1999-10-04 , ESC-9983
Business News From Philips Semiconductors

Building on its successful WE-range, Philips Semiconductors today launched MIFARE® PROX, the first family of powerful high-security dual interface smart card controller ICs suitable for multi-service cards. The applications for the new dual interface IC range are manifold, ranging from banking to e-commerce and secured network access, which demand a very high level of security. The convenience and speed of the contactless interface will also benefit applications such as ticketing, electronic purse and identification - providing the technical platform for a person's 'mobility card'.

The extended level of security and functionality needed for multi-service cards, previously only possible in contact applications, is for the first time achievable with the contactless interface on MIFARE PROX dual interface ICs. Additionally, Philips Semiconductors' unique smart card hardware firewall, with memory management unit (MMU) implemented on-chip, allows for secure separation of different applications from one another, allowing a particular application to run in 'virtual memory space', with no access to other memory on the chip and therefore other applications.

"Being ideally suited to high level languages and operating systems, such as Java or Multos, MIFARE PROX will become the target platform for multi-service cards, which end users can use for both contact and contactless applications", comments Alexander Harrer, product line manager Chip Card ICs at Philips Semiconductors. " Supporting recently defined banking industry standards, including EMV (the Europay, Mastercard and Visa standard for credit and debit) and CEPS (Common Electronic Purse Standard), this new range enables service providers to offer user-friendly e-purse schemes."

The MIFARE PROX dual interface IC family is based on the evaluated high-security features of the WE-range, the world's first and widely accepted smart card controller family manufactured on 8-inch wafers with 0.35 µm feature size. In addition to a triple-DES coprocessor and the optional 32-bit FameX crypto-engine, this new range provides a contact and a contactless MIFARE interface on a single chip as well as a unique smart card hardware firewall. P8RF5016 is the first member of the MIFARE PROX range, with FameX, the most accepted accelerator for public key encryption such as RSA or elliptic curves, and a triple DES coprocessor. The chip offers memory of 64 Kbytes user ROM, 2.3 Kbytes RAM and 16 Kbytes EEPROM.

The contactless interface of the MIFARE PROX is fully compatible with the widely installed and accepted MIFARE interface technology, complying with ISO/IEC 14443 A, the international standard for contactless smart cards, while the contact interface complies with ISO/IEC 7816.

With products available by Q2 year 2000, the MIFARE PROX range is based on a proven and security evaluated contact and contactless technology platform. The ICs will undergo security evaluations according to ITSEC and Common Criteria (CC), two widely recognised evaluation guidelines, in the second half of the year 2000.

MIFARE PROX was defined within the context of a project funded by the German government (BMBF), supporting the development of an IC-card based solution (MobiChip) to optimise traffic and transportation in large cities. Not only the technical basis for this project, MIFARE PROX also extensively supports the idea of a multi-application mobility platform and related security requirements, allowing services to migrate to the MobiChip concept.

Fully in accordance with ISO/IEC 14443 A, Philips Semiconductors' MIFARE interface technology is the industry standard for contactless smart cards and used in 85 % of all contactless smart card schemes; with more than 45 million card ICs in use and over 450,000 read/write units in operation worldwide.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eighth largest semiconductor supplier based on Dataquest's 1998 report*. Philips Semiconductors is a leader with a proven reputation in the development and production of high security controller ICs 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

*Based on Vendor Revenue from Shipments of Total Semiconductors Worldwide according to Dataquest's 1998 Worldwide Semiconductor Market Share report published in May, 1999.

MIFARE® is a registered trademark of Royal Philips Electronics.