Inside Contactless awarded for innovation
29 June, 2007
category: Contactless, Financial, NFC
Frost & Sullivan presented Inside Contactless with the 2007 Global Award for Industry Innovation and Advancement in the field of contactless technologies. The award is bestowed each year upon a company that has proven to be a leader in the industry through its pioneering technology, sound business strategy, and research efforts. Inside Contactless is currently working on creating products that integrate new capabilities into smartcards, mobile phones, point of sales terminals, PCs and consumer electronic devices.
Inside Contactless Recognized for Excellence in Innovation in Contactless Technologies
LONDON, June 29 – Frost & Sullivan presents Inside Contactless with the 2007 Global Award for Industry Innovation and Advancement in the field of contactless technologies. The company has displayed excellence in all areas of technology innovation, advancement of the industry through research, strategy development and the ability to conceptualise industry activities, while successfully addressing customer needs.
“Dedicated exclusively to contactless technology, Inside Contactless is a fabless company that designs high performance chipsets and ensures secure, fast as well as reliable transactions in payment, access control, transport and electronic identification,” notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Nikita Seth. “Currently, the company is working on creating products that integrate new capabilities into smartcards, mobile phones, point of sales terminals, PCs and consumer electronic devices.”
Inside Contactless has a strong product and service offering in the NFC arena. Its product portfolio includes ‘PicoRead’ and ‘MicroRead’, which offer easy integration of contactless chips into devices. They comply with international standard protocols and are equipped to communicate with contactless interfaces with existing readers worldwide.
‘MicroRead’ is an NFC chip that can be incorporated into mobile phones, PDAs or PCs, to operate them as RF readers and contactless smartcards or RF tags. “It has the advantage of being a low-cost, low-power, versatile solution, something that the industry and its participants seek when adopting a new, emerging technology,” remarks Seth. “It has cryptographic functions and is designed on the ‘Single Wire Protocol’ (SWP) interface with the SIM card.”
Inside Contactless is working closely with Gemalto to define SWP, the new interface between the SIM card and the NFC chip. Early this year, Inside Contactless announced its cooperation with Infineon, which aims to combine the NFC capacities of Inside Contactless and Infineon’s secured connectivity technology, which will bring banking services to converge on the handset. In the context of contactless payment, the company’s MicroPass solution is available primarily in the United States. However support is also extended to programs in Canada, Philippines, Australia and Guatemala. The solution is available from Gemalto, G&D, Oberthur, CPI, and PPP, which are the major card manufacturers in the United States. There are 11 Visa products and 9 MasterCard card products available from the channel partners of Inside Contactless, which contain MicroPass. In addition, MicroPass has been the basis for the only qualified Discover Zip implementation. Inside Contactless has recently announced a toolkit that will allow for value-added applications in the areas of transit, access control and retailer loyalty that can be developed alongside open standard bank card payments. The company is the first in the industry to announce such capability for contactless payments.
“To conclude, the industry recognizes the company’s product offerings which are guided through principles benefiting the whole ecosystem,” states Seth. “The innovative features which include the SIM-friendly architecture, optimised silicon design, mobile-friendly integration and consistent application development give it a strategic positioning that sets it apart from the rest of the participants.”
The Frost & Sullivan Award for Industry Innovation and Advancement is bestowed each year upon a company that has proven to be a leader in the industry through its pioneering technology, sound business strategy and research efforts. The company’s excellence in the field has extended beyond its technical advancements and encompasses a comprehensive view of market participants, resulting in an ongoing improvement in the industry over time. This Award recognizes the company for its broader, more comprehensive participation in the industry and its contributions to the advancement of the market.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company’s industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics and demographics. For more information, visit http://www.awards.frost.com.
About INSIDE Contactless
As the only fabless semiconductor company focused exclusively upon contactless chip platforms, INSIDE Contactless is a market leader in Near Field Communication (NFC), contactless payments, and access control. Innovation in contactless technology has led to essential NFC technology patents granted to INSIDE along with more than 55 other patents. INSIDE is the #1 market share company in contactless payment market in the US with more than 20 million chip platforms delivered to card manufacturer partners and more than 12 leading bank card issuers. More than 25 key partners around the globe, including HID, Giesecke & Devrient, and SAGEM, have successfully delivered contactless products such as payment & access cards, point of sale terminals, NFC enabled mobile handsets, and other products which are ‘powered by INSIDE’. INSIDE Contactless is headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, France, with offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Poland, San Francisco, and Boston. For more information, please visit http://www.insidecontactless.com.
Explore more developments dealing with the implementation of Near Field Communications, a short-range wireless technology that promises to revolutionize contactless identification, payment, access, and more. Click to visit NFCNews.