Fujitsu, ICL and Amdahl Endorse MULTOS for Smart Card Solutions
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 1998--Fujitsu Ltd, ICL and Amdahl Corporation, core members of the Fujitsu Group of information systems, services and solutions providers, announced today that they are incorporating MULTOS, the leading industry multi-application operating system, into their smart card solutions. The companies, which together articulated the Fujitsu Group's Global Smart Card Vision last year, have also joined MAOSCO, the industry-wide consortium formed in May 1997 to drive the adoption and development of MULTOS.
MULTOS is a high security, open system for smart cards that enables card issuers to create a customer specific card, bringing together a number of applications onto one card.
The Fujitsu Group will be actively supporting and promoting global market adoption of MULTOS, as well as developing new MULTOS compliant applications and services, and migrating its current smart card solutions to MULTOS. This will include ICL's multi-application and cross-industry smart card system, ''SmartCity'', which is installed in 40 locations throughout the world and the ''Amdahl Mondex Solution'' which is being adopted by clients worldwide to support Mondex implementations.
In joining MAOSCO, the Fujitsu Group brings its collective expertise in smart card systems, application development, consultancy, systems integration and end-to-end customer implementations to the consortium.
Nick Habgood, Chief Executive of the MAOSCO consortium said ''We are delighted to welcome the Fujitsu Group, which stands for advanced technology and quality around the world, to the consortium. With Fujitsu on board, alongside fellow member, Hitachi, the consortium's systems solutions expertise is outstanding. It's also true to say that today's announcement adds weight to the argument that Japanese industry is lining up behind MULTOS.''
Yuji Hirose, Fujitsu Board Member said ''We believe that multi-application capabilities hold the key to global growth and acceptance of smart card-based solutions, bringing considerable benefits to a wide range of industries which extend well beyond the traditional and new payment products to include, among others, retail, government, defence, education, and transportation applications.
''We see MULTOS, with its leading multi-application technology, as instrumental in driving world-wide market adoption of smart card solutions. We believe MULTOS offers a combination of high security, low cost and interoperability, and as such, we are committing to it as a global industry standard, as well as migrating our current and future solutions and services to the operating system.''
Tim Escudier, Divisional President responsible for ICL's Smart Card Program said ''We already have a strong presence in the smart card market place and joining the MAOSCO consortium is directly compatible with our strategy and commitment to the introduction of standards to support advanced multi-application environments. ICL's Smart City solution is already hugely successful in existing multi-application environments world-wide and we are now building and will be offering a MULTOS based version, as well as new MULTOS compliant applications, to those customers seeking further openness and interoperability.''
Joseph Casola, General Manager of the Amdahl SmartCard Group said ''We recognize the important business leverage multi-application smart cards give our customers. We're now investing to make our Amdahl Mondex Solution fully MULTOS compliant. We'll continue investing in solutions and services to enable our customers to rapidly offer multi-application card capabilities.''
Nick Habgood of MAOSCO said ''Global support of the MULTOS operating system really is gathering momentum. As the recent Ovum Report commented 'MULTOS is a working solution and the choice for financial systems. MULTOS is approaching maturity. A number of card fabricators are already delivering MULTOS-compliant cards to customers. Its strong security model, efficient use of card resources and the stability of the specification will appeal to financial systems developers.'''
For further information please contact:
Nick Habgood/Hugh Kingdon
MAOSCO
Tel: +44 (0) 171 557 5000
Email: Hugh.Kingdon@multos.com
multos.com
Andrew Neill Shelley Facius
For the Fujitsu Smart Card Group Firefly
Tel: +44 (0) 1753 555313 Tel: +44 (0) 171 381 4505
Email: a.neill@X400.icl.co.uk Email: sfacius@firefly.co.uk
Walter Zenko
Amdahl Corporation
Tel: +44 171 600 0542
Email: Walter_Zenko@dmr.com
Gabriel Randlshofer
COMMcreativ
Tel: +1 4989 502 2755
Email: Gabriele_Randlshofer@notes.amdahl.com
Issued on behalf of MAOSCO by:
Andrew Millington/Kate Bishop
Shandwick
Tel +44 (0) 171 329 0096
Email: kbishop@Shandwick.com
About MAOSCO
MAOSCO is an industry wide consortium which was formed in May 1997 to drive the adoption of MULTOS as an industry standard and to manage its on-going development. Initial members of the consortium include: American Express, DNP, Hitachi, Keycorp, MasterCard International and Mondex International, Motorola and Siemens.
Mondex International and MasterCard International are committed to MULTOS and collectively represent over 400,000,000 cardholders worldwide.
American Express joined MAOSCO in May 1998 and intends to use MULTOS as a preferred platform for its multi-applications card products.
The consortium members are the ''guardians'' of the MULTOS specification which is openly licensed as a global platform for multi-application smartcards.
About MULTOS
MULTOS is a multi-application operating system for smartcards. It will be available on a non-proprietary 'open systems' basis to ensure that it becomes standard for smartcards in all sectors including finance, retail, travel, media and telecommunications.
About FUJITSU
Fujitsu Limited is a leading provider of information technology products and solutions for the global marketplace. Founded in Japan in 1935 as a telephone equipment maker, the Fujitsu Group had consolidated revenues of $37.7 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998. With over 500 group companies, including Amdahl and ICL, Fujitsu is one of the world's largest suppliers of computers and information systems solutions, telecommunications and semiconductor products, software and services. The Fujitsu Group has over 180,000 employees worldwide and operations in more than 100 countries. Home page:http://www.fujitsu.co.jp/index-e.html
In concert with ICL and Amdahl, Fujitsu offers top-level products, support and services to meet the demanding requirements of the multi-application smart card market. With everything from cards, associated hardware, application and systems software and services through to the provision of total solutions.
About ICL
ICL is a leading supplier of IT systems and services. Operating in over 70 countries and employing over 19,000 people, the Group's revenues for 1997 were (British Pounds) 2,477.1 million generating a pre-tax profit of (British Pounds) 30.0 million. The company implements IT systems for major projects and provides innovative services to a range of industries covering amongst others, retail, finance, travel, telecoms and utilities together with education, local and central government sectors. Its services include outsourcing, helpdesks, network services, inter/intranets, electronic commerce, interactive kiosks, smart card systems, digital cities and web sites. ICL plans to relist on the stock market in 2000. Home page: icl.com
About Amdahl
Amdahl Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited, provides integrated enterprise computing solutions designed to meet the needs of the leading, most compute-intensive environments around the world. Amdahl has over 25 years of experience with large-scale computing solutions and client/server technology. The company supports heterogeneous architectures found in mission-critical customer environments that blend MVS(R), UNIX(R) and Windows NT(R) operating systems. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Amdahl combines hardware and software products and services methods with best-of-breed offerings to create customised solutions that help clients gain a competitive advantage in their industries. Home page: amdahl.com
Ovum Report
The Ovum Report ''The Balance of Power: and Opportunity in the New Smart Card Market'' published in May 1998, explains why the new market is predicted on standards for interoperability, how technology will enable the new market, and how it will be driven by the various smart card applications and the partnerships that will bring them to market.
Ovum is an independent information technology and telecommunications analyst group providing high quality authoritative information and advice on key market, technical and regulatory developments. Ovum funds its own research and accepts no sponsorship from vendors or interest groups.
A press white paper on the smart card market is available from Ovum free of charge to journalists from the press office at www.ovum.com. |
