Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia Pte Ltd

Fujitsu’s FRAM-based Smart Card LSI to be used in FeliCa Cards

Realizing the Highest Level Security for Consumer Products

Singapore, November 21, 2006 — Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia Pte Ltd (FMAL) today announced that Fujitsu’s FRAM(*1) based smart card (IC Card) LSI will be used in Sony Corporation’s (“Sony”) FeliCa contactless smart cards.

The use of FRAM memory allows faster writing speeds, higher write endurance, lower power consumption and higher-level security than conventional smart cards. This LSI also includes the latest security features, conforming to the security international standard, ISO/IEC 15408 (*2), and expecting to receive EAL4+ (*3) certification in 2006, the highest for consumer products.

In recent years, pre-paid cards, identification cards, and transportation cards etc have been shifting to smart cards, and more convenient and higher level services are being offered. To further such high functionality and diffusion of services, it is necessary to provide safe and high-speed data transactions.

Fujitsu’s FRAM-based smart card LSI will be used in Sony’s FeliCa smart cards, the top share for contactless smart cards in Japan. Amane Inoue, Vice General Manager of Fujitsu’s System Micro Division said "Contactless smart cards are one of the most favorable applications for FRAM. We're proud that this new FRAM embedded LSI can contribute to social infrastructure with its performance and security features."

Characteristics of the FRAM-based LSI for FeliCa smart cards

1. Realizing simultaneous high-speed, high write endurance, high-level security

As a pioneer in the field, Fujitsu started mass production of FRAM in 1999, and has been used in various applications like smart cards and RFID, etc. Compared to E²PROM (*4), that has been used in many smart cards, the number of possible write cycles is at 10 billion cycles which is over 100,000 times higher. Also the data writing speed of FRAM is 30,000 times faster, and power consumption is lower. On top of that, this LSI has the latest security functionality, so it provides the benefits of high-speed, high write endurance, low power and high-level security at the same time.

2. Highest level for consumer products - Security standard, ISO/IEC15408 EAL4+ certification

This LSI has various state-of-the-art security measures, developed by Fujitsu and Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.(*5), that can deal with the continuous progress in tampering techniques. With that, we expect that within 2006 it will receive ISO/IEC15408 EAL4+ certification, by France’s Central Information Systems Security Directorate (DCSSI *6), guaranteeing it the highest security level for a consumer product. At the EAL4+ level, even if you have details of the LSI structure, and have sophisticated analysis equipment, it would be very difficult to read or modify the information stored in the LSI.

Notes

(*1) FRAM: Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (ferroelectric memory). A non-volatile memory utilizing a ferroelectric layer as a capacitor to store data. It has the benefits of low power, fast access, high write cycles, and combines the strengths of ROM and RAM.

(*2) ISO/IEC 15408: An IT security evaluation standard. As an information security evaluation standard, it evaluates from an IT security perspective if IT related products (hardware / software) and systems are designed appropriately, and if such designs are implemented appropriately. It was adopted as a standard by the ISO in June, 1999.

(*3) EAL: Evaluation Assurance Level. Evaluation guarantee level decided by ISO/IEC 15408 which shows guaranteed level of products and systems. There are 7 levels, from EAL1 to EAL7, with higher figures referring to higher guarantee levels. The ‘+’ in EAL4+ refers to several additional items added to the evaluation menu.

(*4) E²PROM: Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. A non-volatile memory that can be erased electrically, and is a readable/writeable ROM.

(*5) Fujitsu Laboratories Limited. President: Mr. Kazuo Murano. Headquarters: Kawasaki, Japan.

(*6) DCSSI: Stands for “Direction Centrale de la Securite des Systemes d'Information”. Under the authority of the French Prime Minister, DCSSI handles the French certification body.

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About Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia Pte Ltd

Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia Pte Ltd (FMAL) was established in 1986 to provide semiconductor sales and support solutions to customers in Southeast Asia, India and Oceania. FMAL offers a diverse array of application-oriented semiconductor products and solutions such as ASIC, ASSPs, microcontrollers / microprocessors (FR-V), System Memory (Flash Memory / FRAM / FCRAM) and System LSIs (DVD MPEG Source Decoders / MPEG –2 Encoders).
For more information, please see: http://www.fujitsu.com/sg/services/micro/semiconductor

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