After previously receiving MasterCard certification for its two TSM hubs last year, the technology group can now offer worldwide TSM services for contactless payment applications based on Visa's payWave and MasterCard's PayPass™ technology. This places G&D in an excellent position to roll out commercial NFC services such as payment and ticketing applications for mobile phones.

The Trusted Service Manager is a key component for the rollout and operation of secure NFC services. G&D's TSM platform enables diverse market players such as banks, mobile network operators, and public transportation operators to securely install and manage their own NFC applications on their customers' mobile phones.

Visa issued its approval after a series of tests had been carried out on critical security features and functions. The G&D data center in Munich was already running pilots using the Visa payWave payment application. Now that they have also been approved by Visa, G&D will be able to offer service providers the option of having the Visa payWave payment application installed, personalized, and managed Over-the-Air (OTA) in protected memory devices such as mobile-phone SIM cards or Embedded Secure Elements. Account data and other sensitive information are transmitted in multiple-encrypted form. Once the service has been activated, end users can use their mobile phones to make contactless payments at several hundred thousand merchant contactless terminals around the world.

"Now that Visa has approved our TSM facilities in Munich and Toronto, G&D is in an excellent position to offer contactless payment applications worldwide," said Michael Kuemmerle, Group Executive Mobile Security at Giesecke & Devrient. "Being approved by the world's largest retail payment networks is proof that these centers meet critical security and reliability requirements," Kuemmerle adds.

By operating two separate but interlinked data centers, one in Munich and the other in Toronto, G&D can guarantee service providers uninterrupted access even if one of the centers should encounter technical problems.