Microsoft Tech-Ed IT Forum, Barcelona, November 21, 2006–Gemalto, a world leader in digital security, announced the winners of SecureTheWeb 2006 during an awards reception at the Microsoft Tech-Ed IT Forum in Barcelona. The worldwide contest awarded $30,000 in prizes for the best new development in secure personal devices for Web services, such as smart cards and one time passwords (OTPs). The contest was organized by Gemalto and sponsored by Microsoft as part of the SecureIT Alliance.

“These winners have demonstrated outstanding creativity and innovation in the use of two-factor authentication platforms to protect identities and data,” said Cedric Collomb, vice president, Network Identity Solutions, Gemalto. “It is exciting to be able to put a spotlight on these solutions and help get them to market faster for the benefit of the entire digital community.”

The winners are:

Gold award: Smart Pen Mouse

The top prize went to Hani Samuel, Egypt, team leader for “Smart Pen Mouse”. The Smart Pen Mouse is a pen-shaped mouse with a .NET smart chip inside which can be used as a pointing device. It’s a tiny ergonomic computer mouse that can be used to secure the user’s identity over the web. The user can securely sign web forms by simply handwriting his/her Personal Identity Number (PIN) using the Smart Pen Mouse. The Smart Pen Mouse verifies not just the PIN but also how it was written, which is the handwriting biometric. It realizes the ultimate level of security, three-factor authentication: “Something that you have,” the .NET smart chip inside the Smart Pen Mouse; “Something that you know,” the PIN; and “Something that you are,” the handwriting biometric. Team members received a check for $12,000.

Silver award: Embedded Smart Card Database Toolkit

The silver award went to Rod da Silva, Canada, team leader for “Embedded Smart Card Database Toolkit”

The Embedded Smart Card Database Toolkit provides a deployable data repository technology with an extremely small footprint. The solution provides ISAM–based, indexed data access, so data can be stored and retrieved quickly. It is zero-administration, so data files automatically grow and shrink (within administrator defined limits) as needed. Its design time tools allow for “compiled” database schemas and generated (i.e.; “typed”) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for added security and conciseness. Development becomes a lot easier because the Embedded Smart Card Database Toolkit provides a robust and concise on-card database engine that can be tuned to the needs of any application. Team members received a check for $8,000.

Bronze Award: OpenEapSmartcard.NET

The bronze award went to Pascal Urien, France, team leader for “OpenEapSmartcard.NET”

Urien and his team were inspired by the critical need for security for the deployment of the new generation of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), such as Wi-Fi, WiMax or Virtual Private Network. OpenEapSmartcard.NET is a Gemalto .NET card implementation of a device for access control providing a highly trusted computing environment. The card works in the Microsoft XP platform, and may be used in any network connection dealing with Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) as an advanced security feature, such as authenticating access to a Wi-Fi network. OpenEapsmartcard.NET is the first EAP implementation for Gemalto .NET cards. Team members received a check for $6,000.

Special recognition awards were given to Josef Novak, Czech Republic, team leader for “Trusted Peer2Peer Framework” and Alessandro Cilardo, Italy, team leader for “Identiva.” Each team received a check for $2,000.

About SecureTheWeb

SecureTheWeb was developed to stimulate innovation in the domain of secure Web applications and services using Gemalto Protiva™ and smart cards using .NET technology. Professional and student contestants were invited to develop working proofs of concept using these strong authentication devices in the areas of Web applications, protection of network identities, digital identity management, multimedia and others. Contest finalists demonstrated their exciting new solutions at the Microsoft TechEd IT Forum at the Gemalto booth. Winners were then chosen based on innovation, marketing appeal, ease of implementation, user-friendliness, compactness, cost-effectiveness, ease of market deployment, security and business potential.

About Protiva and .NET

Protiva™ is a revolutionary two-factor authentication product suite for protecting network identities and information based on Gemalto’s microprocessor-based smart card technology, which has proven its security robustness over decades. The Gemalto .NET card runs a streamlined version of the Microsoft .NET framework. It provides full cryptographic capabilities, customizable two-factor authentication and support for on-card services seamlessly within the Windows® environment. Support for Gemalto .NET cards is integrated into Windows Vista™, making it easy to deploy and seamless to use without requiring any additional software or middleware. Application developers use standard Microsoft .NET programming tools and interfaces, such as Visual Studio 2005®.

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is a leader in digital security with pro forma 2005 annual revenues of $2.2 billion, operations in 120 countries and 11,000 employees including 1,500 R&D engineers. The company’s solutions make personal digital interactions secure and easy in a world where everything of value–from money to identities–is represented as information communicated over networks.

Gemalto thrives on creating and deploying secure platforms, portable and secure forms of software in highly personal objects like smart cards, SIMs, e-passports, readers and tokens. More than a billion people worldwide use the company’s products and services for telecommunications, banking, e-government, identity management, multimedia digital rights management, IT security and other applications. Gemalto was formed in June 2006 by the combination of Axalto and Gemplus International S.A. For more information please visit http://www.gemalto.com.