Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Racom Systems (RCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gutterball who wrote (300)	9/9/1998 6:07:00 PM
From: Gutterball	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 468

MasterCard Unveils First Multi-Application Card Powered by MULTOS(TM); International Lifestyle Card(TM) is Showcased at Europay Conference in Cannes biz.yahoo.com CANNES, France, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Showcasing the unique functionality of the MULTOS(TM) operating system, MasterCard invited guests of the Europay International Banking Conference to add and delete a variety of applications via a PC interface to a MasterCard-branded smart card. The applications available for selection included MasterCard credit, Mondex electronic cash, secure building access and a MULTOS implementation of the French domestic payment application, B0' (B zero prime). The selection procedure highlighted the ability cardholders have to create the Lifestyle Card of their choice. Today's exhibition of the multi-application MasterCard card with a MULTOS chip underscored the reality of MULTOS for use by the payments industry. In addition, the exhibition highlighted MULTOS' ability to support both domestic and international payment applications, as well as applications from outside the financial services industry. ''The MasterCard card exhibited in Cannes is a true Lifestyle Card powered by MULTOS that can be adapted to meet the unique requirements of each individual cardholder. MasterCard is proud to be the first to present this technology as a marketplace reality,'' said G. Henry Mundt III, executive vice president, Global Deposit Access at MasterCard International. ''We also want our members to know that MasterCard is ready to support them with The Complete Chip Solution, our turnkey strategy for helping our members move their card portfolios to chip, the right platform for the 21st century.'' MULTOS allows applications to be dynamically and securely loaded onto a smart card. With MULTOS, not only can members load applications when the card is issued, but cardholders will be able to load or change applications after the card has been issued by going on-line to the card issuer, via telephone, the ATM or across the Internet. This allows applications and security upgrades to be introduced without reissuing cards, and for cardholders to ''customize'' their card with the applications they choose. Four Applications Demonstrated The exhibit in Cannes allowed attendees to load and delete their choice of three separate applications onto a MasterCard card already carrying the EMV-compliant MasterCard application, which will be permanently loaded onto all chip-based MasterCard credit cards. The three other applications demonstrated in Cannes were: 1) Mondex(TM) -- Mondex electronic cash was the first chip payment application offered by MasterCard. To date, Mondex licenses have been sold in 53 countries on five continents. Successful implementations of the Mondex electronic cash application have taken place with banks in Australia, the UK, Canada, Hong Kong and the United States. Mondex is the only globally interoperable electronic cash application in the market today. 2) B0' -- The use of B0', the French domestic payment application, in MasterCard's exhibit was designed to demonstrate one possible scenario for seamlessly migrating the 30 million smart cards in France from today's domestic chip platform to a global solution based on EMV standards. Using the MULTOS operating system, the French banks could offer multi-application cards carrying both B0' and the EMV-compliant MasterCard application, thus enabling the cards to be used for chip-based transactions both inside and outside of France. 3) Smart Card Secure Access -- Highlighting the fact that MULTOS also supports applications from outside the payments industry, Smart Card Secure Access, a building access control application from the Florida-based Greenwald Intellicard, Inc., was utilized in the exhibit. Secure access applications are currently viewed as key chip deliverables for government bodies around the world, including the U.S. Federal Government. ''Today in Europe there are a myriad of different domestic chip implementations being offered to cardholders. MasterCard and Europay can add value to this market by finding ways to enable these different chip applications to work around the world,'' Mundt said. ''One of the best ways of doing this today is to use MULTOS' multi-application capability to hold both domestic and global payment products on the same card. This approach delivers global functionality for their cards today, and gives the banks a transition period during which they can migrate toward the long-term, global solution of their choice.'' MasterCard International has the most comprehensive portfolio of payment brands in the world. With 23,000 member financial institutions, serving consumers in 220 countries and territories, MasterCard is the industry leader in quality and innovation. More than 600 million MasterCard(R), Maestro(R), Cirrus(R) and Mondex(TM) cards are accepted at more than 15 million locations worldwide. In 1997, gross dollar volume exceeded $600 billion. MasterCard can be reached through its World Wide Web site at mastercard.com. SOURCE: MasterCard International