Spain Launches ID Card Based on STMicroelectronics' Secure Smart Card Chip
Cost-effective program relies on ST19WL34 secure MCU, with EAL5+ certification Geneva / 09 Oct 2006
The ID Card roll-out started in February 2006, the successful culmination of a three-year development and qualification program with FNMT-RCM (Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre – Royal Casa de la Moneda), Spain’s national printing office. Spanish police issued around 7,000 cards as the project ramped up in the first half of 2006, in Burgos, near Madrid. Now it is available in 13 other cities, and 500,000 cards are expected to have been deployed by the end of the year, with 2 million forecast in 2007, and 6 million in 2008. Ultimately, more than 30 million Spanish citizens will benefit from the card.
“This project is an example of how FNMT-RCM is adapting to our society's new challenges, participating in electronic ID projects which require a combination of our traditional know-how and a strong spirit of innovation,” said Valentin Ramirez , Head of Development in FNMT’s smart card department. “We have appreciated STMicroelectronics' dedication and support in the development phase of this project. Its technical expertise has resulted in the delivery of the high-security and high-performance product that this ID project requires.”
ST has a complete portfolio of high-security smart card products, meeting all governmental and ID product needs in security and memory size, and offering both contact and contactless interfaces.The ST19WL34, a cost-effective device with a contact interface, is manufactured using ST’s advanced and highly reliable 0.18-micron process technology and provides the ideal combination of performance, security, and reliability for the Spanish ID program.
“The choice of ST’s ST19WL34 device for the Spanish ID card, and meeting the program’s tough technical demands, confirms our high-security MCU family’s reputation as an optimum solution for long-term ID schemes,” said Andreas Raschmeier, Marketing Director of ST’s DSA Division. “We have worked intensively with FNMT for more than three years to achieve an excellent result in this reliable and high-performance secure system.”
The ST19WL34 includes 34-Kbytes of secure EEPROM for storage of personal data, and 224-Kbytes of user ROM for the operating system and program code. The 6-Kbytes of user RAM, combined with the processing power of the advanced 8-bit secure MCU, enable the fast data processing that is essential for rapid ID-card personalization during manufacture, and for fast ID verification in the field. It achieves 1 to 64 bytes erase-and-program in 1.5ms.
The chip also features a 1088-bit Modular Arithmetic Processor (MAP) for public-key cryptography, and an eDES hardware engine. These advanced cryptographic tools provide applications with the fast data encryption and decryption functions essential for the secure storage of sensitive personal data, as well as for authentication and digital signatures. Highly reliable submicron EEPROM technology and single-bit-fail error correction code ensure that the cards will have a long lifetime in the field. The ST19WL34 is specified with 10-year minimum data retention and 500,000 erase/write cycles endurance.
About FNMT-RCM
Headquartered in Madrid, the Royal Spanish Mint (FNMT-RCM) brings to the manufacture of each of its products the know-how gained from over a hundred years of experience, the guarantee of an organization that applies strict monitoring and security mechanisms, and the commitment to collaborate with both public and private companies. FNMT-RCM is responsible for manufacturing documents that are essential for the life of an individual, those that vouch for his identity and recognize his aptitudes and rights: national identity cards, driving licenses, passports, visas, EU resident permits, travel documents, and all kinds of smart cards. In order to prevent forgeries FNMT-RCM provides identification documents with the latest security features: special watermarked papers (produced in Burgos paper mill), luminescent fibers and security threads, intaglio printing, optically variable inks, laser engraving and OVDs.
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About STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2005, the Company's net revenues were $8.88 billion and net earnings were $266 million. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com.
Information last updated Jan 2006
