Identity, Security, Payments, Biometrics, Smart Cards and Authentication News

INSIDE debuts new chips

Monday, March 10, 2008

INSIDE Contactless announced a new micrprocessor platform designed to bring new contactless applications to mainstream markets in the U.S. and elsewhere. The two two initial product offerings are intended for contactless payment applications. The MicroPass 4000 product suite is designed to add applications beyond payments to a range of applications, including transit fare systems, access control, loyalty programs, as well as a lightweight identification applications.

The INSIDE MicroPass 4000 product suite has been built upon the MicroPass L4-1G and L4-2G products, which have been utilized by more than 25 issuers to deploy more than 35 million cards in 2006 and 2007. The MicroPass 4000 payment platform was designed to meet the multi-payment brand and multi-application requirements of the U.S., Canadian and other contactless payment markets.


The MicroPass 4002 supports the Discover Zip contactless payment application, while the dual-brand MicroPass 4003 supports both MasterCard and Visa contactless payment applications. Flexible packaging options enable manufacturers to purchase MicroPass 4000 solutions in multiple configurations, including wafer, module, and inlay forms for use in card, fob, mobile handset, sticker, and ticket form factors.

The MicroPass 4000 product suite shares a common architecture featuring a fast, low-power RISC microprocessor, operating system, optimized hardware computing resources, and data management support capabilities. Each product is configured to for specific mass market applications such as contactless payments, retail/gift cards, access control, transit, ID, or other emerging uses. Designed to be embedded in plastic credit and debit cards – in standard, mini, and fob form factors – so that a wave of the card is all that it takes to make a payment.

The INSIDE Contactless MicroPass 4002 and MicroPass 4003 products are available now in production quantities. [end] 

The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has published a white paper examining how the transit industry can best make use of NFC technology.

“One of the major challenges facing transit agencies today is how to capitalize on the ever-growing popularity of mobile phones with a solid mobile strategy,” said Transportation Council Chairman Craig Roberts. “This white paper builds on the knowledge base developed in earlier white papers to foster a greater understanding of NFC technology, explain its role in the transit industry, and shed light on key issues facing the transit industry in developing a mobile strategy.”

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Boston-based Revosys has announced that it will implement NFC payment processing in its upcoming “Interactive V5 In-Taxi” advertising system.

According to Revosys, the upgraded Interactive V5 will allow passengers to pay for fares with NFC-enabled mobile phones, contactless credit and debit cards, and traditional magnetic stripe cards.

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Collis has announced the launch of its Visa Mobile Payment Specification (VMCPS) Test Suite, enabling the functional testing of UICC or secure element-based contactless mobile payments applications.

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Inside Secure has launched a free, open-source NFC protocol stack for Google’s new Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” mobile operating system.

According to Inside, Open NFC 4.3.3 is compliant with the Ice Cream Sandwich release Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) for NFC, and supports all the latest Android NFC features, including Android Beam and WiFi Direct pairing connection.

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Sprint Nextel has announced that it will make NFC a standard feature on Long Term Evolution (LTE) smart phones, reports Light Reading Mobile.

Sprint, a launch partner of Google Wallet, told LR Mobile that they will include NFC chips in all LTE smart phones, excluding free phones and low end models, in order to “aggressively promote contactless technology.”

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In Europe, the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) and EPASOrg has developed a new global standard to help accommodate changes in new payment technologies, according to SupermarketNews.com

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