Intercede, a leading provider of smart card and identity management software, today announces that it has received an order in excess of £0.5m from Gemplus, a leading provider of smart card solutions, for a major European customer. Since 2003, Intercede and Gemplus have developed a strong partnership built around Intercede’s MyID Smart Card and Identity Management System, as part of Gemplus’ smart card-based corporate ID solution, SafesITe.

“This success demonstrates that our strategy of delivering Intercede’s MyID technology to major customers through channel partners is starting to produce significant sales revenues. The order reinforces the mutual importance of Gemplus as an Intercede partner and illustrates that our combined solutions have matured into a compelling offering to the market,” said Richard Parris, Chairman and Chief Executive, Intercede Group plc. “Using MyID with Gemplus smart cards, readers and middleware, enables organisations to securely identify and authenticate individuals in a practical and cost-effective manner. We look forward to working with Gemplus on other smart card projects for customers around the World”

Gemplus’ SafesITe solution incorporates Intercede’s MyID to provide a user-friendly method to deploy and manage smart cards for organisations choosing to adopt corporate ID cards with Microsoft PKI credentials. The corporate ID cards can be used to securely access business information and data from the organisation’s PCs, Networks, VPNs and Web resources as well as providing physical access to offices and buildings.

“Our technical partnership with Intercede has quickly grown into what is now a fruitful and successful business venture that allows both our companies to better engage the corporate ID market,” said Olivier Chavrier, Gemplus Director of Marketing for ID & Security. “This contract well reflects the growing interest and escalating need for smart card-based identity solutions in the enterprise.”

About Intercede

Intercede Group plc is a leading developer and supplier of smart card and identity management software traded on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange (IGP LN) (IGP.L). The Group’s MyIDTM software manages the secure registration, issuance and lifecycle of digital identities for a wide range of uses. This requires the integration of multiple technologies and products from many different vendors, including smart cards, biometrics, digital certificates and Open Platform applets.

Intercede’s customers cover a range of industries and include Athena Smart Card Systems, Barclays Bank, BEWAG, Department of Transport Ireland, Fujitsu, Lloyds TSB, the UK National Health Service (NHS), the Metropolitan Police, PinkRoccade, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ubizen and various US and UK Government agencies and departments.

For more information, visit Intercede’s home page at http://www.intercede.com.

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.