European Commission funds smart card consortium, lead by Gemplus

R&D initiative "InspireD" set up to develop new standards for interoperable smart card technology

Luxembourg, 21 September 2004, Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's leading provider of smart card based solutions, today announces that the European Commission¹ has named it as leader of the largest consortium ever gathered for a cooperative research project in the Smart Card domain. Called "InspireD", the project will develop the new generation of smart card technology for Trusted Personal Devices (TPD). This embraces all kinds of secure portable devices, and allows users to connect to their preferred e-services wherever they are located. The EC has also granted funding for InspireD for a 3-year period.

The InspireD consortium comprises 16 of the leading industrial and academic stakeholders from the European Smart Card arena. Headed by Gemplus, the team includes representatives from ActivCard, ARTTIC, Atmel, Axalto, Everbee Networks, France Telecom, Gemplus, Giesecke & Devrient, Infineon, INRIA, NDS Technologies, Oberthur Card Systems, Orga, Philips, the Université Catholique de Louvain, and the University of Twente.

This is so far the only European Commission project exclusively dedicated to smart cards. It will create a new standard for open platforms for the entire smart card and security industry. All aspects of smart card technology will be studied, including the silicon component platform, the cryptography and security authentication protocols for data protection, operating systems, and the software application layers. This will enable a seamless integration of Trusted Personal Devices in many IT applications.

Smart card adoption is gaining speed as governments and corporate entities currently deploy a wealth of projects ranging from national identity to telecommunications, banking, e-commerce, and healthcare. With this growth comes the need to manage risk and ensure standards prevail as more solutions make use of smart card architecture. This initiative is the latest step taken to bring consistency, accuracy and openness to this industry. It will provide the best possible environment for industry players to develop the smart card technology platform to its full potential.

The European Commission has created seven key pillars around the development of an Information Society and Trust & Security is one of them. As the Information Society becomes more and more important to business and individuals, it is increasingly critical to ensure the security of both the infrastructure and the information that runs through it.

As a result of InspireD, users will see growing interoperability between a widening range of e-services of benefit to their daily lives, and they will be able to connect to them in an increasingly secure and intelligent environment.

Laurent Manteau, Gemplus and Christian Goire, Axalto, will present the aims and initiatives of the InspireD project during the e-Smart Conference, 22-24 September 2004, Sophia Antipolis, France.

(More information on the InspireD project - www.inspiredproject.com or www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_d/trust-security/projects.htm)

1.This project is supported by the European Commission within the 6th Framework Programme of The Information Society Technologies

About Gemplus 
Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world's leading player in the smart card industry in both revenue and total shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest (2003); Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor.) It has the largest R&D team, unrivalled experience, and an outstanding track record of technological innovation.

Gemplus offers an exceptional range of portable, personalized solutions that bring security and convenience to people's lives. These include Mobile Telecommunications, Public Telephony, Banking, Retail, Transport, Identity, WLAN, Pay-TV, e-government, access control, and a wealth of other applications.

Gemplus' revenue in 2003 was 749 million Euros.

www.gemplus.com

For more information, contact:

Jane Strachey
Corporate PR Manager, Gemplus
+ 33 4 42 36 46 61
jane.strachey@gemplus.com

Vanessa Clarke
Account Director, Edelman
Tel: +44 20 7344 1349
Mobile +44 7730 989 698
vanessa.clarke@edelman.com

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