Smart Cards: Schlumberger Hoping PC Reader Will Boost Mass-Market Appeal

Schlumberger is trying to accelerate the march toward an inexpensive smart card reader for personal computers.

Part of the multinational vendor's Cryptoflex line of cards with cryptographic security capabilities, a new product directly connects a card's chip into the USB - universal serial bus - port.

Schlumberger said the device, Cryptoflex e-gate, overcomes logistical problems that have held the advanced cards back from playing security, identification, and payment roles in mass-market electronic commerce. It is to be available in mid-2000.

"To take full advantage of the on-line future, consumers and business users must have total confidence in Internet security," said Schlumberger product manager Jerome Sion. "We have developed a simpler and more cost-effective route for high-level security."

The USB port is increasingly interesting to smart card marketers because it is becoming a standard PC component and does not need an independent power supply. Some vendors have even developed alternative semiconductor devices that plug into the USB port and do what smart cards do, such as holding encryption keys and generating digital signatures.

Schlumberger said it sees the card "form factor" as compatible with the "e-commerce readiness" of PCs. But it offers e-gate in two formats: a standard smart card with an enhanced chip that fits into a special connector to the USB port; and a "small-format card" that itself plugs directly into the port. The latter is "ideal for organizations seeking a secure and controllable computing infrastructure for large numbers of PC users," the company said.

Microsoft Corp. smart card director Philippe Goetschel endorsed e-gate, saying the embrace of USB can accelerate acceptance of the cards "as the secure e-commerce solution of choice." Combined with Microsoft's Windows for Smart Cards operating system, e-gate "makes the 'e-commerce ready' PC a practical reality."

Schlumberger said it has proposed extending the USB protocol into wireless technology as a form of USIM - universal subscriber identity module - that is to be standardized for the next generation of mobile telephones. The high USB communications speed is seen as well suited to the anticipated demand for multiple services or applications stored on a card's chip.

Also in the mobility area, Schlumberger introduced a Wireless Identity Module, or WIM, compatible with the popular Wireless Application Protocol, or WAP, for secure Internet transactions. The announcement was made in November in anticipation of the 1.2 version of the specification due this month from the WAP Forum.

Schlumberger made several other announcements:

  • Version 2.0 of the Cyberflex Access Software Development Kit for Java programming. It was enhanced with security applications and approved for export by the National Security Agency and Bureau of Export Administration.
  • SAMflex Alliance, a Secure Application Module for prepaid cards in pay phones, parking meters, and vending machines; and Easyflex City, a multi-application contact/contactless card for both mass-transit fare automation and conventional card-reading terminals.
  • A cooperative deal to promote smart cards with the customer loyalty technology of the French company Welcome Real-time. Schlumberger MagIC point of sale terminals are supporting Welcome's eXtended Loyalty System, XLS. "We are giving retailers a competitive reason to invest in smart card readers," said Welcome president and chief executive officer Aneace Haddad.
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