NEC Solutions Asia Pacific is awarded Singapore’s first Biometric Passport Project

SINGAPORE, 21 March 2005 - NEC Solutions Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (‘NECSAP’), a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation (‘NEC’), has been awarded the Singapore biometric passport project, issued by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (‘ICA’). NECSAP and the Ministry of Home Affairs (‘MHA’) will sign a Form of Agreement today to officiate this contract valued at SGD 9.7 million dollars.

Said Mr. Tan Boon Chin, Senior Vice President of NECSAP, ”Fingerprint identification remains as one of the most reliable biometric authentication means, maximising security requirement with its high accuracy rate while raising efficiency with its fast turnaround time. NEC is honoured to be given yet another opportunity to demonstrate our extensive experience in implementing security mega projects. We have been implementing world-class turnkey systems for Singapore over the last ten years. This goes a long way in showing our commitment to the Singapore government in implementing and commissioning biometric passport system within 6 months.”

“With NEC’s 30 years of continuous R&D and breakthrough in Biometric Identification technology, coupled with 2 decades of implementation experience over 27 countries in the world, we are confident of delivering a robust secure e-passport project for Singapore,” added Mr. Tan.

NECSAP is the Prime Contractor to deliver the Singapore biometric passport, providing the biometric applications for the system. Working together with NECSAP are fellow consortium members - NCS Pte Ltd, SNP Security Printing Pte Ltd and Gemplus Technologies Asia Pte Ltd.

"NEC has been a close, longstanding business partner of Gemplus since we rolled out the Access Card for the Immigration Automated Clearance System in 1997. We are very pleased to be working with them again on this win as it is a significant endorsement of our contactless chip technology and systems," commented Mr. Chou Fang Soong, South East Asia president for Gemplus Technologies Asia. "Together with NEC, we are confident that our winning offer meets ICA's stringent requirements to provide a secure, convenient and efficient authentication at immigration checkpoints."

Said Mr. Lee Kwok Cheong, Chief Executive Officer of NCS, “”NCS has been a partner of growth with ICA for many of its strategic applications and e-Services, since early 1980s. We are honoured to be part of this consortium to develop the biometric passport, which will benefit both the government and Singapore citizens, and help improve national and global travel security. This is an ongoing journey, which NCS continues to create value for MHA and ICA by building robust and secured systems. Our participation in this project showcases our application development and IT security capability in homeland security solutions.”

“With a history dating to Singapore Straits Settlement days, SNP has grown to become one of the leading print providers in the region. SNP is very excited to be a part of this project to bring national security to an even higher level. We are committed to deliver the best and are confident that we will be able to continue to serve up our trademark excellence through outstanding quality, service and value.” said Mr. Yeo Chee Tong, President & CEO of SNP Corporation Ltd.

The development work will commence end March 2005, and the system is expected to be commissioned in October 2005.

About NEC Corporation
NEC is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. Ranked as one of the world's top patent-producing companies, NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net sales of approximately $43 billion in the fiscal year ended March 2004. For additional information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com.

About NEC Solutions Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
A wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, NEC Solutions Asia Pacific is a leading information technology services provider with core competencies spanning the entire range of systems integration and consultancy services. This includes world-class identity solutions, turnkey implementation of mission-critical solutions, project management, and regional systems support and maintenance services. As the NEC regional hub for systems integration in South Asia, the company also supports sales and services in South Asia including Malaysia and Thailand for systems integration. NEC Solutions Asia Pacific is the first recipient of the Singapore Economic Development Board's International Headquarters Award.

The company's suite of solutions and services covers Systems Integration, Identity Solutions, RFID Solutions, Financial Solutions, Retail Management Solutions, Manufacturing Business Solutions, Enterprise Resource Planning, Imaging and Workflow Solutions, Enterprise Information Portals and Knowledge Management, NECare Service Centre, Enterprise Servers, Network Solutions and Multimedia Products. Visit http://www.nec.com.sg

About NCS Pte. Ltd.
With a presence in over 16 locations in eight countries across the Asia Pacific region, NCS Pte. Ltd. a wholly-owned subsidiary of the SingTel Group, is a leading regional information technology (IT) and communications engineering services provider. NCS helps its customers gain a competitive edge through the strategic implementation of IT and engineering solutions. It has a broad range of services including consulting, development and integration, managed services, and training and education.

NCS has more than 20 years of experience in e-government consulting, systems development and deployment in this region. Having established itself as a choice IT services provider in the Singapore public service sector, NCS has also enjoyed substantial success in the aviation, banking and finance, education, healthcare, homeland security, manufacturing, telecommunications, transportation and logistics, and utilities sectors. NCS has a regional workforce of 3,000 dedicated professionals. It is well positioned to engage in long-term partnerships to create value for its customers. For more information, please visit http://www.ncs.com.sg./

About SNP Corporation Ltd
SNP is a leading media company whose core businesses are in Printing and Publishing. SNP has 8 principal subsidiaries, 3 of which are based in Singapore, 4 in China/Hong Kong and the remaining one in Malaysia. SNP is listed in the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange.

About Gemplus
Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world's leading player in the smart card industry in both revenue and total shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest (2004), Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor.). It has sold over 5 billion smart cards.

With security at its core, and 2400 patents and patents applications produced by its innovative R&D team, Gemplus delivers a wide range of portable, personalized solutions in areas including Identity, Mobile Telecommunications, Public Telephony, Banking, Retail, Transport, Healthcare, WLAN, Pay-TV, e-government, and access control.
Gemplus' revenue in 2004 was 865 million Euros.
www.gemplus.com