Gemalto to Deliver 35 Million e-Health Cards for German Citizens

Latest generation of patient cards will be produced in Gemalto's site in Filderstadt near Stuttgart.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, July 11, 2007 - Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, today announces it has been awarded the tender held by insurance organization AOK (Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse) to supply and personalize e-health-cards for their insured in Germany. The contract win comes after Gemalto took part in Germany’s first healthcare pilot program based on highly secure microprocessor cards.
 
Gemalto’s new advanced digital healthcare solution will avoid duplicate examinations and therefore lessen unnecessary use of healthcare services. In addition, the new health card will be able to carry electronic prescriptions, which will reduce significantly paperwork. Finally, by allowing data update once the card is in the field, the new system enables insurance funds to potentially adjust their cost of ownership.
 
Gemalto’s latest-generation card will also act as an active security device to perform strong authentication of the patient therefore contributing to reducing fraud costs and increasing privacy. It will enable secure access to an electronic medical file that will include emergency data such as blood group, allergies alerts and ongoing treatments records. Authorized healthcare professionals can read personal information only if the patient consents by entering the card’s Personal Identification Number.
 
“Gemalto has been a long term partner to health insurance companies since the first generation of health cards back in the mid 90s’. We are proud and honored by the decision of AOK to get us to contribute massively to this program by providing German citizens with enhanced security and privacy management devices.” commented Jacques Seneca, Executive Vice President, Security Business Unit at Gemalto. “The quality of our product developed in our Munich R&D center, the capabilities and flexibility of our production and personalization site in Filderstadt near Stuttgart, as well as our high level of commitment to this project have provided us with a strong competitive advantage when it comes to meeting the stringent requirements of rapid large-scale deployments such as this.”
 
This new reference strengthens Gemalto’s positioning in the healthcare sector, following previous achievements in Algeria, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Mexico, Puerto Rico, UK, USA and Slovenia.
 
 

Note to editors
The health program the German government is launching involves 80 million patients, 350,000 doctors and dentists, 2,000 hospitals and 22,000 pharmacies.
The German health service is highly decentralized, with some 250 different insurance companies, each having their own infrastructure and supply process. The health insurance plans are either state-regulated or private. Around 90 percent of the population is covered by the state health insurance and the rest opt for private medical insurance. State health insurance beneficiaries do not have to pay for the visit to their doctor, nor for their medication (apart from a small fixed fee).
With the current system, insurance funds need to issue their customers with a new card whenever their administrative data change, whereas the microprocessor card-based system allows updating the information once the card is in the field, thus reducing operational costs. The electronic health card will carry the prescription and should make about 700 million handwritten prescriptions per year redundant.


About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is a leader in digital security with pro forma 2006 annual revenues of €1.7 billion, operations in about 100 countries and over 10,000 employees including 1,500 R&D engineers.
In a world where the digital revolution is increasingly transforming our lives, Gemalto’s solutions are designed to make personal digital interactions more convenient, secure and enjoyable.
Gemalto provides end-to-end digital security solutions, from the development of software applications through design and production of secure personal devices such as smart cards, SIMs, e-passports, and tokens to the management of deployment services for its customers.
More than a billion people worldwide use the company's products and services for telecommunications, financial services, e-government, identity management, multimedia content, digital rights management, IT security, mass transit and many other applications.

As the use of Gemalto’s software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the company is poised to thrive over the coming years.
Gemalto was formed in June 2006 by the combination of Axalto and Gemplus.
For more information please visit www.gemalto.com

About AOK (Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse)

For more than 100 years, the AOK - Germany's biggest health insurance company - has guaranteed security and extensive medical care in case of illness. The AOK cares for roughly 26,5 million people - a third of the German population. As market leader the AOK guarantees with the staff of 64260 in more than 1.500 branches a powerful service: quick, competent and unbureaucratic.

Additionally, the AOK is more than just a Health Insurance Fund. It has established an extensive health management system, which garantuees that consistent quality management results in a higher efficient health care. For the medically insured, this means the best health care at an affordable price.

In the self-governing bodies, the representatives are elected both by the insured and their employers. This self-governing body safeguards that health insurance remains in the best interests of the insured and of the companies they are employed by. The Federal Association of the AOK is located in Bonn, Germany.



Contacts:
 
Stéphane Bisseuil
Investor Relations
Tel.: +33.1.55.01.50.97
E-mail: stephane.bisseuil@gemalto.com 		Rémi Calvet
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
Tel: +33.6.22.72.81.58
E-mail: remi.calvet@gemalto.com
   
FINEO
Investor Relations
Tel.: +33.1.56.33.32.31
E-mail: gemalto@fineo.com 		Emmanuelle Saby
Media Relations
Tel: +33 (0) 6 09 10 76 10
E-mail: emmanuelle.saby@gemalto.com