STMicroelectronics and Stollmann have entered into a joint agreement to offer Near Field Communication (NFC) interface solutions with necessary hardware and software components, to manufacturers of handsets and mobile consumer devices.
Near Field Communication is a wireless connectivity technology that can be used with various consumer devices, including mobile phones, which enable secure short-range data-transfer wireless services, such as payment and transport ticketing applications.
Reportedly, within the framework of this cooperative effort, Stollmann is adapting its portable NFC software with the Java JSR-257 API to ST’s NFC chips, including the extended functions that will be supported by ST.
ST’s ST21NFCA chip supports all popular formats for contactless smart cards and RFID tags as well as an extended set of wired interfaces and protocols. These include I2C and SPI interfaces with ETSI HCI and a Single-Wire Protocol (SWP) interface for Secure Elements (SE). This chip supports all NFC modes, Peer-to-peer, Reader/Writer and CardEmulation.
The Stollmann protocol stack facilitates NFC communications with NDEF and RTD formats and supports direct legacy access to contactless smart cards and RFID tags. The NFaCe+ API allows access to any type of smart card.
Christian Luhrs, managing director of Stollmann, said: This cooperation with STMicroelectronics is a major milestone for Stollmann and its software solutions for NFC. The combined strength of ST, with its leadership in contactless chips, and Stollmann, a leading protocol stack supplier, should mean that we see NFC handsets and other mobile devices in the hands of providers and consumers very quickly.
