MicroPass-Based Implementation Receives Type Approval from STAR Network

Aix-En-Provence, France, September 28, 2010–INSIDE Contactless, a leading provider of advanced, open-standard contactless chip technologies, today announced that its award-winning MicroPass® payment processor is the first implementation to receive type approval from the STAR® Network for its STAR CertiFlash™ contactless PIN debit security application. INSIDE’s MicroPass-based implementation is being used by STAR in a pilot of STAR CertiFlash that will run through the end of this year in preparation for the full commercial rollout of the technology.

STAR CertiFlash protects against fraud during contactless point-of-sale debit transactions by substituting a one-time card number for the consumer’s actual card number for each transaction. In addition to the one-time card number, STAR CertiFlash transactions are protected by additional security measures designed to greatly reduce exposure to transaction data compromise.

“Building upon our long-standing relationship with First Data, we worked very closely with the STAR Network to develop the first implementation of STAR CertiFlash, taking advantage of the flexibility of our MicroPass platform to support multiple applications,” said Charles Walton, executive vice president, payments, at INSIDE Contactless.

STAR CertiFlash will be made available to all STAR member financial institutions, enabling them to offer advanced convenience and security to consumers on a variety of currently available payment devices–such as debit cards, prepaid cards, payment fobs and payment stickers–as well as in future mobile applications. STAR, a First Data company, is one of the United States’ leading EFT networks with more than two million retail and ATM locations.

“INSIDE is the first to implement the STAR CertiFlash application. They are an important technology partner for First Data, which has already worked with them on several important contactless payments projects,” said Julie Saville, vice president, product management, for the STAR Network. “We designed our patent-pending one-time card number generation system and the other security measures to address payment card industry concerns over fraud, and it is our hope that it opens the door to more widespread use of contactless technology in the cash payment market, as well as serving as the gold standard for the evolution of debit payments.”

The MicroPass intelligent payment platform is designed to power open standard contactless and dual-interface bank card payments along with other value-added applications in all global regions. Based upon a RISC architecture and optimized to the demanding requirements of contactless transactions, each of the MicroPass family of products is designed to meet the demands of issuer organizations in the bank card and mobile payments, transit, ID and access control markets.

About INSIDE Contactless

INSIDE Contactless leads the market in open-standard contactless innovation. The company has delivered more than 400 million contactless platforms worldwide, and its contactless payment and Near Field Communication (NFC) solutions power the next generation of payment, transit, identity and access control applications. INSIDE’s work in contactless standards and its 65 families of patents, including essential NFC patents, play a leading role in establishing industry direction. INSIDE is headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, France, with offices in Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, Warsaw, Seoul and San Francisco. For more information, please visit http://www.insidecontactless.com.

Contacts

For INSIDE Contactless

Patrick Corman
Corman Communications, LLC
(650) 326-9648
patrick@cormancom.com
http://www.cormancom.com

Karim Rhalimi
LEWIS PR
Tel: +33 1 55 31 98 11
KarimR@lewispr.com

INSIDE company contact

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

For First Data

Nancy Etheredge
First Data
(402) 222-6214
nancy.etheredge@firstdata.com