The US Government GSA approves Athena’s Smart Card and Middleware for HSPD-12 Deployment

Cupertino, November 17, 2008–Athena Smartcard Solutions, a leading developer of smart cards for Digital ID, announced today that the Athena IDProtect Duo PIV, contact-contactless smart card was approved by US Government GSA for deployment in HSPD-12 programs. The Athena IDProtect Duo PIV was certified for FIPS 140-2 and FIPS 201 earlier this year and the GSA approval announced follows the previous approval by the GSA of the use in HSPD-12 deployments of the Athena IDProtect PIV Middleware.

HSPD-12 mandates US Government agencies to issue secure credentials to all government employees. According to a recent report by the White House Office of Management and Budget, over 1.5 million PIV cards have been issued to date out of a total of over 5.5 million to be issued. The GSA APL (Approved Product List) governs which products and services may be purchased by government agencies.

The Athena IDProtect Duo PIV (Personal Identity Verification) card incorporates the latest FIPS 201 requirements and is listed on the U.S. General Services Administration Approved Product List (GSA APL). Products listed on the GSA APL http://fips201ep.cio.gov/apl.php may be purchased by government agencies. The Athena PIV supports Java Card 2.2.2 specifications and can carry 72KB of data including certificates and biometric data supporting both logical and physical access applications.

The Athena PIV card, developed and supported by Athena’s California development center, utilizes Atmel’s AT90SC12872RCFT dual interface secure microcontroller which is Common Criteria EAL5+ certified. The PIV card is produced by CPI http://www.cpicardgroup.com , a leading US based plastic card manufacturer making it an ideal platform for US Government card credentials.

“The combination of Athena IDProtect Duo PIV, contact-contactless smart card and the proven performance of Atmel®’s highly secure microcontrollers will bring significant added value to PIV cards,” commented Michel Bartosik, ID Product Line Manager. “These additions to our growing list of certifications including Common Criteria or FIPS reinforce Atmel’s commitment to serve governmental markets which demand a high level of security. Once again, Atmel is leading the way in high-security system solutions.”

Bob Clarke, CPI’s Vice President of Sales, says, “As a U.S. Company, we wanted to be involved in the PIV project, and teaming with Athena and Atmel was key for this goal. We worked for three years to meet all FIPS 201 requirements and have done so in our Colorado plant. CPI offers the largest production capacity in North America in a certified, secure plant. We look forward to working with integrators to offer the best security features and meet their needs.”

As governments world-wide are starting to issue smart card based credentials to citizens and employees Athena is constantly adding new security certified products to its card portfolio. The Athena PIV card is joining our previously announced ASEPCOS CNS/CIE Digital Signature and ID card certified to Common Criteria and IDProtect Java Card certified to FIPS 140-2 Level 3.

About Athena

Athena Smartcard Solutions, one of the industry’s fastest growing vendors, is a leading provider of smart cards, tokens, smart card readers and smart card management systems–for large scale Digital ID deployments–and an innovative supplier of cards and operating systems for banking and GSM. Athena’s offices in the US, UK, EMEA, and Asia serve customers worldwide including some of the world’s leading banks, manufactures, and Government organizations.

Athena’s products include contact and dual interface open platform and file system based cryptographic smart cards for Windows Authentication, PIV, CNS/CIE, JICSAP, GSM, and EMV. The Athena ASEDrive line of smart card readers http://www.athena-scs.com/smart_card_reader.asp includes high performance USB desktop, internal, keyboard and biometric smart card readers. Athena’s cryptographic middleware solutions including the ASECard Crypto Toolkit with support for all major operating systems, and through the Athena CMS, our customers enjoy smart card life-cycle management solutions for contact and contactless cards.

©2008 Athena Smartcard Solutions. All rights reserved. IDProtect, ASEPCOS, ASECard Crypto and the Athena logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Athena Smartcard Solutions. All other product and brand names mentioned in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information, please visit http://www.athena-scs.com

Press Contact: Jochi Fuchs

Tel: +1 408 914 2808; Email: press@athena-scs.com

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry’s broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.

Atmel®, is a registered trademark of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries.

For more information, please visit http://www.atmel.com

Press Contact: Helen Perlegos

Tel: (+1) 408 487 2963; Email: helen.perlegos@atmel.com

About CPI Card Group

CPI, a global leader in financial and commercial card production, issuance, and services, offers a single source for plastic cards from foil cards and holograms, to translucent and smart cards. CPI’s production sites include Denver, Colorado; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Colchester, England; Liverpool, England; and Toronto, Canada. CPI Card Group produces high-quality, general-purpose, magnetic stripe and smart cards for many applications. Certified to produce contactless products, CPI specializes in distinctive cards and offers the largest production capacity in North America and one of the top globally. For more information, visit http://www.cpicardgroup.com .