INSIDE Secure to release Open NFC stack for Android

INSIDE Secure has announced that it will soon release its Open NFC protocol stack for Google Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and for the yet to be released Android 2.4.

Open NFC is claimed to offer greater independence from the underlying NFC hardware compared to other NFC APIs. Philippe Martineau, executive vice president of the NFC business line for INSIDE Secure says, “Open NFC relies on a separate, very thin and easily adaptable hardware abstraction software layer, which accounts for a very small percentage of the total stack code, meaning that the Open NFC software stack can easily be utilised for different NFC chip hardware”. According to Martineau, this is unlike the current Gingerbread NFC stack that has embedded throughout it code dedicated to specific hardware; this means that large portions of the stack need to be re-written to adapt to a different NFC controller. The new NFC stack should allow more Android developers to start to explore the possibilities of NFC.

Open NFC 4.2 for Android 2.3 will be available for download on the Open NFC web site by the end of February as a free and open source edition under the Apache™ License, Version 2.0.

INSIDE Secure develops semiconductor solutions for secure transactions and digital identity and its products are found in smart cards, mobile devices, acceptance devices and infrastructure systems.

See also:

• About NFC, a short description of Near Field Communication on the NFC Forum.
  

(trk)