09 November, 2007
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The Java Card Forum (JCF), an industry organization dedicated to promoting and developing interoperable Java Card technology products, is celebrating its 10 year Anniversary at Cartes & Identification 2007 congress, by sharing its success stories from the past and setting the scene for Next Generation Java Card technology. From 1997 to 2007, Java Card Forum experts have worked in close collaboration with Sun Microsystems to create and improve the Java Card technology. With over 3 billion Java technology based smart cards deployed so far, the Java Card platform “can be considered as a tremendous success and is today the most used IT platform in the world.”
Java Card Forum Celebrates its 10 Year Anniversary
The Java Card Forum reflects on the past 10 years and looks forward to the Next Generation technology
Paris, France Friday 9th November 2007 – The Java Card Forum (JCF), an industry organisation dedicated to promoting and developing interoperable Java Card™ technology products, is celebrating its 10 year Anniversary at Cartes & Identification 2007 congress, by sharing its success stories from the past and setting the scene for Next Generation Java Card technology.
At CARTES 2007, the Java Card Forum will celebrate 10 years of achievements that have shaped the smart card industry. From 1997 to 2007, Java Card Forum experts have worked in close collaboration with Sun Microsystems to create and improve the Java Card technology. This lead to the publication by Sun of 6 releases of the Java Card specification, effectively delivering Java Card technology’s promise (interoperability, security and multi-application support) to the telecoms, IT security and financial services industries. With over 3 billion Java technology based smart cards deployed so far, the Java Card platform can be considered as a tremendous success and is today the most used IT platform in the world.
The Java Card Forum is now continuing its collaboration with Sun Microsystems on the Next Generation Java Card technology, which will mark an important milestone in the growing importance of smart, secure, and portable devices in our everyday life. The electronic world is permanently redefining its frontiers, with an increasing trend to concentrate more services on each individual, and more than ever the need to share more content and applications with others. In this context, the Next Generation Java Card platform, with its direct Web connectivity and a more powerful Java technology engine, has the ambition to become the reference smart secure platform of the coming years for industries such as Telecoms and IT.
The Next Generation Java Card platform will embed features such as direct support of IP-based protocols for internet connectivity, a richer Java technology-based environment for a greater openness to developer communities and true multitasking/multithreading for a seamless realtime multi-service delivery. In addition, the Next Generation Java Card platform will provide full backward compatibility with the Java Card 2 technology family, preserving existing investments and facilitating migration.
“The next-generation Java Card technology marks a move from smart cards to smart devices, offering the potential of using one personal and secure device for multiple smart services, while reducing infrastructure costs,” says Christian Goire, President of the Java Card Forum. “These smart devices add convenience to every day life – and could play a role in everything from reserving a ticket to entering a train station. We’re moving from a series of e-applications working on independent devices to a more holistic process enabling ‘eDays’ to become a reality.”
About Java Card technology
Java was invented by Sun Microsystems in 1995 and has important features that make it the ideal choice for smart cards:
- Java Card technology security model enables multiple applications to co-exist securely on the same card.
- Java applications can be developed, validated and rapidly tested for interoperability across suppliers’ compliant smart cards.
- Java is a strong global brand, and close specification management by Sun allows scalability and integration across the major IT platforms.
About the JCF
The JCF was established to promote and develop Java as the preferred programming language for multi-application smart cards. To maintain, improve and further develop Java Card technology, the JCF is structured to integrate business and technical expertise to assist Sun Microsystems to deliver fit-for-purpose Java Card APIs.
To ensure that the interests of smart card issuers are fully represented in these decisions, the JCF has also established the Strategic Partner Program. Through this, companies that are involved in specifying or issuing smart cards are invited to participate in the requirements definition process.
JCF members include Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Incard, Infineon Technologies, NXP, Oberthur Card Systems, Renesas, Sagem Orga, Sermepa, STMicroelectronics, Trusted Logic and Visa.
