Gemalto's issuance facility for Quebec's new highly secure polycarbonate driver's license is live

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Jan. 12, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, announces Quebec's driver's license and vehicle registration authority, SAAQ¹, has declared Gemalto's new central issuance facility for driver's licenses operational. Gemalto's professional services team worked closely with SAAQ over the past eight months to seamlessly integrate the central issuance solution into SAAQ's headquarters. The first cards have been delivered to Quebec drivers as of September 9^th, 2015.

In addition to providing the Coesys Issuance Solution for central issuance, the multi-year contract with SAAQ also includes a custom designed artwork and the polycarbonate-based driver licenses, known for its ability to support strong tactile security features. Gemalto's team of security experts addressed the complexity of maintaining the existing driver's license design while moving from the previous Teslin® card to a Polycarbonate one. The polycarbonate technology adds security improvements to the document without adding lengthy wait times for Quebec drivers renewing or applying for their driver's license.

Switching to a polycarbonate driver's license has two advantages: offering Quebec drivers a more secure form of identity in addition to increased durability of the driver's license. This also reduces the cost of frequent reissuance and is more convenient for citizens.

"The flexibility of our driver's license solution made it easy to incorporate the number of different card types that SAAQ supported in their existing system. The new production site consolidates all of SAAQ's driver license issuance programs and includes the new polycarbonate driver's license," said Neville Pattinson, Senior Vice President of Government Programs for North America at Gemalto. "Gemalto's employees operate the solution within SAAQ and ensure that we meet the service-level-agreement set by SAAQ."

For more information on Gemalto's advanced technology, visit http://www.gemalto.com/govt/sealys/ or download Gemalto's whitepaper on Polycarbonate and Identity Documents.

¹ Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec : The Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) is a public entity under the authority of Québec's Minister of Transport. The SAAQ is governed by a Board of Directors.  The SAAQ is responsible for enforcing the Automobile Insurance Act and the Highway Safety Code and, in accordance with agreements set forth in the Code, it oversees the partial enforcement of seven other laws.

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security, with 2014 annual revenues of €2.5 billion and blue-chip customers in over 180 countries.

Gemalto helps people trust one another in an increasingly connected digital world. Billions of people want better lifestyles, smarter living environments, and the freedom to communicate, shop, travel, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. In this fast moving mobile and digital environment, we enable companies and administrations to offer a wide range of trusted and convenient services by securing financial transactions, mobile services, public and private clouds, eHealthcare systems, access to eGovernment services, the Internet and internet-of-things and transport ticketing systems.

Gemalto's unique technology portfolio - from advanced cryptographic software embedded in a variety of familiar objects, to highly robust and scalable back-office platforms for authentication, encryption and digital credential management - is delivered by our world-class service teams. Our 14,000 employees operate out of 99 offices, 34 personalization and data centers, and 24 research and software development centers located in 46 countries.

For more information visit www.gemalto.com, www.justaskgemalto.com, blog.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter.