Executives at Gemenos, France-based Gemplus International SA, the largest worldwide buyer of chips for smart cards, pronounced the silicon shortage that has dogged the industry for more than a year over. The executives, speaking to customers at its Executive Forum 2001 this week in Marrakech, Morocco, say chip makers have boosted supplies earlier than expected and the industry may now be presented with a slight “oversupply situation.” “We think there is already a balance of supply and demand,” says Gemplus president and CEO Antonio Perez, adding that certainly by the second quarter, “You will have as much (silicon) as you want.” Semiconductor manufacturers had predicted the shortage would not run its course until much later in 2001. Smart card manufacturers have estimated they could have shipped as many as 30% more cards last year if not for the shortage.
Norwegian Operator Rolls Out PKI-based SI Ms
Oslo, Norway-based Telenor Mobil believes security on today’s mobile phone networks is inadequate for customers to safely do banking, purchasing, and most other mobile commerce transactions, and is the first GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) operator to fully embrace public key infrastructure security for these services. All the subscriber identity module smart cards Telenor issues this year will not only identify customers to the phone network as other SIMs do but will be able to support PKI, says Kjell Røberg-Larsen, head of Telenor Mobil’s SIM department.
All the SIMs will be able to generate private encryption keys that customers will use to authenticate themselves when they buy stock or purchase CDs on their handsets, services Telenor has not yet rolled out. The operator will store digital certificates assigned to each customer on its servers. These certificates will be linked to the private keys and would be used by banks, merchants, and other content providers to establish positive ID on consumers. Røberg-Larsen expects the operator to issue nearly 1 million SIMs this year, supplied by Finnish card maker Setec Oy. All will carry a crypto co-processor on their chips, needed to generate and process the private keys on the cards. (1/26)
Warner Bros. Considers Audition For Smart Cards
The Warner Bros. division of media giant Time Warner has been studying the pros and cons of launching smart cards for the past two years, Randolph Blotky, executive vice president for worldwide consumer products at Warner Bros. tells Card Technology. Blotky, who spoke this week at a conference sponsored by smart card manufacturer Gemplus, believes smart cards could be used by the company to bind consumers to its products.
The cards could be used in stores and on the Internet and carry such applications as loyalty programs, credit and debit accounts, and stored value purses parents could charge up for their children. But any debut of a chip-based Tweedy Bird card, or one devoted to readers of Time magazine for that matter, may never get off the drawing boards, notes Blotky. He says the company may make a decision within six months. Blotky declines to say how Time Warner’s merger with AOL may affect the plans and is keeping details of the program under wraps, saying only: “We are considering all the alternatives that smart cards make available.”