SSP-Litronic Launch jForté© Multi-Application Smart Card

A U.S.-made, owned and influenced solution, jForté© provides a high assurance foundation for identity and access management, privacy and secure communications needs and applications. The jForté© smart cards design, security mechanisms and manufacturing processes all received critical oversight from key government agencies throughout the entire development lifecycle. By leveraging Suns Java Card technology, jForté© provides a powerful, secure and flexible solution for enterprise smart card applications. A unique system on a chip architecture -- which involved close collaboration on the integrated circuit chip (ICC) and operating system designs -- balances key needs for higher security, interoperability, ease of use and cost. The jForté© card supports a variety of government and commercial applications. Besides enhancing traditional smart card-based ID solutions with strong authentication, application and network access, and badging, the jForté© card can also be used to support biometric and contactless (ISO/IEC 14443) applications for which high assurance is required. From a technology standpoint, jForté© features a high performance 32-bit RISC CPU core, cryptographic accelerator support, multiple certificate storage capacity, and a dual mode interface that adds flexibility and performance by supporting both standard ISO and high speed USB communication. The cards GlobalPlatform architecture allows secure administration and management within SSP-Litronics Enterprise Credential Management System or other existing industry standard card management systems. Secure remote administration and management allows operating system, application and cryptographic algorithm updates to be downloaded to smart cards already deployed in the field. Combined with Java Card technology, this greatly reduces total cost of ownership for enterprises considering a highly secure multi-application smart card implementation. The jForté© smart card is in the process of FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification. The FIPS 140-2 standard defines U.S. federal government requirements for IT products implementing cryptography. Level 3 provides for identity-based authentication and is one of the highest levels of certification. The first shipments of the jForté© smart card will begin in July to a number of key government customers.