Inside MicroRead NFC Chip and Software to Power New Sagem Wireless’ Handset Platforms

AIX EN PROVENCE, PARIS, France, February 6th, 2009 – Building upon their successful partnership to develop an NFC handset for the GSMA’s Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative, INSIDE Contactless, the world leader in advanced open-standard contactless chip technologies, today announced it is partnering with Sagem Wireless, a leading mobile design company, to create new handset platforms that will support enhanced NFC services.  Expected to be available to major wireless operators and customers from the fourth quarter of 2009, the Sagem Wireless  NFC platforms will utilize INSIDE’s award-winning MicroRead® NFC chip, and will also incorporate the associated MicroRead Software Foundation NFC protocol stack, which Sagem Wireless has licensed, and which will be integrated and validated with Sagem Wireless’ handset platform software.

“Sagem Wireless is making a major commitment to NFC technology with the development of this handset platform, and we are pleased they have chosen to continue working with us and rely upon our MicroRead hardware and software for this venture,” said Remy de Tonnac, chief executive officer of INSIDE Contactless.  “MicroRead is the only NFC solution available today that is fully compliant with the single wire protocol standard, and its unique self-powered battery-off mode and low-power tag detection will enable Sagem Wireless to differentiate their offering for competitive advantage.”

According to de Tonnac, the MicroRead chip’s self-powered battery-off mode and low-power RFID tag detection features will help provide simplicity and convenience to improve the user experience of the Sagem Wireless handset by enabling payment or other transactions to take place successfully even when the handset is turned off or the battery is completely drained.

“INSIDE’s combination of MicroRead hardware and software offerings and their design, testing and validation expertise will play an important role in enabling us to speed development and get our new handset platform to market more quickly,” said Thierry Buffenoir, chief executive officer of Sagem Wireless.  “With INSIDE’s help, we are confident that we can deliver an outstanding NFC handset platform with a superior user experience our customers will appreciate. Therefore we will be able to develop innovative and specific projects for our customers enabling them to prepare the launch of NFC services”.

In parallel to this partnership, INSIDE Contactless has reinforced its strength in NFC by establishing a new support facility in Cergy (Paris area), France, staffed with a team of former Sagem Mobiles engineers with specialized expertise in phone system integration and validation, giving INSIDE a unique set of capabilities to provide extra value to its NFC customers.  The new Cergy laboratory enables INSIDE to conduct mobile phone RF performance testing and validation to further qualify NFC integration for its customers and accelerate global interoperability.