Gemplus Announces the "PocketBase" Smart Card, a Database On a Chip.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 1998--

First Smart Card Solution To Interoperate In Traditional

Client/Server Database Environments

First Customer Announced

Reflecting the company's focus to bring open platform solutions to smart cards, Gemplus(R) today announced the industry's first smart card solution for traditional relational database architectures using the industry standard ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) API. Smart card developers can now quickly build client/server applications that operate across an infrastructure consisting of smart cards, the desktop, and the data center.

Codenamed "PocketBase," this technological milestone makes possible the development of identity, loyalty, government, transportation, information technology and other smart card-based solutions capable of performing transactions with large databases of information.

"Microsoft is pleased that Gemplus has adopted the industry-standard ODBC API for smart cards," said Robert Green, data access product manager, Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT). "From workgroup databases in Microsoft Access to enterprise systems running Microsoft SQL Server, developers can now integrate a broad set of ODBC-related tools and expertise to build the next generation of smart card applications in a client/server world."

Simultaneously, Gemplus announced the shipment of 200,000 PocketBase cards to the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (HIIS). HIIS delivers compulsory health insurance to the entire population of Slovenia. The company expects to distribute two million PocketBase cards by mid-1999. The implementation of the PocketBase smart card solution will help HIIS increase their quality of service and simplify administrative procedures; improve communication between users and providers; and improve data security and protection.

For years, smart cards have carried portable information, but the complexity of the card's operating system and external interfaces has limited the integration of smart cards into traditional information technology (IT) infrastructures.

With the PocketBase smart card solution, information needed by multiple parties can be shared without unnecessary memory duplication and without compromising security. Using ODBC APIs and the ISO 7816-7 standard, PocketBase can, for example, let developers write applications that enable an identification card to be queried by a corporate database for user authentication and information exchange.

"Gemplus' open systems strategy has made us the industry leader in moving smart card systems into the IT mainstream," said John Landwehr, director of product marketing for the Gemplus Internet and Information Technology Product Group. "PocketBase is an important milestone in the execution of this strategy. It not only makes possible the easy integration of smart card systems into traditional client/server architectures, but also enables the secure and easy management of information on a smart card using standard database programming methodologies."

PocketBase uses the Structured Card Query Language (SCQL), a subset of SQL, the most widely used language in database systems. It can perform common database operations such as create, select, delete, update, commit, and rollback. PocketBase also supports views on a given table. Each view has its own access conditions, so that different client applications have different access privileges to the common underlying data.

Additionally, it includes an ODBC adaptor that can be plugged into a wide variety of client/server database development environments, such as Microsoft Access, Visual Basic, PowerBuilder, and other databases such as Microsoft SQL Server.

Availability

The PocketBase developers kit includes a smart card, a smart card reader, ODBC driver software and libraries, and developer documentation. It is targeted to ship in late summer 1998.

PocketBase will be demonstrated on April 28-30, 1998, in Booth No. 1213 at CardTech/SecurTech `98 at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

About Gemplus

Gemplus(R) (http://www.gemplus.com) is the world's leading provider of conventional and smart card-based solutions. Gemplus sells magnetic stripe cards, memory and microprocessor-based smart cards, smart contactless cards, electronic tags and smart objects. The company designs and markets software, development tools and readers. Gemplus also provides consulting, training and personalization services to deliver the industry's most comprehensive and flexible card-based solutions to its developers, distributors, partners, and customers.

With sales of over US$585 million in 1997, Gemplus employs more than 4,100 people, in ten manufacturing facilities, five R&D centers and 41 sales and marketing offices located in 27 countries around the world. Founded in 1988, Gemplus has successfully implemented portable and secure smart card-based solutions to simplify applications such as public and wireless communications, financial transactions, loyalty, transportation, education, healthcare, identity, access control, pay TV, electronic commerce, Internet security, and information technology. -0-

(c) 1998 Gemplus Corporation. Gemplus is a registered trademark of Gemplus. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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