MAOSCO Ltd, the secretariat for the MULTOS Consortium, announced today that Samsung SDS had completed formal agreements to join the MULTOS Consortium as a Full Member.
Membership grants Samsung the right to exploit the MULTOS and MULTOS step/one smart card operating system and secure application load and delete specifications. Samsung joins MasterCard, DNP, Hitachi, Infineon, Keycorp and Discover in development stewardship of the MULTOS Specification, each having equal voting rights over the adoption of specification changes and Consortium Governance.
Samsung is the third independent implementer of the highly secure MULTOS smart card operating system specification and devices produced will join a long and distinguished list of MULTOS devices independently evaluated to the highest levels of assurance.
The first Samsung devices have already been approved by MAOSCO and are the S3CC9P9 (with 32KB EEPROM and 160KB ROM) and the S3CC9RB (with 64KB EEPROM and 320K ROM). Each is equipped with 6K RAM and is based on Samsung's CalmRISC16 core. The products are available for immediate shipment Type Approved as MAOSCO Verified. Independent formal assurance, mandated by MAOSCO, is expected to be completed shortly.
"Samsung SDS is delighted to be part of the MULTOS Consortium. We expect to have completed a family of MULTOS products before the end of 2005 and we will be well placed to benefit from the growth in demand for MULTOS across the world," said Kwang-Kyun Cho, Vice President of SOC Business Unit for Samsung SDS. He added, "MULTOS is the most secure, high quality, open smart card platform. Samsung's MULTOS products are designed to deliver a range of competitive solutions for all smart card issuers. We look forward to a long and profitable relationship with the Consortium."
Steve Everhard, CEO of MAOSCO Ltd., said: "Samsung are an extremely welcome addition to the world class organisations that constitute the MULTOS Consortium. Their enthusiasm, drive and dedication has resulted in high security, high quality implementations that meet the exacting requirements placed on all MULTOS products. The extraordinary growth in the MULTOS market will be further catalysed by Samsung's exciting developments."