GlobalPlatform, an organisation which standardises the management of applications on secure chip technology, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the NFC Forum, the association that advances the use of near field communication (NFC) technology.
The partnership aims to harmonise specification activity to support the development of interoperable, multi-application NFC-based mobile solutions in the wider mobile services ecosystem, and to support NFC Forum certification activities.
To accelerate the deployment of new mass market NFC-based use cases, the NFC community and wider mobile services sector must establish neutral, sustainable and scalable infrastructures that support secure communication between all stakeholders and technology platforms. This new, formal partnership will open up opportunities for innovative solutions across multiple industries by leveraging the NFC Forum’s deep technical knowledge and extensive library of NFC-based standards and GlobalPlatform specifications for managing contactless services, which serve multiple sectors and support several business models.
Gil Bernabeu, Technical Director at GlobalPlatform, comments: “With the creation of the trusted execution environment and the growth of secure element enabled NFC phones in the market, the wider chip-based industry now needs harmonised specifications to speed up new NFC-based use cases, including peer-to-peer transactions and card reading functionalities. This MoU will not only facilitate the establishment of a complete and workable ecosystem, it will also provide the industry with clear direction regarding technical requirements so that hardware such as the secure element can be easily integrated into mobile devices. We look forward to working with the NFC Forum to develop a complete framework that supports secure communication between all stakeholders implementing and managing contactless services.”
John Hillan, NFC Forum Technical Committee Chair, adds: “Because global interoperability is key to the mission of the NFC Forum, we’re committed to coordinating our efforts with other specification organisations to support NFC implementations across multiple business models and technology platforms. GlobalPlatform’s experience supporting secure cross-industry communication that connects all market stakeholders in contactless services will help us accelerate the development of the NFC ecosystem.”
