Java Card History

Dr. Dobb's Journal February 1999

Although the Java Card specification was spearheaded by JavaSoft, the Java Card 1.0 API was based exclusively on work done by Schlumberger. It's little surprise, therefore, that the first Java Card product was Schlumberger's Cyberflex card -- a device that had only about 1 KB of EEPROM space for applications, and a 16-byte stack. Gemplus's GemXpresso, a Java Card 2.0-compliant smart card, contains 11 KB of application code space, and a 1-KB virtual stack.(Bull's Odessey and Schlumberger's Cyberflex are also now Java Card 2.0 compliant.)

The smart card industry rejected the 1.0 specification: 1.0 was not "real" Java in that it did not utilize the object-oriented features of the language (a Java Card 1.0 applet consisted of a main method that could make a limited series of system calls), and was not an extensible platform that could easily be built upon. Consequently, the industry decided to scrap the original specification and start from scratch.

With industry-side support, JavaSoft then set out to produce the next version of the specification. Its first move was to acquire the Gemplus subsidiary Integrity Arts, a company that had been working with Visa to produce a Java-based open platform smart card solution for the banking industry. The Java Card 2.0 specification evolved from this work.

In April 1997, the smart card industry came together and organized the Java Card Forum (http://www.javacardforum .org/) to "promote Java Card as the preferred programming language for multiple-application smart cards." Founded by Gemplus and Schlumberger, its primary activity is the development and recommendation of specifications to JavaSoft. It acts as the industry's voice, providing feedback in JavaSoft's cooperative stewardship role for the Java language. Also involved in the forum are strategic partners in the areas of banking, information technology, and telecommunications.

The Java Card Forum's membership currently includes Gemplus, Bull CP-8, IBM, DeLaRue, Giesecke & Devrient, Keycorp, Motorola, Toshiba, and Schlumberger.

-- D.B.