onto a single-wire protocol SIM card. Both the MasterCard M/Chip application and Mobitel’s single-wire protocol NFC SIM card have been developed by Sagem Orga. The NFC-compliant Mobitel handset, manufactured by Sagem Wireless, incorporates INSIDE’s MicroRead® NFC solution, which handles communication with NFC terminals, tags and other NFC handsets, and also includes INSIDE’s Wave-Me™ applet for interaction with smart posters.

“Mobitel has extensive experience of innovative mobile services, especially in the field of payment,” said Jagodič Marko, service unit manager at Mobitel. “Thanks to our industrial partners we were able to create a new experience of mobile payment.”

Application and SIM card life cycle management is performed over-the-air by CASSIS MobileMatrix, a telco and commercial-grade trusted service management (TSM) solution. CASSIS also provide the certified payment user-interface and smart poster management based on the award-winning PosterMatrix software platform.

“We are glad to work with Banka Koper, a consistent innovator in banking services,” said Jean-Philippe Betoin, head of Europe at CASSIS International. “This project again proves the maturity of the GSMA PayBuyMobile initiative. Mobitel and Banka Koper are demonstrating that NFC is a deployable technology.”

Charles Walton, executive vice president at INSIDE Contactless commented: “Banka Koper is one of the most technologically advanced banks in Slovenia, and we are pleased to have been invited to participate in this NFC trial, which is further demonstration of INSIDE’s technological know-how and commitment to NFC payment and application solutions.”

Cyril Caillaud, NFC product line manager at Sagem Wireless said: “All the analyst and market evidence indicates that the adoption of emerging NFC applications in the consumer handset market is set to grow rapidly in 2010. The trial of these new connected services by Banka Koper and Mobitel will really demonstrate the benefits of fast, secure contactless payment. We’re delighted to be delivering the device that will connect the consumer with these mobile payments and help drive the take-up of NFC technology in the future.”

About CASSIS International

CASSIS International is a leading end-to-end security solutions and trusted service provider of smart card innovation, technology and services. Founded in 2002, the company supplies and manages a secure ecosystem of applications and platforms for its clients to register and process smart cards and other chip-enabled devices, enabling service providers to safely and conveniently deliver multiple applications to their customers.

CASSIS serves a global client base from its operations in Singapore, Aix-en-Provence, Kuala Lumpur, and Seoul, reaching out to leading mobile operators, financial institutions, transit operators, media companies and handset manufacturers worldwide. CASSIS has successfully launched many NFC services worldwide integrating its advanced OTA management and NFC eco-system solutions to major Visa International and MasterCard International issuers’ systems. For more information, please visit http://www.cassis-intl.com.

Press contact
Jean-Sébastien GRELLET-AUMONT
europe@cassis-intl.com
+33.4.88.14.07.01

About INSIDE Contactless

INSIDE Contactless is the global leader in open-standard contactless payment and Near Field Communication (NFC) semiconductors and software that power the next generation of payment, transit, identity and access control applications. The company’s intelligent, microprocessor-based platforms offer the flexibility to be embedded in smart cards, mobile phones and other consumer electronic devices, documents, badges and other items to support a wide range of innovative contactless applications and bring new levels of convenience to users. INSIDE has delivered more than 350 million contactless platforms worldwide to customers and partners that include many of the leading payment card and mobile phone manufacturers, systems integrators and financial institutions. With a portfolio of 60 families of patents, including several essential NFC patents, the company has played a leading role in NFC and contactless innovation. INSIDE is headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, France, with offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Warsaw, Seoul and Silicon Valley. For more information, please visit http://www.insidecontactless.com.

Press contact
Patrick Corman
patrick@cormancom.com
+1 (650) 326-9648

Company contact
Geraldine Sauniere
gsauniere@insidefr.com
+33 (0) 4 42 39 33 01

About Sagem Orga

Sagem Orga is a global leader in the smart card industry. Its portfolio includes hardware, software, consulting and services, all focused on smart cards for the telecommunications, health, identification and banking sectors. As a subsidiary of Sagem Sécurité (Safran group), the world’s No. 1 in identification, Sagem Orga offers comprehensive integrated solutions designed to secure the digital and mobile community. The company has a workforce of over 2,100 people around the world and production facilities incorporating the latest technology in Germany, Brazil, Russia, Mexico and India. http://www.sagem-orga.com

Press contact
Mareike Blumentrath
mareike.blumentrath@sagem-orga.com
+49 (0) 52 51 889 1216

About Sagem Wireless

Sagem Wireless provides customised connected lifestyle devices to leading consumer lifestyle brands and mobile network operators worldwide. Using technology innovation and customer insight as strategic tools in the product design process, Sagem Wireless develops a range of connected lifestyle devices personalised to the specific needs of different customer segments. With industry leading technology partners and its own R&D centres based in Europe and Asia, Sagem Wireless offers pre-requisite manufacturing expertise intrinsic to the product design process that relies on both flexibility and the highest level of quality to assure successful entry into new and existing markets. For more information, visit: http://www.sagemwireless.com

Press contact
Isabelle Jourdain
isabelle.jourdain@sagemwireless.com
+33 (0)6 87 71 20 95