Gemalto to Provide 2.5 Million National ID Cards to the Sultanate of Oman

Gemalto to Provide 2.5 Million National ID Cards to the Sultanate of Oman

September 21, 2006

-- Selected in the Second Phase of the e-Government Program, Gemalto Will Upgrade the Cards with e-Purse and e-Government Applications

    AMSTERDAM, Netherlands and MUSCAT, Sultanate of Oman,
Sept. 21 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Gemalto (Euronext
NL0000400653 GTO), a world leader in digital security,
today announces that the Sultanate of Oman has selected its
technology to implement the second phase of the country's
national ID program. The contract appoints Gemalto to
provide an update of the current National Registration
System, integration services, as well as to supply smart ID
cards that will enable the Sultanate of Oman to provide
faster and more secure public services to its population.
The program, scheduled to begin at the end of 2006,
involves over 2.5 million national ID cards.

    The Sultanate of Oman's national ID card program is the
first smart card-based e-government solution ever deployed
in the Middle East. It is part of the Sultanate's policy to
improve the quality of public service and homeland security
infrastructure. Its core objective is to modernize the
Sultanate's identification system and processes, making it
more efficient and secure, both for government authorities
and citizens. As part of this objective, the creation of a
National Registry System will become the pillar of all
future Omani e-Government initiatives. In addition, the
Sultanate of Oman is aiming to develop new technical skills
within the Royal Oman Police force, the local authority
managing the ID program.

    The first phase of the ID program, that began in
January 2004, has enabled more than 1.2 million Omani
citizens and residents to benefit from a secure and
convenient identification means that stores personal
credentials such as name, address, digital photograph,
fingerprints, driving license, etc. In addition to digital
identification, electronic gates have been implemented for
border control. In the near future, the national ID card
will integrate an electronic purse as well as e-government
applications.

    Xavier Chanay, President Gemalto CISMEA comments:
"By implementing the second phase of the national ID
program, the Sultanate of Oman achieves another technology
milestone in the Middle-East. The Sultanate recognized that
digital security technology provides the ideal means to
manage personal credentials, while increasing the quality
of public services. Through this program, the Sultanate is
taking a leading position in the region, taking the
benefits of digital security technology to a national
level. The contract also further reinforces Gemalto
position in this important new growth market."

    Note to editors

    By becoming the earliest adopter of smart card-based
national ID cards in the Gulf region, the Sultanate of Oman
is standing at the forefront of the global e-Government
trend. Over the past few years, there has been rapidly
growing awareness amongst governments worldwide of the
necessity to develop nationwide IT infrastructures in order
to deliver more secure, efficient and convenient ID services
to their citizens. The growing need of governments to
effectively authenticate remote users, combined with the
increasing concerns of traditional ID theft and fraud, has
influenced technologically proactive governments in
Belgium, China, Finland, Hong-Kong, Japan, Macao, Sweden,
USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and many more to convert to
smart card-based ID solutions. Through this innovative ID
program, the Sultanate of Oman is now joining this group of
leading IT nations.

    About Gemalto

    Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is a leader in
digital security with  pro forma 2005 annual revenues of
EUR1,7 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:

    For Gemalto

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    Investor Relations
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    For TBWA\Corporate

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SOURCE  Gemalto