NBS Technologies announced that the Commissioner of Patents of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office has issued the company a patent for the personalization of smart (EMV / chip) cards in client/server based environments.

Patent #2331494, entitled 'Smart Card Personalization in a Multistation Environment', recognizes NBS’ ability to produce personalized smart cards on a multitude of devices which are connected to a server PC responsible for data preparation and cryptographic operations. NBS’ technology enables the personalization of smart cards, including financial, ID, contact or contactless cards.

With NBS’ smart card personalization environment, card issuers can offer a myriad of smart card personalization options on a multitude of devices without the need for spending funds on increased cryptographic devices or support of multiple development environments. This flexibility greatly reduces the total cost of ownership of a card producer’s smart card personalization process. The architecture also increases the security of the system as all data preparation, including confidential operations, takes place in a secure environment at the Server.

“We are extremely excited with the issuance of this patent for smart card personalization,” said Ramesh Ajitaprasad, General Manager of NBS’ Software Division. “NBS pioneered the server-based approach to smart card personalization for central issuance. This technology is also the basis for NBS’ Xpressi software, the instant card issuance solution that is used by customers worldwide for issuing Credit and Debit smart cards – both contact and contactless.”

NBS believes that this patent recognizes NBS as a clear leader in the Canadian marketplace for smart card personalization. NBS holds many software patents for card issuance and card production equipment in several countries throughout the world.