FARGO ELECTRONICS JOINS GLOBALPLATFORM

4 December, 2006 – Fargo Electronics has joined the membership of international standards body, GlobalPlatform, in a move which demonstrates the company’s commitment to the development and marketing of interoperable standards across the entire smart card infrastructure.

Fargo Electronics, a leading player in the development of secure technologies for identity card issuance systems, joins GlobalPlatform as a Participating Member and will add its voice to the work of the GlobalPlatform Systems Committee.

The Systems Committee designs infrastructures for single and multi-application smart card programs and develops associated requirements, specifications and guidelines. A current work priority of the committee is to finalize the GlobalPlatform Systems Compliance Program, the first phase of which was launched in November 2006.

“Fargo is driven to provide security solutions based on open specifications for smart cards,” comments John Ekers, Fargo’s Director of Product Marketing for Software and Systems. “GlobalPlatform’s cross-industry membership helps us collaborate with key industry players to develop these solutions.”

Fargo Electronics will also join other member organizations by serving in an advisory capacity on GlobalPlatform’s Advisory Council. The Council not only proposes work tasks and initiatives for the association, but also serves as a consultant body to the GlobalPlatform Executive Director and Board of Directors with regard to business and implementation issues.

Bob Beer, GlobalPlatform Chairman, adds: “Fargo Electronics is a very welcome addition to the GlobalPlatform membership. Participation of its representatives on the GlobalPlatform Systems Committee will not only add great value to the committee’s work efforts, but will also help to strengthen the visibility of GlobalPlatform Specifications as a relevant and future-proof technology option within the global ID market place.

“A number of high profile ID deployments across the world, such as the US Department of Defense’s Common Access Card and the national ID programs in countries such as Qatar, Oman and Morocco are already based on GlobalPlatform standards. Working alongside Fargo and other members, GlobalPlatform’s goal is to extend the reach and implementation of its specifications even further in the ID space, making GlobalPlatform technology the open platform of choice for ID deployments worldwide.”