The new MicroPass 4001 and 5001 application-ready contactless microprocessors and INSIDE's software development kit (SDK) tools give developers all they need to create and deploy a variety of standards-based contactless applications from a single platform, reducing costs and accelerating time to market.

The MicroPass platform is the only open-standard, price-optimized contactless microprocessor on the market, and the new MicroPass 4001 and 5001 products are the first proven, highly optimized, commercially deployable and scalable platforms developers can use to create their own contactless applications. Utilizing the MicroPass platform's highly efficient 16-bit RISC microprocessor and operating system, the MicroPass 4001 provides 4-Kbytes of EEPROM and software DES encryption, while the MicroPass 5001 features a larger 8-Kbyte EEPROM and hardware accelerated DES encryption. Both products can be packaged in a variety of form factors (card, ticket, fob, sticker or wearable devices), and achieve the industry's fastest transaction time and outstanding read distance to deliver a superior user experience.

"The MicroPass platform has been proven in the bankcard industry since 2005, and its superior flexibility easily supports this extension into other application markets. With these offerings, INSIDE is providing developers with the industry's leading contactless microprocessor platform and making it easy for them to rapidly and cost-effectively build and deploy fast, convenient, contactless transit, identity, healthcare, retail loyalty, gift card, private label payment and other applications," said Charles Walton, executive vice president of payments for INSIDE Contactless. "Additionally, developers can combine their applications with INSIDE's portfolio of certified contactless payment products to offer their customers the next generation of converged applications."

Simplified, Rapid Development and Deployment

Unlike closed, proprioprietary solutions, the MicroPass 4001and 5001products make it easy for contactless card manufacturers, system integrators, technology consulting firms, card issuers, payment system providers and others to develop and deploy high-performance, highly secure, open-standard data applications. The products include an ISO 7816-4 file manager developers can use to implement the complex data structures and profiles found in standalone transit fare collection, retail loyalty and other applications that can be deployed individually or combined with payment applications. The file manager supports static information - frequent traveler numbers, gift card ID numbers, membership numbers, etc. - as well as dynamic information such as a transaction log, coupon, ticket or variable up/down counter values. The MicroPass 4001 and 5001 SDK tools utilize a PC-based application to support directory file structure creation, data element population, personalization script creation and sample card creation.

Legacy contactless applications in markets such as transit, healthcare and private label payments that are currently implemented using proprietary chip products can be migrated to the open-standard MicroPass platform to provide the more robust security and greater flexibility demanded within the new "Open Contactless Era" of 2009 and beyond.