Hewlett-Packard, Gemplus, and Informix Partner to Develop Secure Personal Information Cards

Hewlett-Packard Company, Gemplus, and Informix have joined forces to create a secure personal information card that allows consumers to manage their personal data and access multiple services with a single interactive card. The alliance aims to deliver a secure infrastructure for international commerce, overcoming current export restrictions on encryption technology. The personal information card will be more convenient than today's retail cards, allowing consumers to store and manage their personal data securely, with access to multiple service providers.

Key Takeaways:

• The alliance will develop a secure personal information card that carries several thousand times the amount of data carried by currently available smart cards, with data fully encrypted for secure international communication.
• The card will be more secure since it contains a tamperproof processor that fully encrypts all transactions to and from the card.
• The personal information card will allow consumers to access multiple services with a single card, eliminating the need for separate cards from each service provider.
• The alliance will demonstrate the personal-information-card solution in Geneva at Telecom '95, showcasing how a single card can access multiple services.
• Gemplus, the world leader in the plastic card industry, will contribute advanced smart-card technology to the alliance, while Informix will provide database and middleware technologies.
• HP will contribute server, encryption, middleware, and networking technologies to the alliance, including the international cryptography framework standard.
• The personal information card will meet the needs of businesses, the Internet, and governments for secure business transactions and messages.
• The card will also allow service providers, such as financial institutions, telecommunications companies, and airlines, to provide customers with individualized service on a single card.

Statistics:

• 850 million cards produced annually by Gemplus, the world leader in the plastic card industry.
• 1,200 jobs and a turnover of 1,084 million francs per year for Gemplus at the end of 1994.
• Over 80 countries worldwide supplied with Gemplus cards in applications such as information highways, multimedia, banking, and telecommunications.
• $19.6 billion in computer revenue for HP in its 1994 fiscal year, making it the second-largest computer supplier in the United States.
• 99,900 employees and revenue of $25 billion in its 1994 fiscal year for HP.

Sources:

• Hewlett-Packard Company press release (date not specified)
• Gemplus press release (date not specified)
• Informix Software press release (date not specified)
• Note to editors (date not specified)