01 January, 2003
category: Contactless, Education, Financial
The Datacard® Affina™ Life Cycle Management System enables Japanese cardholders to download applications to their Visa smart cards.
Paris, France — November 5, 2002 — Datacard Group today announced that the Datacard® Affina™ Life Cycle Management System has enabled Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co., Ltd. (SMCC) to become the first issuer to enable new applications to be added to Visa smart cards after issuance. Visa cardholders in Japan are the first in the world to download applications to their smart cards via the Internet.
The Affina system, on demonstration at CARTES 2002, November 5 – 7 in Paris, France, enables SMCC’s launch of an innovative new service that allows cardholders to download PC network access functions to GlobalPlatform™ multi-application Visa smart cards. To download an application, SMCC cardholders need only insert the Visa smart card into a reader connected to their PC and enter an ID and password for cardholder identification. SMCC expects strong demand for this type of card and plans to issue at least 100,000 such cards within one year.
“What Affina provides for our customers is the ability to improve customer loyalty, increase security and react quickly to changing market conditions,” said Chris Lomax, vice president of Datacard’s solutions group. “The capability of systems enabled by Affina to download applications onto a smart card after it has been issued provides a unique flexibility that not only meets the changing needs of card holders but does so without the time, effort and expense of re-making and re-issuing cards,” he added.
The Affina system is designed to manage multi-application smart card programs. It manages the entire life cycle of each smart card—including all phases of pre-issuance, as well as post-issuance after cards reach consumers’ hands. Applications can be loaded, blocked or deleted at any time, and new card-based services can be made instantly available via the Internet or private network. The Affina system maintains information on every smart card issued, making it fast and simple to replace lost or stolen cards. This intelligence allows powerful customer relationship databases to be built which contain valuable marketing information about cardholders, their preferences and behaviors.
Datacard Group provides software, systems and professional services needed to build profitable card programs. The company’s portfolio also includes a complete line of smart card solutions, secure digital identity systems and card personalization systems. Datacard Group is privately held and based in Minnetonka, Minn. Datacard Group serves customers in more than 120 countries. (www.datacard.com).