Sun Microsystems today announced new initiatives to accelerate the worldwide adoption of Java Card technology-based smart cards. Under the new "Java Card S" program, Sun is growing the market for Java Card technology, allowing Java Card licensees to incorporate the technology in an extended range of smart card products and address a wider variety of smart card needs. Sun also announced that the Java Card Protection Profile, which reduces the time and complexity to complete security evaluations under Common Criteria, received final certification from La Direction Centrale de la Securite des Systemes d'Information (DCSSI), one of the most widely respected Common Criteria certification bodies. The new Java Card 2.2.1 Platform Specification and Development Kit, which eases application development and provides enhancements to facilitate alignment with smart card industry standards, are also now available for download.
"Java Card products lead the industry for dynamic, secure, multi- application smart cards around the world. With the new initiatives announced today, Sun is further accelerating the smart card market by bringing the benefits of Java technology to a wider variety of smart card products," said Peter Cattaneo, director of Java Card Business, Sun Microsystems. "The new 'Java Card S' program allows Sun licensees to develop and produce cards using multi-application Java Card technology at a cost competitive to traditional proprietary fixed-function cards, greatly expanding opportunities in the smart card market."
The innovative new "Java Card S" program allows card issuers to purchase cards with a wide range of prices and capabilities while still leveraging the benefits of Java Card technology and using the same Java Card applets. This dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of application development, functional testing, security evaluation and application lifecycle maintenance for developers, card manufacturers and licensees.
"Sun Microsystems' 'Java Card S' initiative is a great step forward to drive smart card interoperability and further accelerate the market," said Henry Dreifus, CEO of Dreifus Associates. "Extending its common Java Card framework to enabling entry-level markets, Sun is further opening the industry toward any card, any reader, any time capability."
The new "Java Card S" program enables Java Card licensees to derive fixed function smart cards from existing Java card technology. "Java Card S" products have all the functionalities and security of standard Java Card smart cards except for dynamic post-issuance applet download capability. Java Card technology has set the standard for efficient and cost-effective application development, maintenance, testing, and performance of security evaluations.
With more than 400 million units deployed, Java Card technology is the platform of choice for powerful, multi-application smart cards in mobile telephony, financial services, government, healthcare, Enterprise ID and other markets. Enabling multiple applications to co-exist on a single card, Java Card technology is one of the best mechanisms of ensuring privacy, trust and security on the network. Organizations around the globe -- from the United States Department of Defense, the Bureau of National Health Insurance of Taiwan, to the Government of Belgium -- rely on Java Card technology for secure digital identity.
Today, Sun also announced the Java Card Protection Profile has received final certification from DCSSI. The Java Card Protection Profile is now publicly available, and helps Java Card licensees to meet the increasing demand by banks, governments and other card issuers for security evaluations.
This Protection Profile provides a modular set of security requirements designed specifically for the characteristics of the Java Card platform. It reduces the time and cost for Java Card licensees to complete security evaluations under Common Criteria. The methodology used for the Java Card Protection Profile represents a breakthrough in the world of security evaluations, as it is specifically designed to accommodate the flexible, modular and open characteristics of Java Card technology.
"Trusted Logic is proud to witness the DCSSI certification of the Java Card Protection Profile, crowning months of development efforts with Sun Microsystems. With the Java Card Protection Profile, Sun Microsystems moves the state of the art one step further and paves the way for even more secure Java Card products," said Dominique Bolignano, President and CEO of Trusted Logic. "Trusted Logic has already anticipated this move and ensured compliance with the Java Card Protection Profile in the Common Criteria EAL7 evaluation of a generic implementation of Java Card technology."
The Java Card 2.2.1 Platform Specification and Java Card 2.2.1 Development Kit are now available. This is the latest release of the successful Java Card platform with enhancements to help smart card vendors, issuers and developers deploy secure and interoperable card services. It also delivers targeted enhancements to align Java Card technology with smart card industry standards including GlobalPlatform and ETSI/SCP. Java Card 2.2.1 is fully backward compatible with previous versions of Java Card technology.
This new release builds on the Java Card 2.2 Platform Specification, which provides a set of enhancements facilitating the design and deployment of innovative secure services using Java Card technology:
- Advanced support for wireless standards -- Provides issuers with access to more sophisticated and interoperable services through logical channel support requested by standards organizations, such as European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), Third Generation Partner Project (3GPP) and Wireless Access Protocol (WAP).
- Improved memory management -- Enables issuers to optimize use of memory space on a smart card.
- Easier design and development of applications -- Allows developers to design applications more easily by enabling the use of Java technology for both the card and terminal.
- Improvements for compatibility -- Helps manufacturers ensure compliance of implementations to provide issuers with flexibility and choice in selecting interoperable smart card offerings.
- Next-generation security enhancements -- Provides issuers with more security options by supporting AES and Elliptic Curve cryptographic algorithms.
- Backward compatibility -- Java Card version 2.1 applications will run on the Java Card technology version 2.2.1 platform without any modifications, thereby ensuring a smooth transition for scores of applications available today on millions of Java Card technology-enabled smart cards.