Smart Cards                      memory/microcontroller cards
Samrt Cards Are Easy to Program
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
GEMPLUS Card International offers four families of smart cards
that range from simple memory cards to microcontroller cards with
on-board single chip processors and memory. The cards contain a
Chip Operating System that makes them easy to program,
according to the company.
 
You can use the cards for a variety of applications, thanks to
the large memory capacity, high internal standard logic, and
stand-alone computer capabilities. You can use them for
identification support and for authenticating date exchanges
during transactions.
 
The Chip Operating System manages I/O, communication protocols,
and logical addressing and dynamic allocation of user memory. It
also handles access security in reading and writing modes, and
lets you add subroutines to the base code, permitting
customization.
 
All four card families offer low-cost options that use EPROMs,
which you can program once, or EEPROMs, which you can reprogram.
Memory sizes range from 2K bytes to 6K bytes. Personalization
tools are available on IBM XT and Macintosh computers.
 
Price: Not available.
 
Contact: GEMPLUS Card International, Parc d'Avtivites, de la
Plaine de Jouques, Avenue de Pic de Bertagne, 13881 Gemenos
Cedex, France, 33-42-32-50-00.
 
                              --- Martha Hicks
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
