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To: Ausdauer who wrote (4174)	12/30/1998 1:43:00 PM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 60323

Ausdauer, To date at least I am unaware of the commercial use use of Flash in smart cards but this may change (see GemXpresso reference below). The traditional architecture of a microprocessor IC smart card chip is ROM (8 to 32KB) on which smart card manufacturers or integrators mask an Operating System, Read Write EEPROM (1KB to 16KB today) on which user files (including executables) and data is stored and a small amount of RAM. Crypto chips add a cryptographic coprocessor. The silicon must fit inside the form factor of a micromodule package governed by ISO 7816 specifications. When smart card memory size is referenced the reference is to the size of EEPROM. Principle manufacturers of smart card silicon are Siemens, SGS Thompson, Motorola, Hitachi, and TI. The article you reference about Atmel's new product is interesting in that the product employs a 32-bit processor. Virtually all of the microprocessor smart cards delivered in the last 10 years employ an 8-bit processor but 16-bit and 32-bit processors will be introduced in the next year. Earlier this year Gemplus introduced the GemXpresso RAD (Rapid Applet Development) environment which is a "smart card development platform based on Java Card 2.0 and 32-bit RISC processing, which enables developers to quickly bring applications to market". Not only was this the first 32-bit smart card but also the first smart card to employ flash memory instead of EEPROM. Gemplus cautions that this is a development environment and not (yet) a commercial product. More information on this product is available at: store.gemplus.com I believe that TI provided the silicon for GemXpresso RAD. - Eric -

To: Ausdauer who wrote (4174)	12/30/1998 5:46:00 PM
From: Rich Miani	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

OK, Aus, I'll bite. FWIW, I was discussing the smartcard with some friends this summer as we each tried to come up with the "next big thing".I thought that smartcards had excellent potential, but a lad who works at one the major credit card companies said the entry barriers were high here in the US due to <list of reasons I can't remember, here>. One argument that I do remember is that it is difficult to convince the vendor to add yet another card terminal to his limited counter space when there is little if no incentive. A limited trial of smart cards here in the US failed miserably, as there was little consumer interest. They just didn't see any upside to having a smart card. From what I remember , one of the biggest reasons European nations use the smart card is to discourage fraud in health-care, etc. So far, that's not as big a problem here as it is there( at least according to the article(s) I've read). This rambling disjointed opinion is worth what you paid for it...