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SCP Activity Report 2009

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Chairman: Klaus Vedder (Giesecke & Devrient GmbH)

Responsible for the development and maintenance of a common Smart Card Platform for all mobile telecommunication systems, for the application independent specifications, for the interface with terminal equipment and for smart card standards for general telecommunications, mCommerce and security applications

The main task of ETSI’s Smart Card Platform Technical Committee (TC SCP) is to expand and maintain the smart card platform specifications for mobile communication systems. In particular, this provides the basis for global roaming by means of the smart card, irrespective of the radio access technology used, and manages the security of this access and user data.

The specifications developed by TC SCP are, however, not bound to usage in the telecommunications sector. They are generic and application agnostic and may thus be used as a (secure) platform for any application designed to reside on a smart card. An important aspect of the work of TC SCP is the provision of test specifications for both the core specifications and the various interfaces provided by the smart card platform. This way, interoperability between applications implemented on this true multi-application platform (called the UICC) is achieved.

TC SCP also provides and maintains the application identity register for smart card applications for other committees including the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP™), 3GPP2 and the Wimax Forum.

Following the completion of the specifications for the use of the smart card platform for Near Field Communication (NFC) applications in 2008, TC SCP has now approved the test specifications for the lower layers, the Single Wire Protocol (SWP), and the UICC part of the management level, the so called Host Controller Interface (HCI). These were developed by an ETSI Specialist Task Force (STF) which was financed jointly by ETSI and the participating companies. To develop the test specifications for the high speed interface between the smart card and a terminal, which is based on the InterChip USB specification, ETSI has set up a new STF. These specifications are expected to be completed by mid-2010.

In 2009 TC SCP closed all work on Release 8 of the Smart Card specifications and the definition of the requirements for Release 9. The Release 9 requirements include, in particular, service migration to the new high speed interface based on InterChip USB and the definition of use cases and requirements for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) services based on the UICC. All the requirements, together with use cases, can be found in a dedicated requirement specification.

Establishing the UICC as a fully fledged part of the Internet has moved on a step with the definition of the remote management of the UICC using IP protocols terminating in the UICC. This will augment and eventually replace the current smart card technique of using Application Programming Data Units (APDUs) across the SIM interface, transforming the information onto other protocols across the access network. Furthermore, an Application Programming Interface (API) for the Smart Card Web Server (SCWS) has been defined to allow applications on the UICC to interact with the user, using the device browser, in an ongoing web session managed by the SCWS.

‘Standard’ SIMs have been used for specific Machine-to-Machine (M2M) applications such as metering for quite some time. Other applications may, however, require special functionality and different hardware properties such as an extended temperature range or a new form factor. Except for the definition of the M2M form factor specific for use in M2M applications, the technical specification of these requirements has now been completed. The whole topic is expected to be finalised and approved early in 2010.

Release 8 also provides the necessary adaptations to the specifications to aid the testing of interoperability of the interfaces between the UICC and terminals with reduced capabilities, for instance terminals not supporting a keypad or a display, such as M2M modems and PC data cards.

2010 will also see the finalisation of the test specifications for the High Speed Interface as well as those for the Smart Card Web Server API for JavaTM cards and the contactless interface. Other topics to be covered include:

a Contactless API for the HCI to support NFC applications

access of the Card Application Toolkit (CAT) on a modem interface to clients interfacing with the modem

the so-called confidential applications environment to allow third party applications to be loaded and executed within a secure and private environment

the definition of an API for secure channels for the APDU protocol based on the secure channel API requirements

an ETSI Technical Report on specific aspects and requirements related to the use of a UICC in a notebook

the specification of requirements and use cases for Peer-to-Peer (P2P) contactless mode support in the UICC to facilitate communication between applications on different UICCs

support of P2P mode in contactless interface specifications

the UICC next generation Run Time Environment (RTE) to support multi-tasking of the UICC with more than one interface

A complete list of all active and completed work items and detailed information pertaining to them can be found in the ‘Work Item Monitoring’ window at: portal.etsi.org/scp.

To summarise TC SCP’s work in recent years, a complete revamp of the UICC has been achieved with the specification of new interfaces and a clear shift for the UICC to become part of the Internet world. In undertaking these developments, however, the fundamental security attributes of both the UICC itself and its interfaces have been a paramount consideration; indeed, without these attributes, the other developments would be of minimal value. It is the UICC’s ability to manage security, and the fact that this has not been compromised, which has justified its place in the 3GPP architecture for over 20 years.

The work of TC SCP is driven by input from both inside and outside ETSI, and therefore TC SCP continues to liaise with major external contributors such as the GlobalPlatform, the GSM Association, 3GPP™, 3GPP2 and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA).