Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (hereafter Toppan Printing; head office: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President & CEO: Naoki Adachi) has developed the "SMARTICS-NEO" contact IC card. This card includes both IC cash card and IC credit card functions. SMARTICS-NEO is the first IC card in Japan to feature both biometric authentication functions and dynamic credit authentication functions as standard and it therefore achieves a high level of security. Sales will begin from September 1, 2009, targeting banks and credit card companies throughout Japan.

By housing the "palm vein authentication functions" that have previously been stored in EEPROM (*1) in ROM (*2) instead, it has become possible to give the SMARTICS-NEO these functions as standard. The main method for credit authentication has been Static Data Authentication (SDA), which exchanges fixed authentication data, but the new card uses Dynamic Data Authentication, whereby variable data is exchanged, therefore enabling payment transactions with a higher level of security.

Toppan Printing will aim to add to the line-up of SMARTICS series IC cards that are already available and provide products that meet the needs of the market.

Copyright 2009 TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD.

Background

Counterfeiting and tampering is much more difficult with IC cards than with magnetic cards. Due to IC cards’ high security features and convenience, their use is spreading for cash cards and credit cards. Cards with advanced security functions, such as finger and palm vein authentication, are already in use at financial institutions and in the future even higher security measures for the prevention of counterfeiting and skimming will be required.
Toppan Printing has a strong track record of providing single function cards, multi-function cards and multi-form cards in the finance, transport and public sectors. The company can offer total support with technology covering IC chip operating system and application development, card manufacture and issuance.


The features of SMARTICS-NEO

- Has high security functions as standard
First IC card in Japan to feature "palm vein authentication" and "dynamic credit authentication" functions as standard.
*It is also possible to include finger vein authentication (option).
- Smooth introduction
Compatible with the IC cash card standard package of the TOPPAN ACIS total ID management service and can be introduced easily even to financial institutions that do not use IC cash cards.
- Includes Japanese Bankers Association IC cash card functions
Complies with the standard specifications of the Japanese Bankers Association IC cash card issued by the Japanese Bankers Association.
- Includes IC credit functions for 3 brands
Includes IC credit functions for VISA, MasterCard and JCB.
- Expansion to hybrid cards is also possible.
By combining with a contactless IC module and antenna, SMARTICS-NEO can also be used as a cash card with electronic money functions.


Future developments

For the 3 years up to fiscal 2011, Toppan Printing is aiming for sales of 3 billion yen from 75 companies, mainly focusing on banks and credit cards companies throughout Japan.

*1 EEPROM (Electronically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) A form of memory with which rewriting of data is possible. Files for application use are stored in it. *2 ROM (Read Only Memory) A form of memory that houses the operating system that controls all of an IC card’s processes. Rewriting is not possible.