Japan's Toppan Printing Chooses ARM for Next Generation IC Card

The Toppan IC card takes full advantage of the 32-bit RISC ARM SecurCore processing power for number crunching operations such as encryption or biometrics match-on-card algorithms. The SecurCore processors include tamper-resistant technology to help prevent against unauthorized intrusion and physical tampering at the hardware and software levels.

"Toppan is using ARM's market-leading technology to offer a fast and secure IC card to the high-end security market," said Tomo Togawa, General Manager, IC Business Division of IC R&D Dept., at Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. "We believe our card offers all the features that customers-whether they are governments or corporations-require to protect their highly valued assets."

While most IC cards to date have used 8- and 16-bit microcomputer solutions, demand is increasing for cards that efficiently support more complex transactions with greater security to protect an ever increasing amount of data. This is making 32-bit IC cards that can encrypt, create signatures, perform biometrics algorithms, and support the Java Card platform -- quickly and securely with minimal power consumption -- essential.

"Toppan's IC Card, which is the first smart card developed in Japan that integrates SecurCore technology, is an excellent example of how ARM is expanding its presence in the rapidly growing smart card market," said Hiroyuki Uchimura, managing director, ARM K.K. "ARM is committed to developing secure processing solutions, from our TrustZone technology to our SecurCore microprocessors, which enable our Partners to address a full range of security issues for their applications."

Key Features of Toppan's ARM Powered High-Speed Encryption IC Card

Powerful 32-bit ARM processor, combined with cryptographic capabilities, generates ultra-high transaction speeds
Secure ARM architecture includes anti-tampering features, optimized to prevent external attacks
First IC card to support all expanded hash versions (SHA-128/384/512)
Industry-proven, 16-bit Thumb® code enables minimum power consumption at time of execution, as less memory is required
High-performance Java hardware accelerator makes the card significantly faster than cards using software only JVM (Java Machine)

The original press release can be found here.

'Fluidhand': Each finger can be moved separately
It can hold a credit card, use a keyboard with the index finger, and lift a bag weighing up to 20 kg – the world’s first commercially available pros-thetic hand that can move each finger separately and has an astounding range of grip configurations. For the first time worldwide a patient at the Orthopedic University Hospital in Heidelberg has tested both the “i-LIMB” hand in comparison with another innovative prosthesis, the so called ”Fluidhand”. Eighteen-year-old Sören Wolf, who was born with only one hand, is enthusiastic about its capabilities.
Generating 'oohs' and 'aahs': Vocal Joystick uses voice to surf the Internet
The Internet offers wide appeal to people with disabilities. But many of those same people find it frustrating or impossible to use a handheld mouse. Software developed at the University of Washington provides an alternative using one of the oldest and most versatile modes of communication: the human voice.
Revolutionizing prosthetics 2009 team delivers first DARPA limb prototype
An international team led by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., has developed a prototype of the first fully integrated prosthetic arm that can be controlled naturally and provide sensory feedback, and allows for eight degrees of freedom -- a level of control far beyond the current state of the art for prosthetic limbs.
New alliance to study and combat ID theft
A dramatic increase in the number of investigations into identity theft and fraud over the past few years has sparked a partnership between law enforcement, government, the corporate world and academia.
NTT DoCoMo expands i-mode to Hong Kong
A decade ago NTT DoCoMo was the mobile arm of Japan's single-biggest phone carrier, which dominated the domestic market that it more or less focused on exclusively. These days, the company continues to be one of the biggest players in the country, but not only does it continue to face pressure from rivals including KDDI, it also is also expanding its outreach beyond the Japanese border.
AOL has full dance card
America Online, whose fortunes, had run from feast to famine, looks to once again have a full dance card with possible acquisition partners reading like a list of the dot-com titans.
Possible partners include Yahoo! Inc., News Corp., Google Inc., Comcast Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
Light's Answer To Ultrasound
You have a tiny wound on your hand that doesn’t heal, a bad burn on your chest – or an injured retina. Your doctor cannot tell how serious the injuries are below the surface. He needs tissue samples. That means using a scalpel, which again equals pain, perhaps even a risk. Soon there may be hope for an improved and totally harmless method to peer under the surface of the skin: light.
STMicroelectronics, Orange, and Trusted Logic to Demonstrate Secure Mobile Phone and Payment Application
STMicroelectronics showcases a vision of the future of mobile payment, digital rights management (DRM) and electronic signatures, at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, with a practical demonstration of a Orange secure electronic payment concept implementing Operator Virtual Machine (OVM) technology on a Nomadik™ processor. The OVM is a standard-based secure framework that hosts security demanding services.

Japan's Toppan Printing Chooses ARM for Next Generation IC Card

Related stories:

News discussion: