Ich fand diesen Kommentar von Reckon ziemlich gut... deshalb - wenn auch in Englisch - kopiere ich diesen mal` ins reg. Board:
QUOTE
By: reckon $$$$
Reply To: None Wednesday, 20 Sep 2000 at 3:07 AM EDT
Post # of 7848
Fair Enough Normandie:
Clearly many on the board have great expectations for this company. Perhaps some investors are in this just because they believe(d) that one huge contract would pump the price up enough to quickly make a healthy profit. And some are getting nervous because they expected to hear about these deals long ago. While I believe there will in fact be very substantial deals down the line, I take the longer view. And I believe the Company’s recent moves show that they do too.
First, let me give you an understanding, in very practical terms, of why I believe the Ultracard will become the industry standard in time. It is a fairly simple concept to grasp: interoperability. At the present time, there are many different kinds of smart cards which hold many different applications: cash cards, credit and debit cards, medical information cards, transit cards. Obviously all of these programs require specific software.
While many of these programs are “closed system” stand alone type applications, only designed to be used for one thing, there are also software applications that are designed to be used with or compatible with operating systems, or platforms, that can support many different kinds of specific software applications. For instance, Proton’s e-purse cash card program is designed to be used with Sun Microsystem’s Java OS, which is what Visa uses on their smart cards. (Proton can also be used independently as well, I believe.) There are two other platform-style applications that are designed for smartcards: the mondex multos platform, that is what mastercard uses, and the Microsoft platform. No doubt there will be others developed…perhaps there are already, but these are the “big three” that I’m aware of.
Now, with all of these different kinds of software out there, the question of interoperability comes up. At this point, you couldn’t have a card that could contain a windows based application as well as an application that is designed to be used exclusively with the Java system. This limits the choices that Banks and governments have in terms of what they can do with individual cards.
The Ultracard is the first card that will contain enough memory to handle all three platforms, in addition to individual applications designed to run on them, as well as other smaller applications designed to work independently. Remember, the best smart cards available today have 64,000 bytes of memory capacity…the first Ultracard has 5,000,000 bytes. It is this issue of interoperability, which is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges the smart card industry faces, that makes it so clear why the Ultracard provides the best solution in the sector. Clients will simply be able to have far more flexible and open-ended possibilities in terms of what applications they load on to their cards, what different sectors the cards can address and will be able to load much more advanced encryption and biometric capabilities than other cards.
Also, and this is an obvious point, the very nature of the kind of software programs that can be designed for smartcards will change dramatically with the extra memory capacity that the Ultracard technology will offer.
Now, as far as the recent acquisitions go, clearly UPGD is readying itself for the commercialization of it’s product and these new companies should both help with that process, as well as help UPGD move forward on its own in various ways, without being completely dependent on outside partnerships.
The fact that Pathways is one of only two American companies that is licensed to use Proton technology opens up many doors for UPGD right off the bat. Proton is popular in Europe, but is only just beginning to focus on the U.S. market. To give you some idea of why proton is important, and why having one of the only two American licenses for Proton is important, consider the following which is taken from an article in CardTech:
“Brussels, Belgium-based smart card company Proton World International has named former Visa International executive Michael C. Nash to head its new U.S.-based office. Nash, who oversaw the unit that created the Visa Cash electronic purse brand in the mid-1990s, says Proton will not make the mistake Visa made in promoting its purse for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and beyond. Visa Cash has generated little interest in the United States because consumers have had too few places to use the cards. "What we`ll see in the U.S. with Proton certainly is a multiapplication product, something that will be useful in electronic commerce and mobile commerce," Nash told Card Technology at the Proton World Forum in Ghent, Belgium. He says he will base the new Proton Americas office in California`s Silicon Valley starting Oct. 1.”
Think about that quote a little bit.
Moreover, Pathways already has major clients that it will be able to offer the advantages of the Ultracard to right away. Remember what the CEO of Pathways, Carey Daly, said:
"We decided to embrace Upgrade and the UltraCard technology, because we expect it to replace other microprocessor-based technologies, that have been the carriers of our e-banking and e-commerce applications in the past. We will now be able to deliver a suite of products and services to our clients based on the cost-competitive, state-of-the-art and extensively tested UltraCard platform. Clients such as US West, Western Wireless (VoiceStream), Nordstrom, MyChoice Health Services, of Portland, Oregon, the Deer Valley Resort in Utah, host of the 2002 Winter Olympics, Six Flags, one of the largest amusement parks in North America, the Hawaii Millennium Commission, Blue & Gold Fleet in San Francisco, and others, stand to enjoy substantial benefits from the integration of our products.”
Furthermore, Pathways offers the capability, right now, to do transaction processing, which is what Visa and Mastercard do. Daly goes on to say:
“Furthermore, in the recent past we acquired an IIN number which allows us to clear transactions using the network of the Association of Credit Card clearers, namely VISA, MASTERCARD, etc. In this area, we have also concluded an agreement with First Data Resources enabling us use their payment network. Effectively, we can now process and clear transactions globally.”
(By the way, First Data Resources, I believe, owns Western Union.)
Now, clearly UPGD is going to want to make deals with credit card companies and banks soon. However, one thing that makes Pathways so interesting is that they offer UPGD the capability, down the line, of having their own credit card. The infrastructure is already in place for this. Quite interesting, wouldn’t you say? And the immediate possibilities of this infrastructure being in place for clients is important as well.
As far as Cards and More goes…well…think about their client list:
“Formula One Worldwide race and VIP passes, access control and multi tasking applications, Mercedes Benz manufacturing plants, Germany (company ID cards, magnetic stripe technology), Siemens manufacturing plants, Germany (company ID cards, Mifare with contact chips), DSM, Netherlands (company ID cards, magnetic stripe technology), BVG Berlin Public Transport Organization, Germany (company ID cards with inductive technology), Kuwait Airways (employee cards with contactless technology), SkiData, Austria, ski passes with contactless technology.”
Now, Cards and More will be able to approach all of these companies and institutions with the most advanced technology in the smart card sector. Surely some of them will be interested in using it. Also, Cards and More makes contactless/radio frequency cards, which will be able to be combined with chips, magstripes and Ultracard technology to handle every kind of smart card application imaginable. And in a very basic sense, Cards and More simply moves ahead Ultracards production capabilities substantially and immediately, as well as giving them a European based production facility.
In terms of CPI, UPGD’s alliance with them seems highly important to me. First of all, it’s a fairly big vote of confidence when an executive from North America’s largest manufacturer of smart cards calls Ultracard “the technology leader in card memory capacity, security and low cost.” More important is this: say Mastercard or Visa does decide to use Ultracard…by teaming with CPI, UPGD can produce cards for them right away because CPI is certified to manufacture cards for MC and Visa. This certification is not a simple process and UPGD’s affiliation with CPI enables them to not to have to wait for their own facilities to get MC/Visa certification. Also, the fact that CPI manufactures many of the Motorola’s combi cards, coupled with the fact that Pathways had a letter of intent to provide Motorola with a Proton-based e-purse for the Seattle area transit project (which has subsequently been cancelled, the whole project that is), says to me that UPGD is well positioned to offer Motorola the use of the technology at some point in the future. But, of course, this is just speculation and we probably don’t need that at this point.
Finally, Pemstar is simply manufacturing the first edition readers for the Ultracard. The first ones are due to be completed next month, as I understand it. This agreement does not preclude another, larger company from also signing an agreement to make readers down the road. My bet is that we see one, but who knows.
The reason that we haven’t heard about clients yet is simple: UPGD has not had a complete suite of products to show them yet, only prototypes. This does not mean that they don’t have prospective clients waiting for them when they are ready. I believe there will be many clients who will immediately recognize the advantage that this technology offers. My bet is that some already have, but are simply waiting to have the technology in their hands before going public with their intent to use it. But who knows.
The fact of the matter is that they are right at the brink of being able to show clients exactly what they have. And I have absolutely zero doubt that when they do, deals will follow.
If you are simply waiting for the “big announcement”…well…I believe you are missing the big picture and the important steps that UPGD has been taking in its development. There are many things I have missed here and much more to say, but I’ve got to go to bed now. I hope this post has answered some of your questions.
UNQOUTE
Ulli