Smartspace Software Share Discussion Threads

[rcktmn] 28/2/2007 10:10

All good and encouraging long term stuff but it's a jam tomorrow case... it's rubbish in the short term but let's hope the tomorrow comes sooner and we get early news of good contract wins.

[garth] 28/2/2007 09:45

AGM Statement. Large contracts in various stages of completion but a warning on this year's numbers...... Not altogether surprised. It will be interesting to see what SVS do with the 2008 numbers....and what the market does with the AGM statement: short or long view?


ADVANCED SMARTCARD TECHNOLOGIES PLC AGM STATEMENT
28 February 2007

Advanced Smartcard Technologies plc (RIC: SMRT/L, the "Company"), the Scottish based software group specialising in smartcard technology, is today holding its Annual General Meeting (the "AGM"). At the AGM, David Braddock, Chief
Executive, will update shareholders on trading and performance as follows:"I am pleased to report that we are making good progress in building solid foundations which will lead to excellent business opportunities being won this year and beyond. We are focusing attention on winning large contracts and
building strategic channels that last for several years, such as the recently announced agreement with Hitachi Limited.""We are at various stages of discussion, some well advanced, with a number of large prospective customers and strategic partners in several different markets and on a global basis.

The highlights are as follows:

* We are at an advanced stage with a variety of strategic partners that should result in our technology being incorporated into larger solutions that will be bid into a variety of markets around the World. This includes national ID cards and global payment cards.

* We are already well placed in the UK transport market and are beginning to move forward quickly with rail transport organisations. We believe that the size of the UK transport market will be larger than originally anticipated due to a greater number of distribution channels.

* We see great potential in the use of smartcards in the medical market and have made significant progress in developing this market.

* We see great potential in the use of our technology in linking transport ticketing with payment, including the use of mobile phones as a "smart" device as opposed to a conventional smartcard. We are developing these opportunities and expect them to provide a good level of business over the coming years.

* We continue to progress our initiatives in local government.
"These developments give us great reason to be optimistic about the Company's prospects. The opportunities that we are actively pursuing are large and complex and therefore inevitably have longer lead times. Consequently we expect that some of the benefits will fall into later years and so the current year's performance will be lower than current market expectations however looking forward larger long-term contracts will give Advanced Smartcard greater stability and growth potential in the long-run."

For further information contact:Advanced Smartcard Technologies plc

01355 813430
David Braddock, Managing Director
Stephen Naylor, Finance Director

SVS Securities plc 020 7638 5600
Ian Callaway
Peter Manfield

ARM Corporate Finance Limited 020 7512 0191Nick Harriss

[garth] 27/2/2007 22:25

Thanks AW - missed that. Won't be travelling up from Dover sadly ;0)

G.

[awilson] 27/2/2007 19:12

AGM tomorrow morning at 9.30 in East Kilbride. Perhaps there will be a trading update as an RNS.

[garth] 27/2/2007 18:19

Hot off the press today, but you're gonna have to read all the way to the bottom. ;0)

SMRT see healthcare as a key niche opportunity for Multefile...

Smart Card Alliance white paper shows smart card benefits for healthcare industry

Tuesday, February 27 2007

The Smart Card Alliance has issued a new white paper that describes healthcare industry challenges and the opportunities for using smart card technology to provide greater security and privacy. The paper examines what's being used today and suggests additional applications the industry should consider.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the healthcare industry is increasingly challenged with identity fraud, difficult insurance claims, decentralized storage of medical records, thin financial margins and government demand for secure, portable, and confidential patient information, the need for effective use of information technology (IT) is becoming essential. However, increased computerization, reliance on databases, and movement of sensitive patient information require strict controls to safeguard the security and confidentiality of healthcare records.

A new Smart Card Alliance white paper, Smart Cards in U.S. Healthcare: Benefits for Patients, Providers and Payers, describes the challenges within the healthcare industry and the clear opportunities for the use of smart card technology for security and privacy in healthcare. The paper examines smart card use in healthcare today and suggests additional applications for consideration.

"In an electronic healthcare world, information access with data protection is a key concern, fueled by legislation and an inherent need for patient privacy," said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. "This white paper explains how smart card technology presents a unique opportunity to enable innovative healthcare solutions that combine secure information access and management with data mobility and patient privacy."

The white paper describes and gives examples of the benefits that smart cards provide in healthcare applications, including:

-- Supporting the privacy and security requirements mandated by HIPAA legislation.
-- Reducing healthcare paperwork.
-- Reducing the incidence of fraud in health benefit claims, a significant issue for the federal government.
-- Improving the healthcare insurance claims process.
-- Providing clean data for eligibility verification and claims processing.
-- Enhancing patient control and privacy of electronic healthcare information.
-- Enabling reliable interaction with a wide range of systems, over the Internet or offline.

"In the long run, the data carried and accessed by smart health cards can not only save lives, but can also save the healthcare industry billions of dollars," added Vanderhoof.

Contributors to Smart Cards in U.S. Healthcare: Benefits for Patients, Providers and Payers are: Frank Avignone, Healthmeans; Paul Contino, Mount Sinai Medical Center; Chuck Wilson, Hitachi America Ltd.; Jeffrey Beulke, ACI Worldwide; and Kate Fortney, Gemalto. The white paper, written for executives and managers, is available at no charge from the Smart Card Alliance Web site at www.smartcardalliance.org.
..................

Available here, email registration needed:

[garth] 27/2/2007 14:14

P.s. Anyone buys a copy of the full report let me know ;0)

G.

[garth] 27/2/2007 14:13

Ram,

thanks for those links. This piece continues the idea and looks to be to our advantage following the Hitachi announcement:

February 15, 2007 10:46 AM Eastern Time

As Smart Cards Move Toward An Open Platform, Greater Interoperability Is Expected To Drive Future Growth

DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets ( has announced the addition of the new Frost & Sullivan Report "World Smart Card Platforms" to their offering.

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled World Smart Card Platforms Market provides an overview of the platforms market in various applications and unit shipment forecasts for four major smart card platforms -- Java card, MULTOS, MIFARE, and FELICA. In this study, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the smart card platform market in the GSM, payment, government, national, and transit ID applications.

Market Overview

Technological Advancement to Expand Smart Cards Platform Market

Currently in the middle of a growth phase, the smart cards market is showing unprecedented signs of double-digit growth. This acts as a catalyst for the advancement of technology and applications, according to the analyst of this study. In order to compete with platforms that are more flexible, secure, fast, and interoperable, platform vendors need to keep up with these technological advances.

The most important trend among various developments and technological upgrades is the convergence of smart cards and IT. Future versions of smart cards need to be compatible with IT since it is ubiquitous. If compatibility issues arise, there will be a reduction in the number of smart card deployments, which will cause replacement of smart cards with next-generation authentication technologies.

As Smart Cards Move toward an Open Platform, Greater Interoperability is Expected to Drive Future Growth

The need for a level playing field across verticals is driving the smart card market toward an open platform. The Global Platform, which previously only supported Java Card, now also supports the MULTOS platform. This is providing an impetus to build a standardized open platform. The aim is to increase the scope of applications that can be interlinked, and thereby offer interoperability to customers.

As part of this move, any application written in a common language will work on all platforms under the common specifications and smart cards will work on any terminal or reader that is part of the Global Platform specification, explains the analyst. The short-term objective is to deploy a specification that provides interoperability between the MULTOS and the Java card platforms.

For more information, visit

[badday] 24/2/2007 09:29

Major feature on BBC news today regaring Visa 'wave and pay'. Essentialy, from Serptember your Oyster card can pay for ots of other small cost items, newspaper, coffee etc, all the things you need for your journey. Looked good, good for SMRT/

[colsmith] 23/2/2007 16:40

ram - but of course MULTOS and MUTIFILE software can loaded into a phone SIM card for example! So yes a phone would seem to be one of the major applications platforms for SMART card type applications - convergence of SMART cards and phones then seems an obviuos way to go; and as Software can go into any useful hardware its merley a question as to which way users prefer.

[rambutan2] 23/2/2007 12:36

there was a piece in last week's economist about the spread of the cashless society. oyster got a mention, along with the mastercard and visa efforts. however, the most interesting part was on japan, where things are much more advanced than elsewhere. it was said that a sony chip was at the heart of many of the devices. the japs mainly use their mobile phones for transactions. sorry but im struggling to remember any details as i only v briefly saw the piece. however, the gist i got was that mobi phones are the way things will move - why have a card and a phone when just the phone will do?

in any case, a look at what's being used/going on in japan is prob worth the effort.

Update - a few bits i found interesting, although not necessary completely relevant!






He did point to four smart card operating platforms that are "open" in the sense that they can be purchased from more than one smart card vendor. Of those, Java Card from Sun Microsystems dominates, with more than 700 million units shipped each year, Paul says. The big majority are SIM cards, although Paul says Java Cards are also used in U.S. government ID card projects. Far behind are Mifare from Philips Semiconductors and FeliCa from Sony Corp., two contactless chip card platforms mainly used in mass transit. The fourth system is Multos from StepNexus, which Paul says is mainly used in payment and national ID projects. Paul says native platforms provided by a single vendor only represent 30% of the smart card market today, down from 60% just a few years ago. (2006-08-24)


[PDF] IC Cards Spur Innovative Changes in Financial InstitutionsFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
Sony's FeliCa is not adopted as the. international standard. ... programs in IC cards are Java and Multos. While many. engineers can handle Java because of ...
www.nri.co.jp/english/opinion/papers/2005/pdf/np200593.pdf - Similar pages

[garth] 23/2/2007 12:23

Its not Hitachi MULTOS but its interesting with Mastercard and VISA both beginning to bundle additional applications on their cards and Hitachi adding Multefile to its own MULTOS offering.

G.

A major breakthrough for Financial Institutions worldwide, enabling issuers of Visa and MasterCard the choice of a single MULTOS platform to support both payment schemes, simplifying their card issuance and management processes.

Slovenia, 13 February 2007

Banka Koper, one of the leading financial institutions in Slovenia, today became the world's first Visa issuer to deploy Visa Smart Credit and Debit on a MULTOS multi-application platform, marking the culmination of intensive effort for Banka Koper, and the MULTOS consortium members including Keycorp Ltd, Thales eSecurity and StepNexus. In addition to its recent relaunch of its MasterCard portfolio using M/Chip 4 on Keycorp MULTOS, Banka Koper is now rolling out its Visa chip card program, deploying multi-application MULTOS cards which support both VSDC and the Visa Dynamic Passcode Authentication application to support remote cardholder authentication.

Until today, MULTOS had not yet been certified as a platform for Visa International's chip applications and so Banka Koper had been unable to realise the full benefits of deploying a consistent open standard platform for all its smart card issuance needs. The certification of MULTOS and MULTOS step/one with Visa allows dual issuers the choice of a single MULTOS platform to support the chip applications of both payment schemes.

"Banka Koper is a firm believer in MULTOS technology."said Gojmir Nabergoj, senior consultant at Banka Koper. "Having finally managed to complete our deployment of chip cards across both payment brands without needing to support two different hardware platforms and associated personalisation systems, the Visa MULTOS card now contains both VSDC and the Visa Dynamic Passcode Authentication. The new Visa Electron Prepaid card now also contains our own PKI application, allowing users to load and benefit from the use of their digital certificates in e-related services."

[garth] 21/2/2007 11:08

Neath Port Talbot Borough Council tendering for supply of ITSO compliant POSTs - 250 likely, for delivery by August. Only £12K-£15K for SMRT but is illustrative of a ball beginning to roll.... The beauty is of course that SMRT get paid whoever wins the tender! ;0)

[garth] 21/2/2007 10:55

From the ITSO website:

What's New?

DfT Prior Information Notice - Road Pricing Demonstrations & Research 18 July 2006

The RPF Division of the DfT issued a "Prior Information Notice" on Road Pricing Demonstrations & Research on 18 July 2006. ITSO intend responding to this notice pointing out the common business models between Road Pricing and the ITSO model for interoperable Public Transport ticketing. Indeed ITSO already has a Road Pricing IPE within the specification.

We believe Road Pricing offers a significant opportunity for ITSO to extend its operation into this field, and ITSO Suppliers may wish to consider their own stance and make submissions to the DfT. The details of the PIN are found on the web address below, and formal responses must be made to: RPF Division, 3rd Floor, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham St, London SW1P 4DR by no later than mid September 2006.

[bonty] 21/2/2007 10:38

Good - from the recent increase in volume it looks like we've been spotted at last - and no sellers yesterday for a change, lets see what today brings.
Suddenly I'm in favour of road charging!

[garth] 21/2/2007 10:04

Up today. Perhaps the Hitachi news sinking in? Or maybe the news coverage this morning that the Government will spend the next 2 years working with key industry players in show-casing technology and running pilots on road charging? ITSO have info on their site relating to the use of ITSO with roadside RFID as a way of road charging. ITSO can also nbe used with mobile phones etc.. any kind of smart chip.

[garth] 19/2/2007 22:13

Raft of sells knocking them back in the later part of the afternoon. Short termers..... ;0)

G.

[boadicea] 19/2/2007 16:34

garth - It would seem logical but some recent descriptions, such as B-card above, imply that there is no limit to the amount of small transactions other than detecting that it has been "used too many times in a row". Much more sensible if it just runs out of cash, I would have thought.

If the electronic purse (like HK's octopus I assume) could combine with a standard debit/credit card, that is what would catch on best imho.

[garth] 19/2/2007 15:23

Boadicea,

Isn't that the idea behind electronic purse - load it up to the level you want?

G.

[boadicea] 19/2/2007 15:00

I think someone is missing a trick with the wave card facility. What I want is a card which carries a strictly limited amount of cash credit (say maximum £50) available for proximity (wave) use. The same card would be topped up with 'cash' by putting it in a reader (ATM, POS etc) and topping up again to the £50 using its PIN.
I can then choose how much cash I carry on it and not have to worry overmuch about losing it.

[garth] 19/2/2007 14:47

More on the dual chip hybrid Oyster VISA card:

Barclaycard displays wave-and-pay in cab
Posted by Nicole Kobie at 5:48PM, Thursday 15th February 2007
Barclaycard has exhibited a mockup of a wave-and-pay system in a taxi at the Business Travel Show.

Barclaycard is continuing its campaign against pocket change with a mock-up of a wave-and-pay taxi terminal, on display at the Business Travel Show in London.

The concept cab, from London taxi firm Computer Cabs, let show attendees see how the contactless payment system could work and what potential uses the mobile terminals could have ahead of their expected release later this year.

The contactless system, which was originally announced in December, will allow customers to pay for transactions under £10 by simply waving their Visa cards in front of a reader - similar to Transport for London's Oyster card system, which will also be built into the cards.

Unlike Oyster, which is a closed prepay network, the wave-and-pay system will use the same payment network as chip-and-pin, without the time-consuming button pressing and waiting for authorisation.

"It works exactly the same as a credit card, but rather than dipping the card in and entering a pin, you just wave it," said Barclaycard spokesperson Ian Barber.

Despite not making use of the security of a pin number, Barclaycard has few concerns because the transactions are limited to £10 each.

"It's not worth it for less than £10," said Barber. "If the card is used too many times in a row, the card will check the person's security by automatically switching to chip-and-pin."

Other than cabs, the contactless system could be useful anywhere a lot of small amounts of cash trade hands, such as fast food, newsagents and even pubs.

"I think particular sectors where cash is quite dominant, anywhere with a high usage of cash, is where retailers are interested," Barber said, citing remote transactions such as vending machines and car parks as ideal uses for the contactless equipment.

The card and terminal technology is still in development, with Barclaycard working toward a launch later this year, said Barber.

[garth] 19/2/2007 14:43

Yup, and even that 250K sold within the quoted spread.

G.

[spud] 19/2/2007 14:15

There's the repetitive Institutional tap again..

Still at least it allows me time to continue to accumulate at these levels.

spud

[bonty] 19/2/2007 12:33

The tick down is 'cos I decided it was time to top up a bit - if only I'd waited 30 mins - never fails ! Still giving them away at this price though.

[garth] 19/2/2007 12:20

Geeks only need read. Jan '07 doc showing cards produced by Renesas for JCB compliance. The cards are described as Renesas (55% owned by Hitachi) chips loaded with the Hitachi OS - which is MULTOS 4 (see Company Background/Management in thread header for obvious link to SMRT). It appears that by 2003/4 Renesas had shipped 500 million chips.

[garth] 19/2/2007 11:54

4.28/4.42

Plenty of trades this morning and..... a tick down.

G.