W3C's Workshop on Mobile Access - Tokyo

The role of Smart Card in Internet Mobile Access

Smart card can be modelled as being at the same time a "very thin client" or a "very 
portable server". More pragmatically, a smart card is a rather simple device which 
communicates with its peers (client terminal and/or distant server) through a standard 
communication protocol (ISO 7816-3 T=0, T=1), and embed computational resources to 
achieve part of a client/server transaction. Smart card also provides local memory 
space to hold user-related personal data.

Gemplus promotes smart card as a personal element of distributed client/server 
architectures, and since the advent of Java(TM) Card, smart card now embeds open OS's 
which are able to integrate perfectly in the WWW programming model. Gemplus' GemXpresso 
Java Card interfaces directly with object oriented applications.

However one must keeps in mind that today's smart cards limited memory and processing 
capabilities make them difficult to support complex protocol, but smart card technologies 
evolve at fast pace and tomorrow's smart cards will provide enhanced hardware capabilities.

Today more than 70 Millions of mobile telephony subscribers worldwide already use a 
smart card to secure their connection and hold their personal data and services. This 
concept of a smart subscriber card is not far from being implemented in the Wireless 
Application Protocol which is a new standard allowing Internet services access from 
mobile handsets.

Smart card as a secure device, provides strong authentication and cyphering services for 
many applications: for example, smart cards are used as universal payment tools, electronic 
purses, to support loyalty schemes, to access transport (planes, subways, buses, ...), as a 
personal health file, for driving licenses and identity papers, and even in gaming applications.

Gemplus is participating in the definition of the next generation USIM Card which play an 
important role in the 3rd Generation Mobile Telephony Services UMTS. UMTS offer new 
possibilities in mobile data services  (up to 2 Mb/s).

This will lead to boost mobile Internet services and Gemplus' ambition is to make Mobile 
Internet Access benefits from the smart card advantages and offer Mobile Internet Users 
a personal, easy, secure and ubiquitous (ie., from many devices) access to the Internet World.