Oberthur Technologies, the world's second largest provider of smart card based solutions and STMicroelectronics, a world leader in secure microcontroller ICs, entered into a partnership to provide a new highly secure SIM solution that will allow travelers and commuters to use their NFC enabled mobile phones as an electronic ticket.

The pre-commercial launches of Oberthur Technologies for NFC technology have been a big success. This has enabled its OPERA FlyBuy SIM cards to be used in transport infrastructure services that are based on MIFARE DESFire technology. A simple and easy commute for mobile users, as well as a multitude of secure applications in the field of payment, identification and loyalty is enabled by NFC.

On the highly secure ST33 microcontroller and on the MIFARE DESFire Library developed by ST, the Oberthur Technologies product is based. Oberthur Technologies ported its state-of-the-art SIM NFC operating system and completed the development of the transport application. The company will also offer a wide portfolio of MIFARE DESFire-enabled SIM cards to its customers, with free memory ranging from 128KB to 768KB and security level required by EMVCo and Common Criteria certifications.

"The NFC market relies on enhanced security and high memory capacity to support a wide range of services, including payment, identity and transport," said Cedric Collomb, general manager of Cards and Services for Oberthur Technologies, in a press release. "We are proud to contribute with ST to the development of this promising market opportunity."

"ST is delighted to be working with recognized leaders in the NFC arena such as Oberthur Technologies," said Marie-France Florentin, general manager of Secure Microcontrollers Division for STMicroelectronics (News - Alert), in a press release. "The use of ST technology in this new SIM card range demonstrates ST's strong commitment to provide the widest range of secure devices for NFC solutions, in addition to ST's own NFC controller chip."

In related news, Oberthur Technologies has launched its New Identity Solutions Middleware, which will be presented during the Cartes 2010 exhibition.