GlobalPlatform
| Type | Industry Forum |
|---|---|
| Industry | smart card |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Products | "Card, systems and device specification and white paper |
| Website | http://www.globalplatform.org |
GlobalPlatform is an independent, not-for-profit organization concerned with a standardized infrastructure for development, deployment and management of smart cards. It was founded in 1999 to take responsibility for Visa Inc.'s Open Platform specification.
In early 2010 it had 63 members.
Execution of GlobalPlatform initiatives is carried out by three technical committees: the Card Committee, Device Committee and Systems Committee. Following the roadmaps crafted by the Board of Directors, these three groups formulate business requirements and define guidelines for different components of multiple industry implementation and deployment.
Members of GlobalPlatform may submit work proposals for Committee consideration. Work proposals include new standards or specifications, amendments to existing standards or specifications, or requests for technical documentation. Full and Participating Members have the ability to review these proposals and provide input on their direction through participation in Committees.
The specifications are freely available at the GlobalPlatform web site.
Contents |
[edit] Organizational structure
GlobalPlatform members drive the organization through a Board of Directors, an Advisory Council, three technical committees and two strategic task forces. Day-to-day activity is managed by an executive team made up by an executive director, a technical director, an operations secretariat and a marketing secretariat.
The GlobalPlatform Board of Directors consists of up to 11 Directors from organizations that have joined as Full Members. The Board sets the strategic vision, oversees the management of GlobalPlatform, develops the agenda for member meetings and controls the budget. The Board also has final approval of all changes to the specifications and any documentation published by GlobalPlatform.
The Card, Device and Systems Committees define business, compliance and functional requirements for the development of GlobalPlatform’s Technical Specifications. These committees formulate strategic business models and define guidelines for multiple industry implementations.
The Advisory Council meets at least twice a year as a forum to provide all GlobalPlatform members with the opportunity to engage directly with the Board of Directors, committee chairs, and GlobalPlatform's Technical and Executive Directors. Members are encouraged to share insight and expertise regarding industry trends that can feed into the development of the organization’s specifications.
GlobalPlatform also operates a Government Task Force and a Mobile Task Force. The purpose of these strategic groups is to focus on the direct link between GlobalPlatform Specifications and specific industry and application requirements as prioritized by the organization’s membership.
[edit] Membership
Membership to GlobalPlatform is open to any organization interested in smart card technology including hardware, chip and technology vendors, payment associations, integrators, telecommunications organizations and international government agencies. There are five levels of GlobalPlatform membership – Full, Participating, Observer, Public Entity and Consultant - to meet the participation preferences and budgetary requirements of organizations. A full list of current members can be found at the GlobalPlatform website.
[edit] GlobalPlatform Specifications – what they define
Card issuers require four core pieces of technology:
- a card stock,
- a smart card management system,
- a host system
- and a terminal network.
The structures and operations of the interactivity and security of these components are defined under the GlobalPlatform specifications delivering a complete set of smart card specifications for an end-to-end smart card infrastructure.
[edit] Card specification
The GlobalPlatform Card Specification is a secure, dynamic card and application management specification that defines card components, command sets, transaction sequences and interfaces that are hardware-neutral, operating system neutral, vendor-neutral and application independent. It is applicable to any type of application and industry, allowing any combination of applications from any industry on a single card – from mono-application to multi-application. The GlobalPlatform Card Security Requirements Specification provides guidance for selecting card configurations most appropriate to the security policies set up by the Card Issuer and Application Providers. Card vendors are also provided with guidance to implement security functions in a consistent manner. This specification also provides guidelines to manage business risks, provide security policy alternatives to mitigate those risks, and links those policies to the corresponding card configurations to select.
Most of the secure elements used in the NFC or Near Field Communication context rely on GlobalPlatform card specification.
[edit] Device specification
In order to provide a common basis to the programming of Card Acceptance Devices, GlobalPlatform endorses the STIP Specifications. (STIP provides an open framework for device programming, with different profiles for different industries. The profiles are organized around a common core framework technology and share most of their detailed API’s). The GlobalPlatform Device API provides an additional layer of abstraction on top of the STIP specification to program completely interoperable logical kernels of device applications helping to reduce cost and time to market. The Mobile Profile defines a compliant execution environment to TR1 from Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP)
[edit] Systems specification
There are a number of GlobalPlatform specifications relating to the systems infrastructure, developed to standardize back-end systems from personalization to security, key management and application loading. The GlobalPlatform Profile Specification standardizes the interface between the data preparation system and the personalization device utilizing a simple, cost effective, interoperable machine-independent mechanism. Similarly, the Systems Scripting Language Specification defines a standard scripting language by which stakeholders can produce interoperable personalization scripts for card or application personalization. Complementing this specification is the Key Management Systems Functional Requirements Specification. Simplified, this specification standardizes the description, or key profile, and procedures around key management, providing an opportunity to deliver centralized key management across separate systems. Communication between various components of the systems infrastructure is standardized via the GlobalPlatform Messaging Specification, which defines all the roles and responsibilities of the actors, or systems, for a multi application smart card infrastructure.
[edit] Project using GlobalPlatform technology
- DOD Cac project Common Access Card
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Uwe Hansmann, Martin S. Nicklous, Thomas Schack, Achim Schneider, Frank Seliger (2002), "6.4 Global Platform", Smart card application development using Java (2nd ed.), Springer, ISBN 9783540432029.
