News
FIME Enhances Its GlobalPlatform Qualification Status and Offering
FIME has extended its GlobalPlatform qualified test tool to validate the compliance of secure chips to the new GlobalPlatform Basic Financial Configuration. The global leader in consulting and market integration testing services has also announced that its Asian laboratory has achieved GlobalPlatform qualification to certify products, making FIME the first company to offer GlobalPlatform evaluation facilities in both Europe and Asia.
FIME is the first full service testing facility to receive GlobalPlatform certification for validating a card product’s compliance to the GlobalPlatform Basic Financial Configuration for the banking sector, at both its European and Asian laboratories. Card manufacturers and other interested parties are additionally able to purchase and use the tool independently to test a product’s adherence to GlobalPlatform’s Specifications prior to official certification. In addition to certifying products to the GlobalPlatform Basic Financial Configuration, FIME is already qualified to test a card product’s compliance to the GlobalPlatform UICC Configuration for the mobile sector.
GlobalPlatform – the organisation which standardises the management of applications on secure chip technology – launched its compliance programme in early 2011 to increase market confidence and encourage stability within the secure chip ecosystem. It has created this new element to its compliance programme to confirm that a card product operates within the payment landscape as agreed and expected by the industry.
Abiding to GlobalPlatform Specifications will deliver long-term market interoperability, which is important as more and more applications reside on a single secure chip.
Kevin Gillick, Executive Director at GlobalPlatform, comments: “Achieving long-term interoperability within the marketplace is central to implementing convenient and secure payment services. We believe that as a cross-industry technical association, GlobalPlatform is ideally positioned to deliver, maintain and advance industry standards to ensure the effective management of secure applications. To meet our goal, it is important to have the support of test tool suppliers and laboratories, and on behalf of GlobalPlatform, I would like to thank FIME for its ongoing contribution to this activity.”
Stephanie El Rhomri, New Services Marketing Manager at FIME, adds: “We are delighted that both our European and Asian laboratories are now GlobalPlatform accredited and we can offer testing services in close proximity to customers in these regions. We are also pleased that we have successfully enhanced our test tool and can now provide GlobalPlatform compliance services to the banking sector.
“With so many stakeholders in the secure chip environment, and many markets converging to deliver services on the same secure chip, the framework provided by GlobalPlatform is essential and incredibly valuable to all stakeholders. Over the coming months we predict growing demand for GlobalPlatform certification as the market gains awareness of the significant assurances this approval offers to chip-based products.”