Gemalto Introduces World's First Banking Card Meeting the Visa Global Contactless Specification

Cartes Tradeshow, Villepinte, France, November 7 (ots/PRNewswire)
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- Dual Interface Smart Card Addresses EMV Markets Worldwide

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), a world leader in digital
security, today launches an innovative banking microprocessor card to
perform multiple types of Visa payments: contact EMV (Europay
MasterCard Visa), EMV-based contactless and magnetic stripe data
contactless. The Gemalto card is the first contactless product that
meets Visa's global contactless specification for interoperability
and will be available in mass volumes to major financial institutions
starting January 2007.

With the new Gemalto card, users will benefit from the speed and
convenience of contactless transactions, along with enhanced
EMV-based security features available through the Visa global
contactless specification. For low-value purchases, where cash is
traditionally used, consumers will simply hold their card up to the
contactless reader of a point-of-sale terminal. Purchases above a
specified amount, determined by issuers, will require a standard
contact-based transaction with cardholder verification, such as
Personal Identification Number (PIN) input.

This new card from Gemalto can also host additional applications,
such as transportation, access control and loyalty, allowing banks to
advance a wide range of valuable services to their customers. For
example, Visa issuers will be able to deliver co-branded applications
in cooperation with transit operators and dynamically add new
services such as loyalty schemes.

"Gemalto is proud to be the first company to provide financial
institutions with a contactless product that fulfills Visa's latest
requirements," commented Philippe Cambriel, president banking and
security at Gemalto. "This product will assist banks in addressing
the cash market, by far the largest in terms of number of
transactions. Furthermore the combination of EMV-based contactless
and multi-application will enhance consumers' purchasing experiences
."

Visa first announced the global contactless specification at
Cartes in 2005. The specification was developed to enable seamless
interoperability across markets while providing choice and
flexibility for issuers to customize contactless programs for their
markets.

"The Gemalto product is the first card to be developed to the new
global specification and represents important progress in bringing
enhanced contactless programs to market," said Stephanie Ericksen,
vice president of Product and Technology Integration, Visa
International. "In addition to the test tools and facilities,
documentation and other resources now available, the Gemalto card
enables issuers to develop new globally interoperable contactless
payment programs with enhanced security and improved performance for
faster, safer transaction processing."

The high-resolution picture is available upon request.

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
Emmanuelle Saby
T: +33-1-55-01-57-27
M: +33-(0)6-09-10-76-10
Emmanuelle.saby@gemalto.com
Aline Borne
T.: +33-(0)1-55-01-51-05
M.: +33-(0)6-16-29-87-04
aline.borne@gemalto.com
Fleishman - Hillard
Odile Bibollet
Tél.:+33-(0)1-47-42-92-82
odile.bibollet@fleishmaneurope.com

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

Contact:
Gemalto: Emmanuelle Saby, T: +33-1-55-01-57-27, M:
+33-(0)6-09-10-76-10, Emmanuelle.saby@gemalto.com; Aline Borne, T.:
+33-(0)1-55-01-51-05, M.: +33-(0)6-16-29-87-04,
aline.borne@gemalto.com; Fleishman-Hillard, Odile Bibollet,
Tél.:+33-(0)1-47-42-92-82, odile.bibollet@fleishmaneurope.com