Java Card Forum

The Java Card Forum is an industry association of companies from the smart card, secure operating system and secure silicon industry, working together to promote and develop Java as the preferred programming language for multi-application smart cards, secure devices and other execution environments.

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ETSI celebrates its collaboration with the Java Card Forum

As part of the Java Card Forum’s 25 year celebrations, we asked ETSI SET why collaboration with the JCF has been so important over the years and what topics the 2 organisations will be working on together in the future.

By Denis Praca, Chairman of ETSI SET group

Java Card is the de-facto standard referenced by ETSI in TS 102 241 since 2004, for the support of interoperable applications on the UICC platform. Java Card is currently implemented by billions of UICCs, aka SIM cards, probably making this one of the most successful standards in the IT industry. Close collaboration between ETSI SCP, now ETSI SET, has been a key factor for this success.

With the fast growth of the eSIM market, interoperability is becoming more stringent, because of the split between the eUICC platform on one side, issued under OEMs or eUICC manufacturer control, and the Profile issued under the MNO control on the other. Java Card is playing a crucial role in providing this interoperability, allowing the MNOs to continue to deploy their favorite applications in the eSIM ecosystem.

UICC standards are still under constant evolution, in order to adapt to new use cases. ETSI SET has recently issued a new release of its specifications supporting Multiple Logical interfaces allowing the UICC to host several virtual Secure Elements coexisting logically separated and addressed independently through the same physical interface. This offers the means to embed independent identity (e.g. eIDAS), payment or transport applications in the same physical secure element as the eSIM. These new use cases require evolutions of Java Card, especially isolation and management of the different logical SEs and support of new APIs.

Beside the UICC, another technology is emerging in TC SET: the SSP platform. SSP offers more flexibility for its integration in devices with the support of various physical and logical interfaces, as well as for the deployment of secure applications no longer relying on the APDU protocol. Support from the Java Card runtime environment is the next step, for which ETSI SET expect to collaborate with the Java Card Forum.

** The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author listed and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Java Card Forum, its Members or Oracle. **