International Smart Card Leader Appoints Timothy Wright as Director of North America Conventional Card Sales

LUXEMBOURG and HORSHAM, Pa., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/–Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294–GEM and Nasdaq: GEMP), the world’s leading provider of smart card solutions, today reaffirms its commitment to the North American conventional card market and appoints Timothy Wright as Director of North American Conventional Card Sales.

Gemplus is ramping-up its North American conventional card business to take a life of its own, with local management, dedicated sales and technical teams, and a local manufacturing facility with high-volume production capacity. Globally recognized for its leadership in smart cards, Gemplus expects this decision to positively impact both its conventional and smart card customers in North America by enhancing its ability to provide high- quality innovative solutions at a low cost. To meet this need, Gemplus recently appointed Timothy Wright as Director of North America Conventional Card Sales. In this capacity, Wright will oversee Gemplus’ conventional card sales and customer service activities and operations based in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania.

Wright previously served as Vice President of Sales for De La Rue Brand in the United States from 2000 to 2002 and Sales and Marketing Manager of Secure Card Products for Dainippon Ink & Chemicals Inc. in New Jersey from 1996 to 2000. Prior to joining Dainippon Ink & Chemicals Inc., Wright spent nine years (1985–1992, 1994–1996) in Japan where he held numerous international marketing management positions in Tokyo and became the first foreign student to earn a Masters degree in Law at Niigata University. Wright also received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Timothy Wright is a current member of the International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) Board of Directors and is actively involved in a number of card industry standards groups.

Gemplus carries over 25 years of conventional card production expertise with the acquisition of DataCard’s conventional card manufacturing assets in 1995. Its Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania production facility is ISO 9002 and ISO 1400 certified, making it safe, healthy, and good for the environment. Gemplus also offers customers an in-house service bureau for embossing, encoding, thermal graphics, ink-jet printing, PIN generation, bar codes, inserting, value-added packaging, and mailing.

Gemplus is widely recognized for its high-quality production and printing and on-time delivery of its conventional card products, which include PVC (traditional plastic card body), GemLucence (translucent PVC card body), and HoloGem (PVC card body covered with foil to produce a holographic or mirror effect).

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 2002: Gartner-Dataquest, Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor.) It has the largest R&D team, unrivalled experience, and an outstanding track record of technological innovation.

Gemplus helps its clients offer an exceptional range of portable, personalized solutions that bring security and convenience to people’s lives. These include Mobile Telecommunications, Public Telephony, Banking, Retail, Transport, Identity, WLAN, Pay-TV, e-government, access control, and a wealth of other applications. Gemplus’ revenue in 2002 was 787 million Euros. http://www.gemplus.com

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