OKI Develops Online "IC Cash Card" Authentication Server
Compliant with JBA IC Cash Card Specifications, the server will be offered to financial institutions in Japan
Tokyo, Japan, January 10, 2008 -- Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6703) announced it has developed an IC authentication server that enables online authentication for IC cash cards. The server is compliant with Japanese Bankers Association (JBA) IC Cash Card Specifications (2nd edition) and enables financial institutions to shift to a safe and quick online IC cash card authentication system with minimum effect on their existing systems. OKI has been taking orders from financial institutions in Japan, and initial shipment is planned in October 2008.
"As the top ATM (Automated Teller Machine) vendor in Japan, we are pleased to announce this server which will be provided to financial institutions in Japan," said Shigeru Yamamoto, President of Financial Solutions Company at Oki Electric Industry. "We will be developing ATM systems compliant with online authentication to support safe and accurate system migration. OKI will also provide total support service from requirement definition to design and packaging, through to operation and maintenance, thus responding to each stage of the system lifecycle."
As unauthorized withdrawals from ATMs are becoming a social problem due to stolen or fraudulently used cash cards, demand for reliability and safety of ATM transactions is increasing. Financial institutions have been shifting from a traditional magnetic stripe cash card to an IC cash card, which is more difficult to forge and is thus safer. In addition, during the preparatory period set by JBA, banks will authenticate cash cards offline and eventually shift the system to an online-based authentication system, which will be the basic form going forward.
The newly developed online IC authentication server verifies the IC card at the server level by linking with the ATM, whereas conventionally just the ATMs were used for authentication. By using this server, financial institutions can limit their cost of developing backbone hosts and can keep processing load to a minimum as the server handles all the complex authentication processes using an encryption key. By mitigating the differences between offline and online processing with this server, banks can seamlessly migrate to online authentication method with low risk, without affecting existing systems. In addition, by using a server independent from the backbone host, banks can flexibly respond to future requirements for function expansion and processing capability enhancements. In this way, financial institutions can gradually shift to server and respond flexibly to increases in transaction volume.
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About Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1881, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. is Japan's first telecommunications manufacturer, with its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. OKI provides top-quality products, technologies and solutions to its customers through its info-telecom system business, semiconductor business and printer business. All three businesses function as a collective force to create exciting new products and technologies that satisfy a spectrum of customer needs in various markets. Visit OKI's global web site at http://www.oki.com/.
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