Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, 11-14 February 2008: SIMalliance, the global association made up of the world's leading SIM card manufacturers, is dedicated to promoting the SIM as the most secure and flexible multi-application device for the delivery of pioneering new wireless services, but also through an established programme of industry working groups, technical workshops and conference sessions, SIMalliance seeks to advance interoperability between SIM, handset and wireless network platforms.
At the Mobile World Congress 2008, SIMalliance announces the availability of three major publications for the advancement of interoperability between SIM, handset and OTA platforms and the acceleration of growth in the delivery of mobile converged services:
SIMalliance also announces that it is working on the evolution of the SIM from Phonebook Storage to Personal Data Management System
1. Mobile TV Security Guidelines
SIMalliance today announces the availability of Mobile TV Security Guidelines to operators looking to select a SIM card that matches their expectations in relation to their risk management strategy for Mobile TV. The objective of the guidelines is two-fold:
- provide operators with the level of information needed to clarify security-related requirements for Mobile TV SIM cards and pre-empt the pitfalls which operators might fall into if their authentication technology does not tally with anti-fraud and piracy strategies.
- define a security evaluation process path shared by the industry, measuring the robustness of SIM cards ** for Mobile TV.
** At present, there is no independent and public security evaluation that gives a level of robustness needed for SIM cards in the context of Mobile TV
Download Mobile TV Security Guidelines
SIMalliance announces today the availability of the Java Stepping Stones 2007.
The document is a practical guide for the development of Java applications for USIM Cards which SIMalliance has been producing and updating for several years. It is a reference document for the Industry and highly useful to application developers (operators, third parties, SIM card manufacturers and others). Operators often refer to it in tenders. The objective of this document is to help the developer community create applications that will work regardless of the Java USIM card used.
The Java Stepping Stones 2007 follow latest standards, including Java Card Release 6 APIs and CAT-TP technologies for cards, applications and tools. It also contains a reference for interoperability with (U)SIM for CAT-TP platforms.
Download Java Stepping Stones 2007
3. USB Interface Implementation Guidance
SIMalliance announces today the release of an implementation guidance document for the new (U)SIM to handset interface, also known as the USB Interface. Through adopting high-speed multimedia SIM cards, operators are able to provide more sophisticated services that require fast interaction with handsets. The guidance document has been created to assist implementers in reducing interoperability risks and achieve early market introduction of cards and handsets supporting the new interface.
The new USB smartcard interface will enable new applications that need to transfer large amounts of data in an acceptable timeframe, such as Smart Card Web Server (SCWS) or mass storage file systems.
Download USB Interface Implementation Guidance
SIMalliance is working on the evolution of the SIM from Phonebook Storage to Personal Data Management System. The backward-compatible SIM-based solution ensures the easy portability of the multimedia phonebook between devices, thus guaranteeing high user acceptance.
This solution enables the portability of additional users’ personal data (such as task lists, calendars, emails, SMS, bookmarks, notes) and eases synchronisation with PCs and PDAs. The solution is based on existing standards. The technological foundations are OMA DS 1.2 (also known as SyncML), OMA SCWS 1.0, and 3GPP release 7 UICC standards. Both ISO and high-speed UICC interfaces are supported. The high penetration rate of SyncML technology in handsets is backing this approach.
The solution will also in the future allow the portability of groups information and support additional multimedia content (e.g. ring tones, voice tags). With this solution, operators will have the ability to configure the phonebook user interface to deploy new services and partly control the phonebook’s look and feel. It will also provide an internal Java API to enable SIM resident applications to deliver additional services by exploiting contact information.
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About SIMalliance: Putting the SIM at the heart of the new mobile eco-system
Over the past five years SIMalliance has become one of the world’s foremost commentators in the mobile business. By operating outside the singular commercial interests of any individual SIM card player, the association has been able to pinpoint the mission critical services on the horizon and help steer their development to meet the practical needs of the mobile market.
With SIMalliance members* now responsible for nine in every ten SIM cards sold worldwide, the collective vision of the association is uniquely placed to shape SIM developments and the impact they will have on the new generation of mobile services. From their standpoint, the challenge couldn’t be clearer for the protagonists in the mobile eco-system.
* SIMalliance members are: Eastcompeace, Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Incard, Oberthur Card Systems, Prism (A Net1 Company), Sagem Orga, SanDisk & XPonCard
Stéphanie de
SIMalliance – Marketing Director
+33 6 85 91 19 94
Stephanie.delabriolle[at]simalliance.org