Sun Microsystem’s Java Card(TM) Technology Accelerates Adoption of Secure Digital Identity
16 December, 2002
category: Contactless, Corporate, Digital ID
Product Deployments Grow More Than 400 Percent
PARIS, Cartes 2002, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced that deployments of Java Card(TM) products in digital identity solutions have grown over 400 percent during the past year, according to data from Frost & Sullivan. Expanding on its traditional customer base in the financial services and wireless markets, Java Card technology usage has experienced tremendous growth in government, military, healthcare and corporate ID markets around the world with deployments that include the Bureau of National Health Insurance of Taiwan, U.S. Governmental organizations like the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Treasury. This accelerated adoption validates Java Card platform’s robustness to address the growing market needs for secure digital identity solutions.
Virtually all of these deployments include sophisticated software and high-end enterprise servers. Sun Microsystems, as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet, is now focused on making it easier to bring secure digital identity solutions to the network.
One example of this continuing technology leadership is the Sun(TM) Open Net Environment (Sun(TM) ONE), a standards-based software architecture for Web Services enabling delivery of information, data, and applications to anyone, anytime, anywhere, on anything. Also Sun, as a founding member of the Liberty Alliance, is working with dozens of companies to develop specifications for sharing secure digital identity over the Internet.
In the complex world of digital identity systems, card issuers want to deploy smart cards based upon a secure open standard, one that protects their investment by offering multi-application support and the ability to dynamically update applets on the cards. They also want the applications to be interoperable on cards from different manufacturers to give them a choice of vendors. Java Card products offer all of these features making it an easy choice.
“The widespread availability of Java Card products coupled with great features make them the natural choice for secure digital identity solutions in virtually any market,” said Peter Cattaneo, director, Java Card business and solutions, Sun Microsystems, Inc. “New enhancements such as ‘contactless’ capability available now through new dual-interface Java Card products, will continue to fuel the rapid adoption of Java Card technology for digital identity.”
With more than 50 licensees in 12 countries around the world, Sun’s Java Card technology is the platform of choice for vendors from key industries making it the most widely adopted smart card platform. Together, licensees have shipped more than 260 million units. Many new large-scale digital identity programs are just beginning to deploy, including the 24 million healthcare identification card program in Taiwan. Several U.S. Governmental organizations like the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Treasury have announced that they will begin issuing Java card-based identity cards, joining the Department of Defense’s 4.3 million card program. In addition, companies like Sun Microsystems have also begun to issue Java Card-based identity cards to all of their employees.
At Cartes 2002, Sun is demonstrating Java Card solutions for mobile telephony, secure digital identity and digital rights management. These cards offer advanced features such as Java Card Remote Method Invocation (JCRMI) for faster application development; Logical Channels to support new wireless standards; and support for Elliptic Curve cryptography and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for enhanced security. Also dual interface capability is now supported enabling secure transactions by simply passing the cards within 10 cm of the reader device. Widely used for building access and public transportation with fixed function chips, the Java Card products being demonstrated bring the features and versatility of the Java Card platform to the ‘contactless’ world.
The evolution and enhancement of the Java Card platform continues to provide a compelling value proposition for its licensee community driving its rapid adoption around the world as the platform of choice for secure digital identification.
For more information on Java Card technology, please visit: http://java.sun.com/products/javacard .
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision – “The Network Is The Computer(TM)” – has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com .
NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Open Environment, Sun ONE, Java, Java Card and all Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
CONTACT: Corina Ulescu of Sun Microsystems, Inc., +1-408-276-6159, or [email protected]; or Rebecca Lui of Citigate Cunningham Inc., +1-408-252-6278, or [email protected], for Sun.
