 U.S.
Senator Arlen Specter talks smart cards with Gemplus at its Pennsylvania
facility
Luxembourg, Horsham, PA, May 17, 2004 - Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext:
LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's leading provider of smart card
solutions, today reports the outcome of a visit by U.S. Senator Arlen Specter to
Gemplus's Pennsylvania facility where the discussions focused on the growing
need for smart cards within the federal government for secure building and
information access.
Senator Arlen Specter, who sits on the Appropriations Department of the
Homeland Security subcommittee, called for smart card use to improve processes
for border and information security in America:
"We live in a very uncertain world where we need to identify people. It
is can sometimes appear intrusive to be stopped and searched at an airport.
There has to be a better way to identify people and simplify the security
process at airports, for example, so it isn't unduly intrusive," said
Senator Arlen Specter, during his visit to Gemplus. "The security and
applicability that the smart card provides is outstanding and I'm pleased to
have been of some help on the government procurement side of things to move it
forward."
The U.S. government has embraced the smart card for its strong security,
advanced processing powers, and its ability to control access to private
identification data. There are many ongoing or planned smart credentialing
programs within federal agencies.
During his tour of Gemplus's facility, Senator Arlen Specter met employees
and witnessed first-hand the secure processes by which smart cards are produced.
In operation since 1995, Gemplus's Montgomeryville, PA manufacturing facility is
Visa, MasterCard, and ISO 9001, 9002, and 14000 certified, making it secure, as
well as safe, healthy, and environmentally friendly. Gemplus has shipped more
than 106 million smart cards from the Pennsylvania facility to date. With five
offices in the U.S., including its local Pennsylvania facilities that employ
approximately 200 people, Gemplus is committed to the local economy and its
employees.
Commenting on his visit, Senator Arlen Specter said: "I was delighted to
see the secure operations involved in manufacturing smart cards and to see so
many good jobs here in Gemplus's Pennsylvania facility. Gemplus has a real
important product because security and convenience are the waves of the future
and this technology is at the center of them."
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 2002: Gartner Dataquest, 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:
Kerry Butler
Gemplus Americas PR Manager
Tel : +1 (215) 390 2840
Email: kerry.butler@gemplus.com
Larry Greenberg
Edelman - New York
Tel: +1 (212) 704 8277
Email: lawrence.greenberg@edelman.com
©2004 Gemplus. All rights reserved. Gemplus, and the
Gemplus logo are trademarks and service marks of Gemplus S.A. and are registered
in certain countries. All other trademarks and service marks, whether registered
or not in specific countries, are the property of their respective owners.
Some of the statements contained in this release constitute
forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our
future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties,
and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of
activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future
results, levels of activities, performance, or achievements expressed or implied
by such forward-looking statements. Actual events or results may differ
materially. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the
forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results,
levels of activity, performance or achievements. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those estimated by the forward-looking
statements contained in this release include, but are not limited to: trends in
wireless communication and mobile commerce markets; our ability to develop new
technology, and the effects of competing technologies developed and expected
intense competition generally in our main markets; profitability of our
expansion strategy; challenges to or loss of our intellectual property rights;
our ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships in our major
businesses; our ability to develop and take advantage of new software and
services; and the effect of future acquisitions and investments on our share
price. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the
accuracy and completeness of such forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of this
release. We are under no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements
after this date to conform such statements to actual results or to reflect the
occurrence of anticipated results.
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