Smart Bits: Open-Standard Status for Philips Contactless Card

Philips Semiconductors said it is making its Mifare contactless smart card technology available to the market as an open standard.

The unit of Netherlands-based Philips Electronics had long been touting Mifare as a de facto standard for public transit and other high-volume applications that work best when cards do not have to be inserted in a fixed point of sale device.

Philips and two other silicon chip manufacturers, Siemens and Hitachi, were producing Mifare-based products. Thirty million such cards are in circulation worldwide.

With Philips' open-standard move, announced at the Smart Card '98 meeting in London, the patents will be widely available. The company said this will foster compatibility with specifications of the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission.

Philips said it will set up an independent certification institute and a user group to govern and promote the technology.

"Contactless smart cards will be the key to people's mobility in the future," said Arthur van der Poel, chairman and chief executive officer of Philips Semiconductors. "Users will benefit from less queuing and will no longer need to search to find exact change. Compatibility ensures that people can choose to have just one card to cover all their daily transactions."