In Brief

Publications Pictures of the Future Fall 2001

e-Business

The evolution of electronic payment is being influenced by many factors. One of these is the sharp increase in electronic commerce; others include new technical solutions, such as those for secure data transmission
No fixed standards for electronic payment systems have been established yet, however, and many experts remain convinced that e-money will never completely replace cash. But it will make payment easier and be very useful in certain applications, such as payments on the Internet or at vending machines. In general, the acceptance of e-money will ultimately depend to a large degree on how simple, convenient and secure it isand on the level of costs incurred
Generally, a distinction is made between card-based e-money (i.e. SmartCards serving as electronic wallets), and software-based e-money. In the case of the latter, the units of value are transmitted in encrypted form directly via the Internet or cell phone networks
The use of all these methods will increase significantly over the next few years, whether in the form of prepaid cards, SmartCards with microchips for encryption, card-readers for payment on the Internet, or a multitude of payment processes for cell phones
In order to develop international standards for payment via cell phone, Siemens and Hewlett Packard have established a consortium, known as the Payment Group. Together with other major companies in the industry, Infineon also supports various open standards
Many customers remain hesitant about paying for goods or services with e-money because of concerns about security. Indeed, according to an estimate by the EU Commission, fraud on the Internet was responsible for 600 mill: in damages last year in Europe alone. Siemens is working on a number of solutions to this security problem. These include voice identification of users in conjunction with cell phones, the analysis of hand contours at public terminals, and the use of Infineon's FingerTIP sensor with SmartCards. Siemens is also developing an extremely secure method of data encryption based on so-called elliptical curves