Smartcards Get Smarter With New Chips From Motorola; New Chips Provide the Memory Required for Multi-Application Cards to Become a Reality, a Fact Not a Forecast July 3, 1998
EAST KILBRIDE, Scotland--(BUSINESS WIRE) via NewsEdge Corporation -- Consumers may soon be carrying fewer plastic cards in their wallets thanks to four new high-memory-capacity chips from Motorola.
Tailored to power smartcards in the card-payment and mobile telecommunications applications, these chips have up to 32K EEPROM. This high-memory capacity will enable card issuers to run multiple applications on one card at a cost comparable to today's single-application cards. The benefit to consumers is that they may soon have the ability to carry fewer cards that can do more for them.
The chips are being welcomed by smartcard manufacturers because of their potential to make multi-application cards a reality and to fulfil an immediate need for chips with higher memory capacity.
Fabien Thiriet, marketing manager for Schlumberger Cyberflex, for example, commented: "Venus is the ideal chip for the Activa series, our Java-based GSM smartcard implementation. Its key benefit over other similar products is its additional ROM, which means that the chip's EEPROM can be dedicated to user memory features (e.g., more phone numbers).
"In addition, this increased memory capacity will allow value-added services to exist in EEPROM, downloaded to the SIM card using the SIM Application Toolkit."
It has been found that competitive EEPROM products have suffered from too little ROM, causing valuable EEPROM memory to be used up with portions of the operating system.
The chips are based on Motorola's proven M68HC05 smart-chip core, and are being produced on 8 inch (200mm) wafers -- an industry first for smart chips -- using 0.4 to 0.27 micron process geometries. This combination is a powerful one -- increased production capacity is facilitated by the larger-size wafers, while the reduced geometries allow even more features to be incorporated onto each chip.
Daniel Hoste, general manager for the Smart Information Transfer division, said: "These chips provide card manufacturers with the power to make multiple applications on a smartcard a reality today rather than a forecast for tomorrow.
"For some time now there has been speculation as to when smartcards will truly become part of everyday life. This new family of chips will accelerate this process because they will help make smartcards more flexible and efficient, and card users more productive."
The chips' memory mix (a combination of EEPROM, ROM and RAM), easy-to-use EEPROM, advanced memory-partitioning capability and enhanced security appear to be significant influencing factors in card manufacturers' enthusiasm for the new family.
Hoste continued: "Interest in these chips has been huge. It's what the market has been waiting for. In addition to the advanced features offered we have maintained the low power required for cards used in GSM handsets and a cost-competitive price."
Security features are essential in any smart chip, and as chips become more powerful their importance escalates. Motorola has implemented a variety of advanced new security features to its family of smartcard chips.
While most of these features are proprietary, one includes a special shield devised to prevent external visual examination, and another is a superior memory-partitioning capability designed to make each application secure and distinct so that multiple applications on a chip become viable.
A growing trend in electronic-purse and electronic-commerce applications is the use of public key cryptography for enhanced security of transactions. A dedicated crypto processor is essential to perform such functions in an acceptable time.
The new Motorola MSC1014 and MSC1114 are designed to perform the complex calculations required for modern public and private key cryptography for enhanced security of transactions. The hardware crypto co-processor option offers a modular encryption unit with phase locked loop and random number generation on board, as well as a firmware library of routines.
De La Rue commented: "The new crypto chips with large memory capability from Motorola can now easily accommodate multiple applications and will be perfect for emerging open platforms such as Java Card. Their enhanced security features make them particularly well suited to the payment-systems market as do the fast personalization times they offer."
Editor's Notes
Specification notes
There are two types of chips in the 05 family: those with a dedicated cryptography engine, the MSC1014 and MSC1114; and those without, the MSC1010 and MSC1110.
The former are targeted at the payments-systems sector and the latter at payment systems and telecommunications. All products are based on the industry-standard M68HC05 low-power microprocessor core. The chip specifications are as follows:
Telecommunications and payment-systems market MSC1010: 16K EE, 32K ROM, 1.6K RAM MSC1014: 32K EE, 32K ROM, 1.6K RAM Payment systems MSC1110: 16K EE, 32K ROM, 1.6K RAM with crypto MSC1114: 32K EE, 32K ROM, 1.6K RAM with crypto#}
Motorola is accepting software from major customers for the devices now, full production will follow.
For development tools, Motorola will offer an instruction set simulator and a synthesized emulator; both tools providing Windows- based graphical user interfaces. The simulator is based on Hiware's HC05 simulation environment; extensions to the core simulator are supplied by Motorola to provide smartcard-specific simulation.
The synthesized emulator is based on Motorola's standard MMDS05 (Motorola Modular Development System).
Motorola
The Smart Information Transfer division is a business within Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector, and is one of the world's leading suppliers of microprocessor chips for smartcards, with shipments of more than 300 million units to date.
As the world's No. 1 producer of embedded processors, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector offers multiple DigitalDNA solutions that enable its customers in the consumer, networking-and-computing, transportation, and wireless-communications markets, to create new business opportunities. Motorola's semiconductor sales were $8 billion in l997.
In the global marketplace, Motorola also is one of the leading providers of wireless communications, advanced electronic systems, components and services. Major equipment businesses include cellular telephone, two-way radio, paging and data communications, personal communications, automotive, defence and space electronics, and computers. Corporate sales in 1997 were $29.8 billion.
NOTE: More information on the smartcard market can be found on the Motorola's Web site at mot.com. Photographs available.
CONTACT: Motorola, East Kilbride | Debbie Mackay, +44 1355 566 408 | fax: +44 1355 242 743 | or | U.S. and Americas Press Contact: | Capital Relations Inc. | Audrey Armstrong/Lisa Iruguin, 408/354-9053 | 805/230-8281 | fax: 408/395-8063 | 805/494-0780 | e-mail: audrey@caprel.com | or | Europe/Asia Press Contact: | Hill & Knowlton | Clare Lucraft/Niyi Akeju, +44 171 413 3145/3014 | fax: +44 171 413 3131 | e-mail: nakeju@hillandknowlton.com
[Copyright 1998, Business Wire] |
