Gemalto Receives Order for U.S. Electronic Passport

Washington, District of Columbia (ots/PRNewswire) - Gemalto
(Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO), a world leader in digital security,
announced today that the United States of America Government Printing
Office (GPO) placed its first order with the company, following
Gemalto's electronic passport technology qualification completion.
The GPO and U.S. Department of State evaluated the Gemalto solution
at their testing facilities and confirmed it fully satisfies the
agency's requirements for privacy protection, security, durability,
manufacturing yield, and transaction speed and communications
performance. The GPO, on behalf of the U.S. Department of State,
plans to incorporate the electronic capability in all new passports
to be issued in 2007. The United States produced over ten million
passports in 2005.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060804/221930 )

"This award comes at the end of Gemalto's successful completion of
an extensive qualification process," commented Ernie Berger,
president of Gemalto North America. "Winning this contract gives us
enormous satisfaction and we look forward to delivering the first
electronic passports to U.S. citizens, as we fully support the GPO in
this essential global security initiative. These new passports will
greatly enhance the travel experience for U.S. citizens by providing
effective, efficient and rapid passage through border control points
with an additional element of security."

The Gemalto electronic passport (e-passport) technology includes
the company's highly secure operating system software running in a
large capacity contactless microprocessor chip. The chip is embedded
in a module that is highly resistant to damage and then is integrated
into the passport booklet cover. Leveraging the company's 26 years of
smart card experience, the Gemalto e-passport solution has been
designed to provide superior durability and performance over the
passport's expected 10-year life span. Gemalto's e-passport
references include the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Norway,
Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia and Sweden.

Background information

To better protect travellers, streamline immigration processes and
improve the security of the passport booklet, the U.S. Department of
State and the GPO, which assembles all U.S. passports, is issuing an
electronic passport booklet in accordance with the standards
developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an
agency of the United Nations. Last year, ICAO adopted the chip
technology used in contactless smart cards as the standard for
electronic passports in order to add a facial biometric and other
security features to passport books.

The computer chip in the passport will contain all the information
that is now printed on the document's data page including a digitized
photograph of the passport owner. The text data and the photograph
can be read with a contactless reader at a border entry point and the
electronically provided data can be compared to the information
printed in the passport at issuance.

Not to be confused with RFID, secure personal identification
devices using contactless smart card technology have built-in and
active security and encryption capabilities to protect information
access and communications. More than 30 nations worldwide have
already pledged to adopt passport technology that conforms to an
international standard for electronic identification data.

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is a leader in digital
security with pro forma 2005 annual revenues of EUR1,7 billion ($2.2
billion), operations in 120 countries and 11,000 employees including
1,500 R&D engineers. The company's solutions make personal digital
interactions secure and easy in a world where everything of value
-from money to entertainment to identities- is increasingly
represented as bits and bytes communicated over networks.

Gemalto thrives on creating and deploying secure platforms,
portable and secure forms of software in highly personal objects like
smart cards, SIMs, e-passports, readers and tokens. More than a
billion people worldwide use the company's products and services for
telecommunications, banking, e-government, identity management,
multimedia content, digital rights management, IT security and other
applications. Gemalto was formed in June 2006 by the combination of
Axalto and Gemplus International S.A. For more information please
visit www.gemalto.com.

Gemalto
Media
Emmanuelle Saby
T: + 33-1-55-01-57-27
M: + 33-6-09-10-76-10
esaby@axalto.com
Investor Relations
Stephane Bisseuil
T: + 33-1-55-01-50-97
M: + 33-6-86-08-64-13
sbisseuil@axalto.com
TBWACorporate
Emlyn Korengold
T: + 33-1-49-09-66-51
M: + 33-6-08-21-93-74
emlyn.korengold@tbwa-corporate.com

ots Originaltext: Gemalto
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Gemalto: Media - Emmanuelle Saby, T: +33-1-55-01-57-27, M:
+33-6-09-10-76-10, esaby@axalto.com. Investor Relations - Stephane
Bisseuil, T: +33-1-55-01-50-97, M: +33-6-86-08-64-13,
sbisseuil@axalto.com. TBWACorporate: Emlyn Korengold, T:
+33-1-49-09-66-51, M: + 33-6-08-21-93-74,
emlyn.korengold@tbwa-corporate.com