STRATEGIC PARTNERS
March 4, 2002
HONG KONG -- American Express is licensing its smart card multiple application framework to more than a dozen industry leaders.
This represents a significant step toward promoting interoperability among a wide range of smart card applications, especially in the travel and entertainment industries.
The multiple application framework is being licensed to Cards Etc, Continental Airlines, De La Rue, Discover Card, Europay International, HTEC, IBM, MasterCard International, Microsoft, Orga Card Systems, Proton World, Sun Microsystems and Tesa Entry Systems. In addition, Visa International has expressed its intent to license the framework.
The American Express smart card framework contains a detailed description of the data, files, and structure of the multiple functions and applications contained on a smart card. The framework currently supports the following functionalities: personal profile; corporate/government agency profile; airline, hotel, car rental, charge; credit; and physical access.
American Express also announced the formation of the Interoperability Consortium, an independent and open body that will govern the multiple application framework standard.
The consortium will ensure an open process for proposing and considering changes to the framework, certify compliance and promote the specification. One of the consortium's first steps will be to create a set of common commands for multiple applications based on the framework. These commands will help ensure interoperability, allowing applications to work on any smart card platform, including Multos, Java Card and Smart Card for Windows.
