Gemplus SA, the year-old French Smart Card manufacturer and the Oracle France SA arm of Oracle Systems Corp will today announce collaboration on what they are calling the first relational chip card. Gemenos-based Gemplus has developed a chip card that enables data to be stored in a relational format, manipulated via SQL and to access SQL servers, say sources close to the announcement. The Smart Card company, which has doubled its revenues in North America in the last year, is also expected to announce the arrival of a new shareholder, described as a European software specialist that is well established in the US, reports La Tribune-Defosses. The paper quotes Gemplus president Marc Lassus saying We want a strategic, long-term partner, while acknowledging that he still had to convince certain minority shareholders. As a result of, among other business, its alliance with Rewood, California-based Verifone Inc as the electronic debit card supplier for the Mac banking network, Gemplus expects its revenues in the US to explode from some $10.3m this year to $120.7m in three years’ time. The company is also in advanced negotiations with a large North American cable operator that wants to use Smart Cards to secure access to its programming, and developments are expected next month. It is also in discussions with General Instrument Corp to test Gemplus cards with General Instrument’s cable television decoders. It forecasts sales to rise 37.5% to $175m in 1994.
