Estonia Awards Electronic Passport Contract to Gemalto

Estonia Awards Electronic Passport Contract to Gemalto

October 20, 2006

    AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, and TALLINN, Estonia, Oct. 20
/Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653
GTO), a world leader in digital security, announces today
that it will supply the Citizenship and Migration Board of
Estonian Republic with its e-passport solution for the
future Estonian electronic passport. Under the terms of the
contract, Gemalto will provide the Estonian authorities with
a turnkey solution, from manufacturing and binding of
passport booklets, using Gemalto Setec* technology, to the
implementation of the personalization system in the
premises of the Citizenship and Migration Board under the
Ministry of Interior. First deliveries are scheduled to
start in early 2007.

    The agreement runs through 2012 with a possible
extension to 2015. Considering present passports issuance
rates and plans, it could involve up to one million
electronic passports.

    Under the contract, Gemalto manufactures the travel
documents including a powerful microchip for biometric
identification and delivers the complete personalization
system to Estonia. Furthermore, Gemalto provides the
Estonian government with enrollment software and equipment
for capturing and digitizing the data, picture and
signature. This comprehensive solution for Estonian
Ministry of Interior illustrates Gemalto's ability to
handle the whole value chain in the e-passport management
process.

    "Gemalto is proud to have been selected by the
Estonian authorities," said Jacques Seneca, President
Europe at Gemalto. "This agreement is the continuity
of our past collaboration on visas. With the implementation
of our end-to-end solution, the authorities and citizens
will benefit from the highest level of security and
convenience, together with compliance with the global
standard."

    Gemalto's e-passport references include the Czech
Republic, Denmark, France, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden and the United States
of America. 

    * Setec is part of the Gemalto group (acquired in
2005). The Setec 
      technology is incorporated in products such as
biometric and visual 
      passports, electronic and visual ID cards, driving
licenses and health
      cards. 

    About Gemalto

    Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is a leader in
digital security with pro forma 2005 annual revenues of
euro 1.7 billion ($2.2 billion), operations in 120
countries and 11,000 employees including 1,500 R&D
engineers. The company's solutions make personal digital
interactions secure and easy in a world where everything of
value -- from money to entertainment to identities  

    -- is increasingly represented as bits and bytes
communicated over networks.

    Gemalto thrives on creating and deploying secure
platforms, portable and secure forms of software in highly
personal objects like smart cards, SIMs, e-passports,
readers and tokens.  More than a billion people worldwide
use the company's products and services for
telecommunications, banking, e-government, identity
management, multimedia content, digital rights management,
IT security and other applications.  Gemalto was formed in
June 2006 by the combination of Axalto and Gemplus
International S.A. For more information please visit
http://www.gemalto.com . 

    For more information, please contact:

     Emmanuelle Saby 
     Gemalto
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  Gemalto