2009 is the 10th anniversary of GlobalPlatform as an independent member-driven organization.  In that time period, the international smart card specifications body has seen strong evidence of the impact its technology has had in all market sectors and in all geographies.

To date, it conservatively estimates that over 305.7 million GlobalPlatform compliant cards are deployed worldwide. Of the 305.7 million cards deployed, 45% (137.6 million cards) has been issued by governments, primarily for ID and healthcare applications; 32.7% (100 million cards) has been issued by the mobile telecommunications sector; 21.9% (66.9 million cards) has been issued by the financial sector; and 0.4% (1.2 million cards) has been issued by the transit sector.

In addition to this, over 2 billion mid range USIM/SIM cards use GlobalPlatform technology to enable over-the-air (OTA) application downloads for 3G and GSM mobile networks, and there are more than 90 publicized GlobalPlatform implementations across financial, ID/security, government, mobile telecom and healthcare markets.

Without doubt, the organization continues to go from strength to strength, as its core technology evolves to meet the specific needs of different market sectors.  Now in its 10th year, this article looks back at why there was a need for the organization to be established, its impact on the smart card landscape and GlobalPlatform's future priorities. 

Why was GlobalPlatform formed?  

In the late 1990s the smart card industry was experiencing 'fracturing' due to the large number of proprietary solutions in the market – most of which were difficult to scale, and none of which were interoperable.  Although the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) offered very specific standards for smart card technology, there were no industry standards addressing the management, and the interoperability across components. 

Representatives from the industry, including technology providers and issuers from several sectors in particular the government, financial and telecommunications markets, came together in an open forum to collaboratively build upon an 'open platform' architecture donated to the industry by Visa Inc.  A cross market association was formed, named GlobalPlatform, to further the specification development work and ensure its long term relevance to the industry.  The vision going forward was to create a suite of specifications for cards, devices and systems that would not only achieve the original aim of providing interoperability for components and related interfaces, but do so while improving security, performance and functionality. 

Since its formation, the smart card community has embraced GlobalPlatform technology and has actively engaged in the association's work to drive the interoperable infrastructure forward.  It acknowledges that the business models used within the industry are becoming evermore complex, and for the smart card market to realize its full potential of mass market adoption, interoperability between the diverse range of technology solutions adopted by application providers and issuers must be achieved. 

What have been the key achievements for GlobalPlatform over the last ten years?

1. GlobalPlatform technology facilitates the deployment of multimarket cards.

   Due to the independent nature of GlobalPlatform and the variety of deployments it can accommodate, the architecture provided by the specifications body allows multiple applications to be securely positioned on the same device, and / or multiple actors to deliver services through a single solution, and / or support multiple business models from different industry sectors.  Therefore, even though they are dependent on a common platform, the specifications define how an issuer can specify the common rules of the 'house' and how application providers can maintain autonomy in their individual 'room'.

   This flexibility enables the parties involved in an implementation to meet the specific security requirements of their markets.  As industries converge, it also allows these applications to be used efficiently in the multiple environments intended, for example mobile payments is a single application, but its delivery as a service is reliant on many actors and complex business models.

2. GlobalPlatform technology enables the implementation of a secure, scalable and interoperable smart card infrastructure. 

   Unlike proprietary smart card solutions, an interoperable platform, such as those created from GlobalPlatform's suite of specifications, essentially delivers what the industry has requested; reassurances that the infrastructure they have chosen will be able to adapt and grow as business conditions change –'future proofing' the time and money invested in the development of the program.   

   The technology, which covers card, device and systems, is frequently updated to be backward compatible with new specifications and is continually evolving to meet the specific needs of different markets.  This ensures that GlobalPlatform's technology not only supports the functionality required and security stipulated today, but also accommodates future program demands relative to scale, post issuance capability and the ability to add further applications. 

3. GlobalPlatform offers proven and ready to implement technology.

   What is important to note is that with such a hierarchy of standards readily available at the international and industry level, it is no longer necessary for the issuer to tackle the complex and expensive undertaking of developing and deploying an open and interoperable infrastructure from scratch.  By specifying and adopting technology based on GlobalPlatform's existing and proven standards, an issuer is free to concentrate its development efforts on their particular application, and can rely on the multiple providers of off-the-shelf GlobalPlatform products.

GlobalPlatform has, and will continue to maintain these deliverables by:

• Ensuring the specifications preserve backward compatibility, protecting the initial investments made in the technology.
• Supporting application portability, assuring developers that their applications perform as advertised in the users' environment.
• Offering a range of security features in the specifications, ensuring the technology is nimble enough to meet the particular needs of the application or the market.

What is the key benefit of implementing GlobalPlatform?  

Adopting GlobalPlatform technology offers increased 'choice'.  The mature framework allows issuers to have a competitive tender for the appointment of a system provider, card provider and device provider.  Its technology offers the 'choice' to easily add applications to give more value to the end user, and as GlobalPlatform continues to extend its specifications to ensure there are development 'choices'. 

How is the organization adapting to the new, converging smart card market landscape?

GlobalPlatform continues to evolve to ensure its work aligns with market requirements and addresses the business challenges faced by its 50 plus members.  Over the past ten years, this work has been based on the output of three dedicated technical committees, populated and driven by the membership – Card Committee, Systems Committee and Device Committee.

More recently, however, it has placed considerable emphasis on establishing direct links between GlobalPlatform and specific markets where demand for an interoperable infrastructure is essential to facilitate large scale deployments.  To formalize this initiative, GlobalPlatform's Advisory Council commissioned the launch of a Government Task Force and a Mobile Task Force.  

These task forces accurately reflect GlobalPlatform's most recent technical priorities:

• To develop and document solutions to assist governments seeking to source open and interoperable components – on a non-discriminatory basis – from technology suppliers and integrators. 
• To mitigate the risk of standards fracturing at this critical time of mobile payment technology deployment, by harmonizing specifications and simplifying the adoption of specification technology.

As GlobalPlatform reaches out to assist the cross-market activity of its members, the association is acutely aware that the technical specifications published will have little or no value if they are developed and delivered in isolation.  As a result, GlobalPlatform has a rich history of successful collaborations with other associations operating within the sector and vertical markets to ensure technology alignment, and to avoid overlapping specifications and possible confusion in the marketplace. 

This activity is, and will continue to be, crucial for GlobalPlatform to remain a leading technology independent platform.  It is also this ability to transcend across market boundaries, and support industry convergence, that enables GlobalPlatform to be at the forefront of today's smart card market. 

 What are some of GlobalPlatform's future priorities?

GlobalPlatform's priorities include facilitating mass market adoption of mobile services, and aligning its specifications to meet the growing needs of the identity market.

• The Mobile Market

  GlobalPlatform has combined its market knowledge and technology experience to create a common, neutral environment that will facilitate the deployment of wireless services such as entertainment or payment by defining a configuration for Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) products.  The configuration outlines the behavior of each and every actor involved within a UICC implementation, how they would be represented, and a summary of their role / responsibilities in a variety of business models.  GlobalPlatform believes that this is one of the most significant technical documents created for the mobile payments market, and will be extensively referenced by those operating within the sector for years to come.

  For the mobile contactless market, GlobalPlatform will also release technology to facilitate application selection by the end user, simply and securely, within a contactless near field communication (NFC) environment and a configuration for embedded secure element.  The ability of an application provider to deploy contactless applications and services in a secure element (regardless of its form such as UICC or embedded chip) located in a mobile handset, and communicate directly with the customer, will create significant new commercial opportunities for organizations operating at all levels within the NFC marketplace.

  This technology will create a fundamental transition in consumer payment habits.  For example, today's selection by the end user of choosing one card from their personal wallet will be replaced by the selection of a contactless service via the screen of a mobile handset. 

• The Identity Market

  In the government area, for both government to citizen or government to employee markets, GlobalPlatform will aim to enhance technology advancements to ease the evolution of cryptography requirements and the deployment of biometrics.  It will also respond to new citizen requirements on privacy related to contactless applications.

  In addition to creating new technical documentation, GlobalPlatform is also working to adopt and modify its well established and mature specifications to meet the dynamic needs of privacy enhance technology, particularly 'match-on-card' technology, secure channel protocols with user consent and new secure messaging exchange among systems such as cards management system and an identity management system.  This will ultimately provide the industry with a proven technology platform for deploying authentication and identification applications within an identity card program.

What does the next 10 years hold for the association?

GlobalPlatform will continue to listen to its membership to understand market requirements, and will align its activity to address these concerns.  Although in recent years it has focused predominately on the convergence of the mobile and financial markets, its expertise will soon be required by organizations implementing public and private partnerships such as finance and government, and joint alliances between public agencies such as identity and healthcare. 

The association envisages, however, that two key elements will be a priority over the coming years:

• The evolution of cryptography to meet the ever-growing security requirements of different market sectors.  For example, as application security standards are becoming increasingly complex, with bodies such at EMVCo and the National Institute of Standards Technology in the US (NIST) stipulating new levels of security, GlobalPlatform will need to respond by updating and aligning its core technology accordingly.

• To ensure GlobalPlatform technology supports the industry's integration of smart cards into IT and telecom infrastructures, setting the scene for breakthrough smart card based applications and services.  The next generation GlobalPlatform Card Specification v3.0, which will be released in early 2009, will facilitate the migration of cards to an IP-based environment and ensure the secure management of applications and cards established on this new architecture. 

In both these cases, the role of GlobalPlatform is to work with its members and the markets they serve to ensure GlobalPlatform Specifications continue to:

• Support future program changes.
• Reduce cost through acquisition of 'open' solutions from vendors.
• Reduce cost through economies-of-scale.
• Simplify and accelerate the rate of new application development.
• Reduce time to deploy the smart card schemes.
• Provide a common framework for public/private sector initiatives.

Ensuring technology 'compliance' has, and will, always be important for the organization, and it will endeavour to deliver backward compatible solutions for the benefit of the marketplace. 

Thank you to our members

The last ten years would not have been possible without the active engagement of the GlobalPlatform members themselves.  From its modest origins, the association currently boasts a membership of over 50 organizations.  Our expanding membership base reflects the market's appetite for an independent smart card platform that will support market convergence, and facilitate complex strategic business relationships.  

Thank you to each and every individual who has contributed to the development, promotion and implementation of GlobalPlatform's technology, and to those organizations and smart card experts that continue to ensure GlobalPlatform's vision is realized by dedicating a wealth of knowledge, time and resource to our technology advancements.  

This article first appeared in Smart Card Technology International 2009.