Inside Secure and Sunward Telecom Solution Delivers NFC for Legacy Mobile Phones in China

BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – INSIDE Secure and Sunward Telecom announced they will be demonstrating a new NFC upgrade solution that fits entirely within a standard-size SIM card and achieves industry-standard, 4-cm proximity transaction performance when inserted in a non-NFC mobile phone. Simulating a MasterCard® PayPass™ payment transaction, the demonstration shows how non-NFC mobile phones can be easily upgraded to perform payment and other transactions simply by inserting a new SIM card, a capability that will help accelerate the adoption of NFC card-emulation applications within legacy mobile phones in China and other markets with a large installed base of phones.

“NFC technology is being adopted by the major Chinese banks and mobile service operators, and contactless mobile payments will be one of the key applications of these organizations in the upcoming years”

“It’s only been a few months since we gave the first proof of concept demonstration of this breakthrough technology at CARTES 2011, and now, through the cooperation and expertise of Sunward Telecom, we are able to show a complete solution that will soon be bringing new applications and business models to customers in China,” said Bertrand Moussel, executive vice president, EMEA/LATAM sales at INSIDE Secure. “Through our alignment with Sunward Telecom, INSIDE was first to place an NFC card emulation solution, including antenna, into a standard SIM card, insert it into a mobile phone and have it perform up to industry standards. Now, Sunward Telecom will be first to market with a solution based upon INSIDE’s core technology that can bring the benefits of NFC functionality to the huge installed base of non-NFC phones.”

INSIDE Secure and Sunward Telecom are demonstrating this NFC SIM card innovation in suite AV72 at the Mobile World Congress.

The NFC SIM card product developed by Sunward Telecom achieves its groundbreaking performance using core technology from INSIDE that significantly reduces the effects of the metals and electrical noise typically found within mobile phones and other mobile devices. When inserted into a phone, the NFC SIM card is able to communicate at 4 cm with contactless readers compliant with the ISO 14443 and EMVCo standards.

“NFC technology is being adopted by the major Chinese banks and mobile service operators, and contactless mobile payments will be one of the key applications of these organizations in the upcoming years,” said Eddie Kwok, CEO at Sunward Telecom. “The NFC SIM card we are developing with INSIDE has all the components, including the antenna, embedded in the SIM card, and will allow mobile service providers and their customers to conduct contactless payments and other proximity transactions using NFC without purchasing a new phone or other alternative NFC device. We are very excited to work with INSIDE to create a product based on their patented NFC core technologies and introduce it to the China mobile commerce market.”

Sunward Telecom expects to begin shipping NFC SIM card products based on the INSIDE technology in the fourth quarter of this year.

About Sunward Telecom

SUNWARD Telecom is a pioneer in SIM-based RFID solutions and a key advocate of RF-SIM as a contactless transaction and mobile payment technology. With in-depth expertise in the mobile communications industry, the company has successfully integrated smart card technology into a mobile SIM card and marketed the products into the mobile payment sector. The company has been focused on the China market and servicing mobile service operators, smart card manufacturers, payment solution and point-of-sale device providers and payment service system integrators located there. For more information, visit www.sunwardtel.com.

About INSIDE Secure

INSIDE Secure (NYSE Euronext INSD) is a leading designer, developer and supplier of semiconductors, embedded software and platforms for secure transactions and digital security. INSIDE mobile NFC, secure payment and digital security products provide security for a wide range of information processing, storage and transmission applications. The company’s customers are found in a wide range of markets including mobile payment, identification documents, access control, transit, electronic device manufacturing, pay television and mobile service operators. For more information, visit www.insidesecure.com.