The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has endorsed Sun Microsystems' Java Card technology for use in providing value-added services for GSM networks, Sun announced yesterday.
Java Card will be included in the SIM (subscriber identity module) toolkit, an extension to the GSM standard which enables SIMs to do more than act just as subscriber identifiers.
Programmers can create advanced consumer services such as travel and entertainment reservations, ticketing and loyalty programs using standard Java technology-based development tools and the Java Card environment, Sun said.
The Java Card API (application programming interface) for the SIM toolkit was developed collaboratively by several major Java Card technology licensees including France's Groupe Bull SA, Oberthur Card Systems, Gemplus SA and Schlumberger Ltd.
At this week’s Cartes '99 exhibition in France, Oberthur is demonstrating a GSM SIM card that contains support for both Java Card technology and the GlobalPlatform, formerly known as the Visa Open Platform, Sun said.
Sun, in Palo Alto, California, is at +1-650-960-1300, or at http://www.sun.com.