Smart Cards: Distributed Computing With $5 Devices

Abstract

Smart cards are highly successful thanks to their unique combination of mobility and security. Based upon a single-chip microcontroller with volatile and non-volatile memories, a smart card implementes a small computer system that is very portable (credit card size), easy to use, and extremely resistant against external attacks. However, today's smart cards use proprietary protocols, application schemes, and development tools. This is due to the limitations of current technology, and it leads to situation of "splendid isolation" where smart cards are not being regarded as an integral part of the overall IT architecture. In this paper, we describe recent research towards "next generation" smart cards. It combines an advanced programming language (Java), novel hardware architectures that provide the required "MIPS budget" (RISC 32 bit), as well as an implementation of key Internet protocols (IP, HTTP) on smart cards. As a result, we show how smart cards can be seamlessly integrated within a distributed computing environment.

Secure Collaborative and Distributed Services in the Java Card Grid Platform

“…Furthermore, even though the cards are not very efficient in terms of computation power right now, the resources that they provide in terms of memory and computing capabilities [17] have increased a lot. Cards that will provide 1 Gigabyte of memory and more efficient processors are expected as soon as 2007.…”