8TH APRIL 2020 – JEAN-DANIEL AUSSEL IS ELECTED NEW PRESIDENT AND BUSINESS CHAIR OF THE JAVA CARD FORUM

The Java Card Forum (JCF) is delighted to announce the appointment of Jean-Daniel Aussel as the new President of the organisation, as well as head of the Business Committee. He was elected for both posts by the members, to replace the outgoing Volker Gerstenberger.

Jean-Daniel is Head of Standardization at Thales Digital Identity and Security in Paris, France, reporting directly to the Chief Technology Officer and in this position is very much aware of the constant technological and strategical changes and challenges for the industry, and their opportunity and impact on Java Card technology.

He has over twenty years’ experience in the smart card and digital security industry and has served as the Thales (and previously Gemalto) representative on the JCF Business Committee since 2016.

Speaking following his appointment, Jean-Daniel restated the values established by his predecessor over the past four years and pledged to continue: “I will build on my previous involvement within the JCF, by ensuring that the Java Card platform is a major and sustainable technology, supporting the forum members’ traditional markets, as well as emerging and future markets.”

Christian Kirchstaetter, head of the Technical Committee commented: “The Java Card Forum welcomes Jean-Daniel in his new role. We are eager, together with the Business Committee under Jean-Daniel’s guidance, to engage in the next steps of Java Card evolution.”

16th October 2019 – JAVA CARD FORUM SELECTS FIRST ANNUAL “BERTRAND” AWARD WINNER
Alexandre Frey is recognised by his peers for exceptional contribution to Forum’s work

Picture: Alexandre Frey (left) receiving his “Bertrand” Award from Volker Gerstenberger (right), President of the JCF

To celebrate the work of Bertrand du Castel (one of the Founder members of the JCF), who sadly passed away in February 2019, the Java Card Forum (JCF) has worked with his family to initiate an Annual Award in his memory: The “Bertrand”. The JCF was keen to showcase the “Bertrand” as a visible recognition of the continued drive and dedication still shown by its Members, over 20 years since its inception.

Each year the Business and Technical Committee Chairs nominate a maximum of 4 Members who have made a significant contribution to Java Card technology and voting is then open to each individual JCF participant. Nominees must demonstrate one or more of the following attributes:

• A major contribution to the current Java Card specification
  (e.g. use case proposal(s), solution(s) for identified issue(s))
• A significant contribution to future Java Card specifications
  (e.g. use case proposal(s), potential new feature(s), solution(s) for identified issue(s))
• A major contribution to the advancement of the usage of Java Card technology, either within traditional or new markets

The Award is then presented at each Autumn Plenary meeting.

This year’s nominees were Jean-Daniel Aussel from Thales, Olivier Chamley from IDEMIA, Luca di Cosmo from ST and Alexandre Frey from NXP – all strong candidates for the Award. During an Award Cer-emony at the Plenary meeting in Bucharest, Alexandre Frey was announced as the winner of the first ever “Bertrand”.

“Alexandre was a well-deserved winner,” said Volker Gerstenberger, President of the JCF, who present-ed the Award. “Members were clearly impressed by the leadership qualities he demonstrated during the finalisation of the Java Card 3.1 specification recommendations and he embodies the spirit of involvement within the Forum that this Award was intended to recognise.”

“I’m delighted to win this Award,” declared Alexandre Frey, a Member of the JCF Technical Committee, “and feel honoured that my colleagues have voted for me. It’s wonderful to know that the hard work we all put into the Forum is appreciated by others in the industry.”

16TH JANUARY 2019 – RELEASE OF JAVA CARD 3.1 PROVIDES THE FOUNDATION FOR IOT SECURITY

The Java Card Forum (JCF) and Oracle proudly announce the release of Java Card 3.1, which is a major milestone platform update, facilitating the development of advanced security services for existing markets and the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) sector. The JCF have been working in close co-operation with Oracle, providing recommendations for the new specification and the release is a testament to this long-standing partnership of over 20 years.

For current Java Card users, the new version offers a developer-focused technology update to existing secure elements and facilitates the deployment and reuse of large applications. Development of the latest version has also focused on the heightened concern about security and trust in the IoT arena (as more machines and devices become connected), providing new functionality to accelerate development of IoT use cases and support for communication over IoT protocols, and secure access to peripherals.

“I strongly believe in the potential of Java Card technology to benefit new fields of deployment – especially in the Internet of Things,” explains Volker Gerstenberger JCF President and Business Committee Chairman. “With the advent of the IoT age we are seeing more and more connected endpoint devices that need to be connected and secured. We see additional new networks (such as Narrow-Band IoT, for example) that have to be protected and the emergence of a variety of completely new and unforeseen services that need to be enabled, from both a user experience perspective and more importantly, from a security perspective.”

Christian Kirchstaetter, head of the Technical Committee agrees: “The Java Card 3.1 specification has a clear objective to address the Internet of Things security challenges. By this I mean new features supporting integration into IoT devices and new types of communication protocols and therefore becoming the new security powerhouse for IoT.”

“Java Card 3.1 is the most significant feature release of Java Card in over 10 years,” adds Florian Tournier, Senior Director for Java and IoT at Oracle. “The close partnership between Java Card Forum and Oracle has delivered a flexible platform that can fulfil the fast-changing security requirements of Internet of Things devices.”

Java Card 3.1 Documentation can be found here.

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