Intel enters licensing deal with Inside Secure for NFC tech
Intel's NFC aspirations are hardly a secret. The company showed off a Medfield-powered tablet at IDF sporting the tech and it's partnered with MasterCard -- promising to bring PayPass checkouts to Ultrabooks. Now Chipzilla is putting the final pieces of the equation in place by landing a licensing deal with Inside Secure. The company specializes in contactless payment systems and will be lending its Microread, Securead and Open NFC products to Intel for future chips. While it's a safe assumption that we'll be seeing NFC pop up in Ultrabooks, it's also going to be an essential ingredient if the Santa Clara crew ever hopes to make x86 a player in the smartphone scene. We've still got a while to go before near field communication becomes truly ubiquitous, but this is one more step in the right direction. Check out the PR after the break.
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INSIDE SECURE TO PROVIDE NFC TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTS TO INTEL
14/12/2011
Technology Transfer and Services Agreements Will Help Accelerate
NFC into the Mainstream
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France, December 14, 2011 – INSIDE Secure, a leader in semiconductor solutions for secure transactions and digital identity, today announced it has entered into an agreement with Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) to provide the company with INSIDE's NFC products and technologies. The agreement marks a significant milestone for INSIDE Secure and the future of the NFC industry, helping move this emerging technology towards full-scale market adoption.
The agreement gives Intel access to INSIDE's software, firmware and core hardware technology for development of future Intel products. In addition, INSIDE will provide Intel's Mobile Wireless Group with access to scalable NFC solutions based on INSIDE's MicroRead®, SecuRead® and Open NFC™ products.
"We are very excited to have this opportunity to work alongside Intel in the development of scalable NFC solutions for the industry," said Charles Walton, chief operating officer for INSIDE Secure. "Working with an industry leader like Intel will play a significant role in the mainstream rollout of NFC."
"NFC is gaining traction in many markets as one of the most convenient ways to use consumer electronic devices for payments and retail commerce transactions, for access to facilities and information, and a host of other applications," said Aicha Evans, vice-president and general manager of Intel's Mobile Wireless Group. "We look forward to working with INSIDE to develop and bring to market a range of exciting connectivity solutions for mainstream consumer products that incorporate NFC features."
A third-generation product that sets a new standard for ease of integration, the MicroRead NFC controller offers a broad range of NFC options and provides the capacity to support multiple secure element types, including SIM, SE or SD card, to support multiple business models. SecuRead integrates INSIDE's award-winning MicroRead NFC controller with a high-performance secure element and a GlobalPlatform-compliant Java Card™ operating system. Both products are integrated with INSIDE's Open NFC protocol stack to provide best-of-breed solutions. Winner of the prestigious SESAMES Innovation Award, Open NFC has quickly become recognized as an open solution for NFC enablement on mobile devices, and has received significant industry support from a broad array of participants in the NFC ecosystem.
About INSIDE Secure
INSIDE Secure 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 http://www.insidesecure.com.
