1999-09-06 , ESC-9980
Business News From Philips Semiconductors

Philips Semiconductors' high security smart card controller P8WE5032 has been chosen by Visa International for its second generation merchant card, developed to support the Visa Cash program. Merchant cards, also known as PSAMs (Purchase Secure Application Modules), are used to validate and protect reader terminals, which are then enabled to accept, authenticate and respond to Visa Cash consumer cards securely and without misuse. Visa's decision to use the Philips Semiconductors' P8WE5032 acts as proof of its confidence in the high security provided by this smart card chip.

"For the second generation Visa merchant card we needed to offer exceptional security and functionality to our members, together with greater performance and memory sizes. The built in high-speed triple DES processing option has the potential of allowing Visa Cash terminals to be used for secure contactless transactions, using dual interface card IC technology", explains Philip Yen, senior vice president, Emerging Technology, Visa International. "We are confident that this highly advanced chip from Philips Semiconductors will help us to chart the way forward by significantly increasing cash transfer security," adds Mr Yen.

"This joint co-operation with Visa is another important success for our WE family targeted at high security applications and shows the industry's trust in our sophisticated smart card ICs", comments Alexander Harrer, product line manager Chip Card ICs at Philips Semiconductors. "Philips is fully committed to providing the smart card industry with products that meet the highest security standards and has proven once more its flexibility and ability to counter security threats quickly and efficiently."

Philips Semiconductors' new WE range is the world's first smart card controller family based on 8-inch wafers with 0.35 µm feature size. The product family features high-speed triple-DES coprocessor as well as Philips 32-bit coprocessor FameX for public key encryption. It offers a memory capacity of up to 32 Kbyte EEPROM, 64 Kbyte ROM and 2.3 Kbyte RAM as well as a contactless MIFARE interface option according to ISO 14443 A.

The significantly enhanced security features of the WE range have been evaluated by independent authorities. As a result, the P8WE5032 chip has already been approved by the German Central Credit Control Committee of Banks (Zentraler Kreditausschuß, ZKA) for the German GeldKarte project, while an ITSEC E 4 High evaluation is planned by the end of this year.

As the "World's Best Way to Pay," Visa is the leading payment brand and the largest payment system in the world with more volume than all other major payment cards combined. Visa plays a pivotal role in advancing new payment products and technologies to benefit its 21,000 member financial institutions and their cardholders. Visa has more than 70 smart card programs in 33 countries and on the Internet, with 23 million Visa chip cards, including eight million Visa Cash cards. Visa is pioneering SET Secure Electronic Transaction™ programs to enable and advance Internet commerce. There are over 850 million Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink, PLUS and Visa Cash cards, which generate more than US$1.4 trillion in annual volume. Visa-branded cards are accepted at over 17 million worldwide locations, including at more than 500,000 ATMs in the Visa Global ATM Network. Visa's Internet address is  www.visa.com.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eighth largest semiconductor supplier in the world. Philips Semiconductors is a leader with a proven reputation in the development and production of high security controllers and contactless smart card ICs as well as in components for radio frequency identification. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by regional application labs. Additional information on Philips Semiconductors can be obtained by accessing its home page at http://www.semiconductors.philips.com

MIFARE® is a registered trademark of Royal Philips Electronics