Thanks to their outstanding security and the faster, more convenient border crossings they facilitate, Gemalto’s advanced epassport’s are helping authorities strengthen homeland protection and improve the traveler experience.
Gemalto’s leading position has been built on the supply of complete travel documents and key components such as polycarbonate data pages, visible and hidden document security features, electronic passport covers and ICAO-compliant embedded software.
Additionally, the company’s secure embedded software has consistently outperformed the competition in international tests on speed over the last decade.
(Strong experience through worldwide customer references, 120 years of security printing expertise, understanding of the whole ID document value chain and teamwork with governments, national printers and integrators are the 4 main reasons why Gemalto is associated with numerous projects worldwide. Courtesy of Gemalto and YouTube)
Gemalto is also making an active contribution to the definition of international ePassport standards.
- Introduced in 2005, the ePassport – which now represents 57% of passports in circulation – delivers enhanced fraud protection by incorporating a secure microprocessor that stores the holder’s personal data and digital photo.
- Electronic passports include a standardized electronic portrait of the holder for facial recognition, which opens the door to a comprehensive range of automated, self-service airport services for passengers.
- This extends from check-in through to immigration control and boarding, resulting in an enhanced experience on arrival and departure.
The Future ePassport
A new generation of ePassport will digitally store travel information such as eVisas and entry/exit stamps to support even more efficient immigration control.
Storing new biometric data, smarter border controls, integrating the passport with innovative smartphone apps can provide impressive opportunities.
The key trends in travel documentation identified by Gemalto include:
- Swift migration to tamper-proof polycarbonate data pages, which dramatically reduce the risk of fraud.
- Rapid growth in secure digital identity credentials.
- Sensitive ePassport data is stored on the holder’s smartphone to create a secure companion to the physical passport, making life easier for travelers.
- Smart borders/smart airports to emerge at a faster pace. Combined with the hundreds of millions of ePassports now in circulation and a strong push behind biometrics (particularly facial recognition), they offer travelers quick and secure cross-border movement.
“Over the past decade, Gemalto has helped develop some of the world’s most secure and attractive ePassports, including landmark projects in Algeria, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Morocco, Peru, Portugal, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and the USA” said Youzec Kurp SVP ID Document Solutions, Government Business Unit, for Gemalto.
“Our success is based on close collaboration with partners, ensuring that the unique requirements of each project are always fully realized.”
Electronic passport : 2017 and beyond
With 1,000 million ePassports now in circulation at mid-2017, smart borders and smart airports are emerging at a faster pace.
Combined with a strong push behind biometrics (particularly face recognition), they open the door to a comprehensive range of automated, self-service airport facilities for passengers, from check-in to immigration control and boarding.
They offer travelers a taste of cross-border movement that is as secure as it is swift and seamless.
With LDS2 (logical data structure version 2) the new generation of electronic passport to come will move from read only to read and write.
The LDS2 conception phase was undertaken by the ICAO NTWG (New Technologies Working group) Logical Data Structure 2 Sub-Group in 2016 and is progressing fast in 2017.
The key trends in travel documentation identified by Gemalto include for the 2017-2020 period are:
- Swift migration to tamper-proof polycarbonate data pages, which dramatically reduce the risk of fraud.
- Rapid growth in secure digital travel credentials. The data from the ePassport is stored on the holder’s smartphone or similar personal device to create a secure companion to the physical passport for travellers.
Gemalto is currently contributing to more than 45 passport initiatives and border management programs.
Gemalto is a global leader in digital security, with 2016 annual revenues of €3.1 billion and customers in over 180 countries.
From secure software to biometrics and encryption, Gemalto’s technologies and services enable businesses and governments to authenticate identities and protect data so they stay safe and enable services in personal devices, connected objects, the cloud and in between.
