The two companies currently are working to incorporate Inside's next-generation MicroPass contactless technology into an upcoming family of contactless EMV products from SAETIC that will be available in both plastic card and contactless sticker form factors.

"Our partnership with SAETIC is strategically important to us because their position in Spain offers us more opportunities to engage the contactless EMV market there," said Bertrand Moussel, Executive Vice President of Sales of EMEA and LATAM of INSIDE Contactless. "As one of the most technically advanced card manufacturers in the world, SAETIC is an ideal partner for us to work with in applying our next-generation MicroPass technology and novel form factors."

Since it was first launched at CARTES in November of 2005, the MicroPass intelligent payment platform has achieved its unprecedented success by continuing to deliver superior performance and flexibility, and is now the platform of choice for certified card manufacturers around the world. The MicroPass platform is designed to power open standard contactless and dual-interface bank card payments along with other value-added applications in all global regions. Based upon a RISC architecture and optimized to the demanding requirements of contactless transactions, each of the MicroPass family of products is designed to meet the demands of issuer organizations in the bank card payments, transit and access control markets.

"INSIDE already provides us with MasterCard PayPass chips for cards and fobs, and is able to provide us with type-approved solutions and embedded software so that we can deliver cost-effective, flexible contactless EMV products to our customers quickly and easily," said Silvano Guillamet, president of SAETIC. "INSIDE has an international reputation for innovation which we hope to harness for this new family of products we are developing to address the growing market in Spain and elsewhere for contactless EMV solutions."

A pioneer in the industry, SAETIC (Sociedad Anonima Espanola de Tarjetas de Identificacion y Credito) first introduced plastic cards in Spain in the late 1950's and today is one of Spain's leading plastic card manufacturers. It is the first card factory in Spain to install a variable color digital laser printing system, enabling cards to be printed with variable data such as photos, barcodes, text, etc. in a single step with the background design directly from the computer output. It is also the first company to offer dual-interface production capacity based on "flexible bump," the most reliable technique available today.