Sun Microsystems has announced that its Java Card technology platform has reached a milestone of 750 million deployments, up from the 400 million card milestone achieved in 2003, a growth of almost 100% in one year.
Java Card technology is the premier platform for supporting dynamic, secure smart cards across a variety of markets, including mobile telephony, financial services, government, healthcare and enterprise ID.
"Enabling multiple applications to co-exist on a single card, Java Card technology enhances privacy, trust and security on the network. Organisations like the United States Department of Defence, the Bureau of National Health Insurance of Taiwan and the Government of Belgium rely on Java Card technology for its security, interoperability and adherence to open standards," notes Sean O'Hare, Java systems engineer at Sun Microsystems SA.
In the mobile data services market, which is emerging strongly in SA, new content and services based on the Java platform has brought 2.5 and 3G networks to life.
"Many operators have standardised on Java technologies in handsets to power mobile data services and GSM SIM and 3G USIM cards to authenticate network access and SIM-based applications," O'Hare adds.
Furthermore, major banks and credit card companies around the world such as Visa, American Express and MasterCard have introduced EMV Java Card technology-based smart cards to combat fraud. EMV is a smart card standard that was created in 1996 by Europay, MasterCard and Visa, providing worldwide interoperability and security.
"And as the need for authentication and security increases, governments around the world are examining Java Card smart card technology for enabling next-generation hi-tech passports," says O'Hare.
A small, contactless chip enabled by Java technology can securely store data including the passport holder's name, place of birth and biometric data such as iris scan, fingerprints and photos.
"Java Card products lead the industry for dynamic, secure, multi-application smart cards around the world. Java Card technology allows card issuers to dynamically modify the services and applications on the card as the user's needs change, without incurring additional costs to replace the card. This will provide customers with the flexibility to adapt to their future mobile needs," says O'Hare.
Sun is presently demonstrating a new enterprise security product, Java Card Enterprise Software, which allows interoperability of the Java Card technology platform with different computing environments. "This preserves the security and interoperability benefits of Java-technology based smart cards while reducing the cost and complexity of adding strong authentication to existing identity management solutions. We anticipate this new offering will help accelerate the number of Java cards in issue rapidly past the billion mark," he concludes.
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