Interview with Kevin Gillick - Executive Director of GlobalPlatform

What is GlobalPlatform?

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, GlobalPlatform is the worldwide leader in the development of specifications that support smart card infrastructure interoperability. Its proven and widely deployed technical specifications for cards, devices and systems are known as the standard for smart card infrastructure. As an independent, not-for-profit organization, our strategy is defined and prioritized by a member-elected Board of Directors. GlobalPlatform Specifications are available royalty-free and have been adopted globally by many public and private bodies.

What are the goals and priorities of the organization?

The overarching goal of GlobalPlatform is to maintain and drive adoption of its technical specifications which provide an open and interoperable infrastructure for smart cards, devices and systems.

Two key areas of focus for GlobalPlatform at present include:

Contactless Mobile Services - GlobalPlatform aims to mitigate the risk of standards fracturing at this critical time of payment applications being deployed on NFC enabled mobile devices by harmonizing specifications and simplifying the adoption of specification technology.
Government Credentials - The association is currently developing and documenting solutions to assist governments seeking to source open and interoperable components – on a non-discriminatory basis – from technology suppliers and integrators. As part of this, GlobalPlatform is enhancing technology to support more rigorous cryptographic standards and the incorporation of biometrics as well as responding to new citizen requirements on privacy related to contactless applications.

Who are the member companies of this organization and what are their main goals?

All parties with an interest in smart card deployment can become a member of GlobalPlatform and contribute to its important industry activity. Currently, the GlobalPlatform membership comprises organizations from Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas, from sectors such as payment, mobile telecommunications, transit, healthcare and retail. GlobalPlatform’s membership continues to grow, and so far in 2009 we have welcomed six new members: Applus+ Corporation, CARDigence, Ericsson AB, Galitt, PayPal, Ranycon Technologies, SBA Technologies and Smart Card Laboratory Inc.

How does GlobalPlatform differ from other smart card organizations?

GlobalPlatform is the only organization that is focused on establishing standards for interoperability across the entire smart card infrastructure, and that can support both single and multi-application smart card schemes. The association is also truly independent as its technology is platform neutral.

As a result of GlobalPlatform’s technical ability and cross-market member representation, it is ideally placed to facilitate technical discussions as markets coverage. As part of this process within the mobile services landscape, for example, it has formed strong allegiances with industry bodies including EMVCo, the European Payments Council, GSMA and ETSI – to name a few!

In what sectors have you experienced the most success?

GlobalPlatform conservatively estimates that over 305.7 million GlobalPlatform technology enabled cards have been deployed to date. Of the cards issued:
· 45% (137.6 million cards) has been by governments, primarily for ID and healthcare applications;
· 32.7% (100 million cards) has been by the mobile telecommunications sector;
· 21.9% (66.9 million cards) has been by the financial sector;
· 0.4% (1.2 million cards) has been by the transit sector.

An additional two billion mid range USIM/SIM cards worldwide are currently estimated to use GlobalPlatform card technology to enable over-the-air (OTA) application downloads for 3G and GSM mobile networks. It is expected that these figures will rise significantly throughout 2009.

What are the benefits of deploying GlobalPlatform technology?

By using GlobalPlatform Specifications an issuer can implement a smart card solution that:

- Reduces time to market as the technology framework is freely available allowing issuers to focus on added-value elements of their program
- Encourages participation from several suppliers on a non-discriminatory basis
- Drives down cost through competitive procurement practices
- Ensures scalability and backward compatibility of the technology, thus protecting the investment over time

Despite the current economic circumstances do you still see a significant demand for GlobalPlatform technology in the industry?

Absolutely! The state of the global economy is a hot topic for discussion and our member organizations and the markets they serve have been affected by the recession. As GlobalPlatform enters its 10th year as a specifications development body, we acknowledge our work to be of great value to the industry in good economic times and in bad. Implementing a smart card infrastructure with proven, secure, scalable and interoperable products based on GlobalPlatform Specifications is an 'investment protection' strategy for all market sectors.

How important is NFC to GlobalPlatform? Why do you feel it has yet to really take-off?

NFC enabled devices that support contactless services (such as payment) is a key focus for GlobalPlatform. One of the main barriers to adoption has been establishing a scalable infrastructure that allows multiple users from multiple sectors and with a need to support multiple business models a means to securely provision and use applications deployed to NFC enabled devices on a mass scale.

In late 2008, GlobalPlatform launched its UICC Configuration, a technical document which outlines a common and neutral environment to facilitate the secure delivery OTA of new and creative mobile services to consumers. The document has been of phenomenal interest to the market as it is the first time a neutral ecosystem for this sector has been presented.

What are the main challenges facing GlobalPlatform in 2009?

The biggest challenge GlobalPlatform faces today is maintaining our historic and rapid rate of development at a time when our member organizations are carefully evaluating the use and availability of their time and resources. We have been fortunate, however, to maintain a high level of member engagement because we are working on developments that are prioritized by the members themselves and, as such, we are moving forward with work items important not only to GlobalPlatform, but to the member organizations as well.

What does the future hold for GlobalPlatform?

Looking ahead, the association envisages that its expertise will soon be required by organizations implementing public and private partnerships such as between financial institutions and government agencies, and joint alliances between public agencies that are responsible for identity and healthcare. GlobalPlatform will also aim to update and align its core technology to respond to the evolution of cryptography to meet the security requirements of different market sectors. Additionally, we look forward to completing work on Card Specification v3.0 which will support the industry’s integration of smart cards into IT and telecom infrastructures, and will be compatible with Java Card v3.0.

For further information on GlobalPlatform or to inquire about membership, please visit http://www.globalplatform.org/ or contact secretariat@globalplatform.org.

(Smartcard News Ltd, 2009)