Proton World Certifies a New Electronic Purse Card Developed by Bull; Bull Confirms Its Commitment to Proton Technology, the Most Widely Used Smart Card Technology in the World.

BRUSSELS, Belgium and PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 6, 1999--

Bull and Proton World have announced that Proton World has certified the CC 200 Plus card, the latest in the Cash Card (CC) range from Bull, world leader in the field of the e-purse. The CC 200 Plus incorporates all Bull's know-how in terms of security and can be used for a variety of other applications. It provides a processing speed in the region of 115,200 bits per second, 12 times faster than that of previous smart cards.

"Proton e-purse technology is the most widely-used smart card technology in the world," said David Levy, managing director of Bull Smart Cards & Terminals. "With the CC Cash Card range, Bull has made it possible for banks to fully adapt to the needs of their customers at optimal cost. As the first and largest supplier of this technology, since 1995, Bull offers a very diversified and flexible range of products. The Proton experience with which Bull provides its customers is unique in today's market."

"Electronic payment card issuers demand a high level of security and flexibility, which is why Proton World has already had a great deal of success throughout the world," said Armand Linkens, managing director of Proton World. "It is continuing to expand its licensee network by offering smart card solutions that satisfy the needs of all sorts of licensees. We are pleased to add Bull's new card to our existing range of 'new generation' Proton cards."

The CC 200 Plus card completes a range of smart cards that are fully compliant with Proton technology and used by more than 500 issuers throughout the world:

--CC 1000 -- top end multi-application card. In the Netherlands, the CC 1000 is used as an e-purse, loyalty card and for a variety of other applications by 15 million users of the "Chipknip" cards issued by Interpay Nederland, a Proton World licensee.

--CC Duo -- Contact/contactless card, launched last year, which combines the advantages of both Proton and contactless technologies.

The CC 200 Plus is fully compliant with Proton R3.1 specifications. Files are managed according to the rules defined by EMV 96 (Europay-Mastercard-VISA). All members of Bull's CC card family are accepted in existing terminals without the need for any modifications.

Renewed Customer Trust

A large number of banks, particularly in Belgium, Sweden and Mexico, have already renewed their trust in Bull by ordering the CC 200 Plus, thus confirming their confidence both in Proton technology and in Bull's CC Cash Cards used in national scale roll-outs in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden.

Maximum Security

Using its unrivalled experience in the banking sector, Bull has incorporated its most recent security research into the CC 200 Plus. The CC 200 Plus records the complete history of the card's content-sensitive access operations in order to detect any possible attempts at fraud.

Powerful and Multi-functional

With 2 KB of memory, the CC 200 Plus is the ideal platform for additional applications such as customer loyalty schemes, transport ticketing, telephone services, security access and payment over the Internet. Apart from its memory capacity, there are no limits as to the number of applications that can be loaded.

With an operating speed of 115,200 bits per second, the CC 200 Plus can be used easily to encrypt and decrypt data for secure messaging. Finally, the CC 200 Plus makes it possible for merchants to load new applications directly at the point of sale (i.e., "dynamic" loading).

Acknowledgement of the Cash Cards Range

Bull's CC range received the European Information Technologies Prize in 1997. Awarded by the European Commission, this prize is a recognition of technological innovation in response to market requirements.

About Proton World

PROTON WORLD was created by major smart card players (American Express, Banksys, ERG, Interpay and Visa International) to give a boost to common smart card and electronic purse standards. Proton World is a high-technology company that delivers global smart card solutions worldwide. It continues the development and licensing of Proton smart card applications, which have already been licensed in 16 countries.

The Proton technology is the most broadly implemented in national roll-outs and is the most actively used worldwide. The Proton-based smart card schemes have together performed more than 92 million purse transactions since they have been introduced. It also has the largest acceptance base, with more than 247,000 terminals.

Multiple applications are available today on the Proton platform, including electronic commerce, access control, loyalty schemes, telecommunications services, mass transit, university campus cards etc.

Proton will support a variety of technologies and specifications to deliver open, interoperable and global smart card solutions. It will support and implement the Common Electronic Purse Specifications (CEPS) to ensure interoperability of electronic purse schemes worldwide.

For more information, please visit www.protonworld.com.

About Bull Smart Cards & Terminals

Bull Smart Cards & Terminals is the industry leader in the field of secured financial transactions. Bull designs, develops and markets global smart card solutions for financial, loyalty, transport, telecommunications, healthcare and other applications. Products include contact-contactless cards plus a full range of general purpose and EFT/POS terminals (in partnership with Ingenico), automated teller machines, as well as associated software and services.

Bull Smart Cards & Terminals is the acknowledged industry leader in research, development and security related to smart cards and related terminals. The company is also the worldwide leader in electronic purse cards. Since inventing the microprocessor smart card in 1976, Bull has obtained more than 1,200 patents in the field, and has received certification for smart card security that is the highest level ever achieved by a smart card.

In 1998, Bull Smart Cards & Terminals earned revenues of $210 million. Through the Bull international network, the division achieves 80 percent of its revenue outside France.

More information on these activities can be found on the World Wide Web at: www.cp8.bull.net

CP8 is a trademark of Bull S.A.

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