LAS VEGAS, May 15, 2001 — Microsoft Corp. today announced it is licensing its Windows® for Smart Cards Toolkit source code (operating system plus development tools) to major customers and technology providers. At the same time, Microsoft has also submitted the code to a major standards body, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), in an effort to promote an open software standard for smart card manufacturers, software developers and customers. The announcement was made at the Cardtech/Securetech CTST 2001 conference in Las Vegas.
This news follows an announcement made earlier this month that Microsoft, via a
“shared source”
philosophy, is taking steps to give customers, industry partners and developers greater access to the core building blocks of Windows while safeguarding the intellectual property that will allow for continued innovation.
To date, Microsoft has released three products for the smart card industry: Windows for Smart Cards 1.0 for network security, Windows for Smart Cards 1.1 for GSM telephones, and Window for Smart Cards 2.0 for banking. Microsoft has trained more than 15,000 developers globally on Windows for Smart Cards, and more than 35,000 Windows for Smart Cards Toolkits have been distributed through retail chains and the Microsoft® MSDN® developer program.
“We feel this is a win-win for not only the entire smart card industry, but the computer industry as a whole,”
said Philippe Goetschel, director of Windows for Smart Cards at Microsoft.
“We believe our announcements will encourage innovation and more rapid expansion of smart cards by giving key providers access to native code for a one-time fee, and by offering our code to a standards body such as ETSI. As with our participation in helping create standards for technologies such as XML, SOAP and UDDI, we hope this technology will be a base upon which the industry can build.”
“We are pleased that Microsoft is extending its shared source initiative to Windows for Smart Cards,”
said Joerg Boerchert, vice president of Security and Chip Card ICs at Infineon Technologies North America Corp.
“Greater access to the source code will allow card manufacturers that use our high-performance controller ICs to develop solutions to meet the increasingly sophisticated requirements of the smart card market.”
“As a software developer focused on smart cards, time to market is one of our most critical challenges,”
said Francois Allal, president of Smart Card Integrators (SCI) Inc.
“We have had great success to date with Windows for Smart Cards. Having it become an open, widely supported industry standard will increase the breadth and depth of development tools we can use to develop our own unique applications.”
“JPMorgan is very excited about the first tests we’ve done on our at-sea deployment of Windows Powered smart cards in the Navy Cash system,”
said Patricia Preston, JPMorgan Treasury Solutions.
“This is a new and exciting application of smart card technology, and Windows for Smart Cards will be a critical part of its success.”
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“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
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