News

Sharp, IBM announce 1-megabyte smart card

April 17, 2005

CAMAS, Wash. - Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas announced in a news release that Sharp Corporation and IBM have completed the porting of IBM's Java Card Open Platform, an embedded operating system based on Java technology, to operate on Sharp's 1-megabyte SmartCard. The Integrated Circuit modules and cards are planned to ship in the middle of May 2005.

The IC card developed in this effort will make it possible to have a card equipped with multiple functions that include credit, employee card, membership card and highly secure electronic identification. Various new applications can also be added as required after the cards are issued.

Since IC cards can store more information and can be safer than magnetic-strip cards, they have come into wide use in a variety of fields. These include public organizations and the financial, transportation, and private-business sectors. In the future, increased demand is expected for multi-purpose cards combining multiple functions in a single card.

Sharp's IC cards use Flash memory technology to provide a 1-megabyte total memory space, compared to conventional IC cards with a capacity ranging from 16 to 64 kilobytes. Sharp has one-chip CPU cards which support both contact and non-contact applications, implementing the ISO 14443 Type B interface.

A member of the IBM WebSphere Everyplace Chip Operating System family, IBM JCOP was developed in 1997 as an operating system to be embedded in IC cards. JCOP can run applications at high speeds on small-scale processors as well as on memory chips. JCOP supports the Java programming language and its free Eclipse Foundation based development tools can enable easy development of diverse applications in an open-platform environment.

"The successful porting of JCOP to SHARP's 1-megabyte Flash silicon is a major advance for IBM Client Technologies and yet another milestone in JCOP's continuing success," said Gregor McElvogue, IBM product manager, client technologies. "The combination of JCOP's small, fast, flexible footprint and SHARP's substantial available card memory can broaden the applicability and acceptability of smart-card-based solutions across multiple industries and markets."

Sharp and IBM Japan have worked to successfully equip Sharp's large-capacity IC card with JCOP31, the high-end, on-card, biometry-enabled PK dual-interface edition of JCOP. JCOP31 supports various industry standards as well as encryption and authentication functions, including Java Card specifications 2.2.1, which define a Java platform for IC cards, and GlobalPlatform specifications 2.1.1, the world standards for enabling multifunctional IC cards. It can help make it possible to help prevent unauthorized practices for applications, such as falsification, by implementing high-level security functions. It supports the Advanced Encryption Standard, the U.S. government's next-generation standard encryption scheme, and the Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem, an encryption scheme that can enable users to obtain a high level of security using short key lengths.

In the future, Sharp and IBM Japan intend to propose products and services making the best use of large-capacity Flash memory and JCOP, contributing to a safe and more convenient IC card society that provides users with a sense of security.