INSIDE Contactless passes 250 million unit milestone for MicroPass shipments

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE: As INSIDE Contactless continues to build on its success in the contactless payment processor market, the company announced that shipments of its award-winning MicroPass intelligent payment platform have surpassed 250 million units worldwide.

Regarded by most in the industry as the gold standard for contactless payments, the flexible MicroPass platform continues to evolve since its introduction at CARTES 2005 in Paris as it adapts to new applications, form factors and markets.

“INSIDE believes the next phase in the growth for the US contactless payment market will be based on dual-interface cards, and with both our MicroPass core platform and our new family of AT90SC secure microcontrollers we are well positioned to benefit from this trend,” said Charles Walton, COO for INSIDE Contactless.

“MicroPass has experienced tremendous growth since inception, achieving a dominant position in the US and Canadian markets, supporting all major card brands and catalyzing the adoption of contactless payments in these markets.”

INSIDE’s proven MicroPass 4003 contactless payment processor is at the heart of the majority of contactless bank cards issued in the US and Canada, powering more than 30 issuer programs.

In 2010, MicroPass achieved a number of significant qualifications and “firsts,” including the first qualified implementation of STAR CertiFlash by the STAR Network, the first implementation of Interac Flash and the qualification of multiple Visa, MasterCard and Discover Network card and mobile sticker products.

INSIDE has partnered with all major card manufacturers operating in North America to bring to market more than 60 card, sticker and fob products powered by MicroPass.

Contactless payment cards based upon EMV dual-interface technology are the likely next step in the evolution of payments in North America. Already being adopted broadly within the Canadian market, these dual-interface cards offer the security of EMV, the speed and convenience of contactless interaction and the flexibility of acceptance in multiple geographies and venues, such as transit, parking, vending and other new kinds of unattended acceptance locations.

As the adoption of contactless acceptance continues to grow in the US market in 2011 for both cards and NFC-enabled mobile devices, and as security concerns with magnetic-stripe cards grow, EMV dual-interface cards can become a powerful tool for major bank card issuers to ensure that their portfolios are future proof, internationally accepted and cutting edge for their customers.

The MicroPass intelligent payment platform is designed to power open standard contactless and dual-interface bank card payments along with other value-added applications in all global regions.

Based upon a RISC architecture and optimized to the demanding requirements of contactless transactions, each of the MicroPass family of products is designed to meet the demands of issuer organizations in the bank card and mobile payments, transit, ID and access control markets.