Wizard API updated!
Tim Boudreau has released a new version of the Swing Wizard library (version 0.997) that fixes the WizardException bug reported in JavaWorld's recent Open Source Java Project profile. The article's examples have been reworked to test out the new, improved WizardException. Thanks, Tim, for this helpful fix!
Open Source Java Projects: The Wizard API

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JavaWorld.com > Java Standard Edition >

Giving currency to the Java Card API

A developer's guide to opportunities on a new Java platform

By Arthur Coleman, JavaWorld.com, 02/01/98

The computer industry, more than any other, is built on the fundamental assumption of constant change. Moore's law, for example, states that every eighteen months the number of transistors that can fit in a specific area doubles. Inexorably, and with almost assiduous precision, the industry experiences the obsolescence of an entire spectrum of products and the birth of a new generation, based on the latest generation of microprocessors. The newest generation of processors has yielded many well-recognized devices, including sub-notebooks, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and intelligent cell phones. It has also yielded a new generation of devices that, until now, have not been as well known, of which smart cards are only one example.

This article begins with a brief review of smart cards, a discussion of the benefits of the Java Card API, and an explanation of why the Java Card API has taken the smart card industry by storm. This is followed by a description of applications and services that will be demanded by companies trying to implement Java Card technologies. Finally, it discusses ways in which the Java Card is part of a larger trend in computing, and suggests ways for you to begin thinking about developing the skills necessary to succeed in an era of individualistic computers. For details on Schlumberger's CyberFlex Java Card, see the current Java Developer column by Rinaldo Di Giorgio.

Why have smart cards received more attention than other new devices? Smart cards have existed in a variety of forms since 1974; they have had substantial success in parts of Europe (France and Germany, in particular); and this success has been driven by the development efforts of several notable companies (Bull/CP8, GemPlus, and Schlumberger, among others). You could even say that, in many ways, smart cards now have reached critical mass -- not only in Europe, but in the United States and Asia as well. Today, 95 percent of all smart cards are sold in Europe. By 2001, analysts at Data Monitor, a market research organization that focuses on smart card markets, predict that well over 25 percent of the worldwide market for the 3 billion smart cards sold in that year will be outside of Europe. Much of the success that smart cards will experience in the next few years, and their increasing worldwide adoption, is directly related to one fundamental invention that is changing the nature of competition in the smart card industry: The Java Card API.

The Java Card API

The Java Card API is part of the smallest virtual machine specification for Java. The specification is designed to allow Java to run on an 8-bit microprocessor, with 14 kilobytes of electrically erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM), 8 kilobytes of read only memory (ROM), and 256 bytes (no we did not forget the "K"!) of random access memory (RAM). The specification was first released in November 1996. By the release of the Java Card API 2.0 one year later, every major vendor of smart cards in the world had licensed the technology. All these vendors are in the process of building working implementations. Both Schlumberger and GemPlus, companies that combined sell something like 75 percent of all smart cards, already have existing implementations and development toolkits for sale. By 2001, over 700 million of the 3 billion cards sold will run the Java Card virtual machine.

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Resources
  • The first in the series of Java Developer columns devoted to the smart card topic published in JavaWorld was the "Java smart card primer" http://www.javaworld.com/jw-12-1997/jw-12-javadev.html
  • Last month JavaWorld ran the second Java Developer column on smart cards, "Smart cards and the OpenCard Framework" http://www.javaworld.com/jw-01-1998/jw-01-javadev.html
  • Java Card API Web Site contains links to all the companies that are currently licensed to issue Java Card-based technologies http://java.sun.com/javacard
  • Java Card Developer Programs can be contacted at (800) JAVASOFT or (512) 434-1591 from international locations
  • Java Developer Connection http://developer.javasoft.com
  • To reach the Java Card Business Development division, send mail to javacard@java.sun.com
  • Tired of the smart card form factor? Try Dallas Semiconductor's "Ibuttons"
    http://www.ibutton.com
  • The OpenCard Framework site is accessible at
    http://www.opencard.org
  • GemPlus offers a variety of smart card options
    http://www.gemplus.com
  • Schlumberger's Java smart card http://www.cyberflex.austin.et.slb.com
  • Bull/CP8's smart card page http://www.smartcardsys.com/bullcp8/home.htm
  • Bank Technology News http://banktechnews.faulknergray.com
  • Retail Delivery Systems News http://www.ectoday.com
  • American Bankers Association, 1120 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036, (800) 338-0626
  • International Card Manufacturers Association, CN 727, Princeton Junction, NJ, 08550, (609) 799-4900
  • Smart Card Forum, 8201 Greensboro Drive, Suite 300, McLean, VA 22102, (703) 610-9023
  • Smart Card Industry Association, 191 Clarksville Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, (609) 799-5654
  • Published by Faulkner and Gray, Inc., Card Marketing is located at 11 Penn Plaza, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10001, (800) 535-8403
  • Published by Faulkner and Gray, Inc, Card Technology is located at 300 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606, (312) 913-1334 http://cardtech.faulknergray.com
  • A subscription to Phillips Business Systems Information is available for 95/year. Contact (800) 777-5006