Gemplus Receives First Volume Order for 64K Smart Cards for the U.S. Federal Government

Gemplus Receives First Volume Order for 64K Smart Cards for the U.S. Federal Government

LUXEMBOURG and WASHINGTON, D.C., November 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/–Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294–GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world’s leading provider of smart card solutions, today announces it has received an order from a tier one systems integrator to deliver 64K smart cards, marking the first volume order for high-end 64K smart cards for the U.S. Federal Government.

Scheduled to begin delivery in December 2004, the 64K smart cards will include both contact and contactless chip functionalities. These “hybrid cards” will be used by employees of several U.S. Federal agencies for both secure physical and logical access to government facilities. The increased 64K memory capacity will allow the agencies the flexibility to implement additional applications and functionality, such as biometrics.

“As the number one smart card provider in the U.S. and a leading ID solutions provider to countries around the world, Gemplus is proud to be supplying the first volume order of 64K smart cards for the U.S. Federal Government,” said Ernie Berger, President of Gemplus North America. “This endorses our ongoing commitment to the government market, following our success earlier this year as the first company to receive FIPS 140-2 validation for a 64K Java™ smart card and applet. We will continue to work closely with our government partners and internal team of security experts to develop and implement identity solutions to meet the government’s needs today and tomorrow.”

The 64K “hybrid card” is a part of Gemplus’s ‘SafesITe Government’ ID management system for the U.S. Government. To learn more about ‘SafesITe Government’, please visit the Gemplus booth #307 at Inside ID 2004 in Washington, D.C. from November 16-17.

About Gemplus

Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294–GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world’s leading player in the smart card industry in both revenue and total shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest (2004), Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor). It has sold over 4 billion smart cards.

With security at its core, and 2400 patents produced by its innovative R&D team, Gemplus delivers a wide range of portable, personalized solutions in areas including Identity, Mobile Telecommunications, Public Telephony, Banking, Retail, Transport, Healthcare, WLAN, Pay-TV, e-government, and access control.

Gemplus’ revenue in 2003 was 749 million Euros.