Axalto is Consolidating Leadership Position in the Public Sector Market

Due to increasing international security concerns, governments are looking to offer fast and reliable on-line services to citizens in a trusted environment, and to reduce their administration operational costs. As the smart card is able to increase citizen security while ensuring that privacy is not compromised, governments are showing strong interest in smart card technology to support their requirements, and Axalto is currently involved in most of the major projects. Some of the key public sector projects in which Axalto is engaged include: - The Belgian Personal Identity Card (BelPIC) is the first large scale deployment of electronic ID cards in Europe. As the first country in the European Union to supply its entire population with a citizen card, Belgium is being closely watched as a pioneer of public sector implementations. The smart card includes the usual identity features (name, photo, date of birth) and enables holders to securely authenticate themselves when accessing e-government applications (tax return, e-voting, obtaining civil records, declaration of household employees, etc.), their social security file, or possible future private applications, such as payment and reservation for cultural events. Belgium citizens will also be able to put their own electronic signature to digital documents such as declarations or application forms, which will have the same value as the documents that are currently signed by hand. More than 10 million cards are to be produced and distributed to Belgium citizens over the next three years. Axalto, which provided the smart card technology and security expertise, has worked with system integrator Zetes on this program. - The SESAM Vitale health card is the most important existing public sector microprocessor-based project in the world in terms of volume, representing almost 60 million cards. Launched in 1998 in France, the SESAM Vitale health smart card system enables all stakeholders in the healthcare equation to conduct secure and authorized electronic transactions, and allows the French Healthcare authority to significantly cut administrative costs. Axalto designed the patient and health professional cards operating systems, obtained trusted third party ITSEC security certificates, and manufactures the majority of the cards. The Common Access Card program for The American Department of Defense (DoD) marks a major step in the adoption of smart card technology in the US. The contract was awarded to EDS, BearingPoint and NorthrupGrumman who selected Axalto for the delivery of millions of Cyberflex Access? smart cards to over 1,000 DoD locations worldwide. The Axalto smart cards enable the personnel of the DoD across the globe to perform secure logical/physical access and e-transactions. The CAC program shows the leadership role DoD took in leveraging the benefits of smart card within the public sector. It still represents the biggest contract ever won in smart cards for secure logical access, confirming the leadership of Axalto in secure ID solution for governments and enterprises. On the technical side, Axalto was the world?s first ever to supply DoD with FIPS 140-1 level 2 certified Javaä cards for PKI applications. - In India, drivers? license and vehicle registration are now based and certified on a smart card by Axalto. Axalto is the first company to be SCOSTA (Smart Card Operating System for Transport Application) certified by the Indian Ministry of Road Transport and the Ministry of Communication and IT. Aiming for up to 150 million cards, this project highlights many essential aspects of the smart card application for national programs, simultaneously providing human and machine readable identity through a cost-effective and convenient portable device that does not mandate heavy communication infrastructure, with a technology protecting citizens? rights and privacy, ready for future evolutions.