The humble SIM set to grow in stature

With cellular network operators around the world seeking to increase revenues from across the entire spectrum of handset users, the humble SIM card is set to grow in stature.

That`s the view of Graham McKay, Chief Technology Officer at JSE-listed Prism Holdings, who says mobile operators wish to enable and motivate both high-end and low-end cellular phone users to increasingly use their handsets for revenue-generating mobile data and commerce services.

"GSM network operators currently generate most of their revenues from voice and SMS services. At the low-end of the market operators are looking to take advantage of attractively priced 32K/64K SIM cards that can host applications without the need for a new handset, and thereby encourage users (typically prepaid) to adopt these additional revenue-generating services," he says.

"At the high-end of the market, early adopters and corporate post-paid users are starting to ask for the type of applications made possible by the so-called `smartphones`, such as office automation, multimedia and commerce services. This means operators will have to make inroads into new intelligent handset environments, and roll-out new and existing services that utilise data-oriented network services such as GPRS.

"In regard to additional services, these parallel market developments present operators with the challenge of leveraging economies of scale via mass-market interoperability (as enjoyed with voice and SMS) while having to source, deploy and support a wide range of differing SIM and handset platforms," McKay adds.

The net effect is that the relatively simple homogenous technology environment that supported voice and SMS revenue services is rapidly evolving to a more complex heterogeneous mix of technologies at the same time as operators need to introduce new revenue-generating data services.

According to McKay, this poses both a challenge and an opportunity for companies like Prism that devote considerable resources to SIM R&D. SIM technology will have to evolve to deliver on the security requirements of the mobile multimedia content and commerce applications likely to be enabled by smartphone handsets while also enabling operators to seamlessly deliver data services on older generation handsets and new model low-end handsets.

For the SIM market, the implications of this are two-fold. Firstly, to maximise cost and operational efficiencies, operators will look for highly interoperable and open SIM application environments sourced from multiple card vendors across multiple chip vendor platforms. This will further push the market towards a licence-centric business model, where independent SIM software vendors (ISVs) like Prism will develop and license their operating system and application platforms to both card and chip vendors.

Secondly, with the thick-client handset ideally suited for hosting richer mobile applications, Prism anticipates the SIM card becoming the identification and security environment of choice for off-SIM handset applications. In fact, the SIM`s security role will extend beyond its current network identification and authentication to facilitate application security services for applications requiring high levels of authentication, confidentiality and non-repudiation.

"To this end Prism is focused on creating portable licensable SIM software capable of compatible and interoperable execution across multiple chip platforms, from 32K upwards, and rich in application security support for both on and off-SIM applications.

"Prism`s progress in this arena encouraged the Department of Trade and Industry - through the Industrial Development Corporation - to award Prism a R1.5 million innovation grant to continue development of leading-edge SIM technology. These grants are only given to financially sound companies for the development of products which `represent a significant technological advance and have a commercial advantage over existing products`," McKay concludes.