Schlumberger to design advanced Visa Cash payment application.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 1997--

Electronic cash smart cards for UK to

use ultra-secure public-key encryption 

Schlumberger Electronic Transactions, in partnership with Motorola, is to work with Visa to design the application software for an advanced new version of the electronic purse smart card, Visa Cash.

The project will be one of the first mass consumer smart card applications in the world to employ `public key' encryption. This technology, which optimizes security and can eliminate the need for on-line authorization, is made possible by an economic new chip from Motorola incorporating a math co-processor.

Visa Cash will be introduced in Leeds, England, towards the end of 1997. The pilot will last for one year and may then be extended nationally.

The project is being managed by an international design team from Motorola and Schlumberger, based in Europe and at Schlumberger's west coast technical center in San Jose, USA. This approach is allowing Schlumberger to work closely with Visa International's headquarters, and with local Visa staff charged with implementation in Europe. The Schlumberger team on this project also worked on the Visa Cash e-purse application kicked-off in the Atlanta region in time for the Olympics - a scheme which is playing an influential role in demonstrating the advantages of electronic money or `e-cash'.

Schlumberger's new operating system for the UK Visa Cash project will provide e-purse functions combined with an encryption algorithm known as RSA. Most current encryption systems are based primarily on the DES algorithm, which codes and decodes data using a single secret key. RSA uses two keys: one public and freely available, the other private and different for each individual. The private key remains embedded in the card at all times, and is only used for internal calculations, making it much more difficult to break and providing a potent form of security. In addition, public key encryption technology also greatly simplifies the management of keys for payment scheme operators.

The public key technique is so powerful that it is widely regarded as the means by which payment services - and other transactions - can be made secure when used on open networks like Internet.

Schlumberger's expertise in the field of smart card operating systems and secure electronic payment transactions is crucial to this design contract, which has been awarded following several years of pioneering work in the financial smart card field. Schlumberger played a key role in developing application software support for the EMV Europay-MasterCard-Visa transaction standard, and has been Visa's smart card design partner since 1994. The company has also become the leading supplier of cards for the Visa Cash electronic purse, currently being trialled in numerous countries around the world, supplying more than 1 million cards to date.

A key aspect of Schlumberger's application software is the modularity of its operating system technology. Visa Cash functionality will be provided in the form of a secure independent application which may be combined easily with multiple further programs. This approach allows Visa to provide its member financial institutions with a very flexible and rapid means of implementing e-cash applications in unique forms for their local markets. Card issuers can combine e-cash functionality with credit, debit or ATM cards for example, as well as other unique applications such as loyalty schemes.

Six leading UK financial organizations are involved in the UK trial: Abbey National, Barclays, Co-operative Bank, Halifax, Lloyds/TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland. Around 70,000 cards will be issued initially.

Schlumberger Electronic Transactions is a unit of Schlumberger Ltd. and supplies cards, terminals and management systems across the entire range of magnetic and chip card applications. As the industry's leading single-source supplier, the company's transaction solutions include telecommunications, retail and banking, retail petroleum, parking and mass transit ticketing systems, health-care records and payment management systems, and cards and systems for college campuses. The company produces hundreds of millions of cards annually as both private and government sectors move toward cashless, paperless transactions.

Drawing upon Schlumberger's presence in more than 100 countries, and with design and manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia, Electronic Transactions has products and services for secure, convenient financial and data transactions for its clients and their customers.

http://www.slb.com/et

For more information, or to schedule interviews, please contact:

Media: Steve Acken/Deb Montner Environics Communications [phone] ext. 12/14 [e-mail] [e-mail]

Business: Tom Lebsack Schlumberger Electronic Transactions [phone] ext. 357

CONTACT: Media:

Steve Acken/Deb Montner

Environics Communications

[phone] ext. 12/14

[e-mail]

[e-mail]

or

Business:

Tom Lebsack

Schlumberger Electronic Transactions

[phone] ext. 357