Vodafone Group is now one of the largest companies in the UK and the world's biggest mobile phone company, with a stock market valuation of nearly £20 billion, with interests in 12 countries around the world. It operates through a number of subsidiary companies. Vodafone Group Plc began as a division of Racal Electronics Plc in the early 1980s. Then known as Racal Telecom, in December 1982 the company won a competitive tender to build and operate the second UK cellular telephone network. This was launched as Vodafone in 1 January 1985.
The first Stock Exchange listings in London and New York came in October 1988, when 20 per cent of the shares were floated. The company became fully independent from Racal Electronics Plc in September 1991 when the remaining shares were issued in the largest corporate demerger in UK business history. At the same time the name was changed to Vodafone Group Plc. The executive management team is lead by Vodafone Group Plc Chief Executive, Chris Gent .
Vodafone was the co-ordinating partner in the ASPeCT consortium and provided the necessary project management and co-ordination, drawing on its experience with European and UK collaborative projects. Vodafone provided a Work Package leader for both RACE Mobilise, and for the UK-funded LINK project `Third-Generation System Security Studies'. The role of Vodafone in WP1.1 was to use its strong presence in the standards bodies relevant for security and mobile communications (chairman of ETSI STAG and SMG5 WG4, editors of ETSI ETR-SMG50901 and ITU-R draft recommendation, participation in ETSI NA7 SEG, ETSI NA6/SMG5, ETSI SAGE, and all ETSI SMG STCs).
As a GSM and TACS network operator with extensive international interests,
Vodafone has a wealth of experience that it can bring to bear on third-generation
mobile systems. In WP2.1, Vodafone's experience was used to derive
requirements for migration scenarios, design solutions and then to evaluate
the results. In WP2.2, Vodafone presented its own views
on fraud management, and eventually provided suitable data on which the
suggested mechanisms could be tried out (subject to appropriate protection of this data being
possible). The end-to-end security services produced by WP2.3 were evaluated
from Vodafone's marketing point of view. Vodafone's experience with SIMs,
and close involvement with the standards bodies standardizing telecommunications
smart cards, was invaluable for establishing requirements in WP2.4.
Finally, Vodafone’s experience in running billing systems for mobile telecommunications
network was used to motivate the solutions to billing integrity and
security which were the subject of WP2.5.
The Computer Science Department is one of the leading centres for research. It is an international leader in Computer Learning, and has an international reputation in the areas of Formal Methods, Constraint Satisfaction Problems, Languages and Architectures, and Bioinformatics. Since 1990, the Department has received research funding in excess of £1 million. We have a regular quota of EPSRC studentships and many postgraduates are also funded by EPSRC, other Research Councils and industry.
The main technical contribution of RHUL to ASPeCT was to WPs 2.2,
2.3 and 2.4. Royal Holloway was the partner responsible for WP 2.3, End-to-end security services.
For WP 2.2, the expertise of Prof. Shawe-Taylor in Neural Networks and
Computational Learning Theory was used to help demonstrate the application
of a neural approach to the problems of fraud detection. In WP 2.3, RHUL's
existing expertise in assessing techniques for providing key management
for end-to-end services was of particular value. For both WP 2.3 and
2.4, RHUL's contributions to ISO/IEC SC27, and general research standing
in cryptography and security, was of importance. Also of value to the
project was RHUL's contribution to the UK Government funded
LINK PCP 3GS3 project, which ended in early 1996. This project
examined the provision of security in future mobile telecommunications
networks, and contributed to the security work to date in UMTS (SMG5)
and FPLMTS (ITU TG8/1).
Founded in Leipzig in 1852 as a firm of specialist printers, Giesecke & Devrient has evolved from its traditional beginnings into an important international group of companies, supplying banknotes and securities, security paper, banknote processing equipment, complete identification systems and cards and card systems for electronic payments. Throughout the company's history, it has consistently pioneered the use of innovative technology in these fields. Today, the supply of complex system solutions and customised service packages plays an increasingly important part in the organisation's activities.
The Giesecke & Devrient Group, headquartered in Munich, has a strong international orientation. Group companies operate in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Hong Kong, Mexico, Singapore, Spain and the USA as well as Germany, and joint ventures have been set up domestically and in Russia, South Africa and China. The group employs close to 4,500 people worldwide, with well over 1,000 outside Germany. Giesecke & Devrient's employees exercise a high degree of independence and responsibility.
As a high-technology enterprise, the Giesecke & Devrient Group gives high priority to research and development, investing over 6 per cent of its turnover in these activities. Over 500 employees are involved in developing new products and concepts. Close attention is paid to exploiting the benefits of synergies. Products and services complement and enhance each other in such a way that operations remain largely unaffected by cyclical fluctuations. Giesecke & Devrient develops products of a high standard and uses environmentally responsible production methods.
Security and competence are the international high-tech group's watchwords. Its customer-focused products, systems and services make Giesecke & Devrient a reliable partner for all organisations needing to solve complex problems in security-related fields.
G&D's technical contribution to the ASPeCT project was based
on its expertise in smart card technology, and its participation in various
standardisation organisations. These are particularly relevant to WP2.4,
UIM security functionality, where it is the responsible partner.
G&D provides the chairman to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC27, IT security techniques,
and ETSI STC SMG9, smart cards for mobile telecommunications, and is active
in ISO/IEC JTC1/SC17. It was therefore in a strong position to contribute
to WP 1.1. This standardisation experience, and that gained by being a
major producer of GSM SIMs, was beneficial in producing the various
migration scenarios for UIMs in WPs 2.1 and 2.4.
The cryptographic and security expertise of the company, which has been
acquired in the financial and telecommunications sectors, proved
helpful to the security aspects of WP 2.3.
The extensive experience of G&D in developing applications and operating
systems for smart cards and smart card terminals for payment, identification
and security services, also proved invaluable in developing the UIM security
functionality for WP 2.4.
The Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography (COSIC) research group is part of the Electrical Engineering Department (ESAT) of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. The research activities of COSIC are concentrated on the design, evaluation, and implementation of cryptographic algorithms and protocols, and on security architectures for computers and telecommunications networks. COSIC is interested in both the theoretical aspects of security system development and the integration of solutions into different applications. Recent research topics have included design and analysis of block ciphers, stream ciphers and hash functions, fast software and hardware implementation of cryptosystems (e.g., elliptic curve public-key cryptosystems), analysis of security aspects of electronic payments systems, Internet security frameworks, copyright protection, and security studies on smart cards.
COSIC collaborates closely with a large number of international research centres, organisations and private companies such as Utimaco Belgium, S.W.I.F.T., Europay International, and Philips, on a wide range of projects. Recent major projects include ASPeCT, MOVE-it (electronic fee collection for trans-European motorway tolling), SESAME (distributed system authentication), TimeSec (digital time-stamping), and E-PV (electronic processing of traffic offence warrants). In addition, COSIC participates extensively in the international research community through extensive research publications, refereeing, and organisation of biweekly seminars, a biennial computer security course and international conferences (IFIP Communications and Multimedia Security 99, Eurocrypt 2000).
The main technical contribution of K.U. Leuven to ASPeCT was to WPs 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4.
For WP 2.2, the expertise of Prof. B. De Moor in Neural Networks was
used to help demonstrate the application of a neural approach to the
problems of fraud detection. The security experts also assisted with
the identification of fraud patterns and with the implementations.
In WP 2.3, K.U. Leuven's expertise in the design, evaluation
and implementation of security mechanisms proved to be invaluable.
In addition, the experience of K.U. Leuven with smart card applications (e.g. in
ESPRIT 7023 CAFE) and its general research standing in the area of cryptography
and information security was of value to WPs 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5.
Also of importance to these WPs was the fact that K.U. Leuven has contributed
over several years to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC27 `IT Security Techniques'.
Siemens Atea concentrates on the development, production, marketing, installation and maintenance of public and private telecom networks. From its headquarters in Herentals, where all of these activities are united, Siemens Atea is active in more than 60 countries. Siemens Atea also has a production center in Colfontaine (production for the automobile sector), a research and development center in Grand-Hornu and a sales center in Brussels. The company employs some 1500 people and has a yearly turnover of some 10.6 billion BEF.
The main technical contribution of ATEA to ASPeCT was to WP 2.1, Migration
towards UMTS security, for which it was the responsible partner. ATEA
used its expertise as a manufacturer in deriving requirements for migration
scenarios, design solutions and then evaluated the results.
For WP 1.1 ATEA made use of its presence in relevant standards
bodies (SMG5 WG3 and WG4, editor of the revision to [M.1078] and participation
in ETSI NA4, NA6, NA7 and SMG).
For WP 2.3 the solutions developed for end-to-end security services
were evaluated from the point of view of a switching network manufacturer.
For WPs 2.1, 2.3 and 2.4, ATEA gave strong support to the development
of a terminal prototype, allowing the trial of all added security features
on the UIM and in the network.
Over the past 150 years, Siemens has grown to become one of the largest electrical engineering and electronics companies in the world. The basis for the company's success is a comprehensive range of services - including products, plants, systems, consultation, engineering and integration services as well as maintenance, operation, training and financing. Siemens's business segments are information and communication, energy, industry, health care, transportation, components, lighting, financial services and household appliances. The contribution to ASPeCT came from the Security Technologies group within the Siemens Corporate Technology department. With its network of competences, Siemens Corporate Technology makes a vital contribution to securing the technical future of the company by bringing its technological competence to bear in close cooperation with all the company's Groups.
The main technical contributions of Siemens AG to ASPeCT were to the work package "Security and integrity of billing in UMTS" and to the work package "fraud detection". In the former, Siemens AG worked on public key-based authentication and payment protocols for UMTS and developed a demonstrator for payment for mobile value-added information services. In the latter, Siemens AG developed a rule-based demonstrator for fraud detection. Siemens AG also contributed to the work package on "Trusted Third Parties" and participated in the project management and liaison activities.
In 1993, when the GSM mobile communications system became operational in Greece, PANAFON accepted the challenge to satisfy the ever increasing customer requirements by providing a reliable mobile communications network, free of temporal and geographic restrictions. PANAFON did not simply meet the challenge, it outperformed its target and established itself as the leading player in its sector.
Today, PANAFON is an integral part of Greece’s telecommunications infrastructure. PANAFON is shaping the future of Greek mobile telecommunications. The challenges of tomorrow are many. Greece's participation in the Information Society of the 21st century is one of them. PANAFON has already laid down much of the groundwork for this participation by meeting appropriate prerequisites such as expertise, high tech infrastructure, excellent human resources and top organisational and management systems. PANAFON will continue to move forward with focused and determined strategy as leader in its marketplace to meet the demands of the new millennium.
The role of PanaFon within ASPeCT was mainly in the co-ordination of the
trial results and the performance of test procedures. In WP 1.2, PanaFon co-ordinated the trial results in order to disseminate
these between the project partners, identify implications and organise
appropriate public demonstrations. In addition, through participation in
WP 1.1, PanaFon reviewed the project results and the perspective of
conformance to both existing and emerging international standards.
Through participation in the trial WPs, PanaFon designed test procedures
and performed test in order to check the validity of the provided results.
In addition, real network data was provided to the partners for trials and
as input to their implementations. Finally, appropriate resources of the
PanaFon network were allocated to the project in order to perform feasibility
studies.
With net revenues of over CHF 10 billion and around 20,000 employees, Swisscom is Switzerland's leading telecommunications company. The innovative, customer-focused and strongly-competitive group offers a full range of voice and data communication services on fixed-line and mobile networks. Swisscom provides some 3.9m analog fixed-line network accesses in Switzerland, as well as over 1.1m ISDN access channels - a figure which is rapidly increasing. Switzerland has one of the highest ISDN penetration rates in the world. Swisscom's network infrastructure encompasses some of the world's most modern technology. The company has over 2m mobile telephony customers. Soon, one in three residents in Switzerland will be using Swisscom's Natel network. Swisscom offers the complete spectrum of state-of-the-art data services, from leased lines to integrated solutions for corporate customers.
With Blue Window, the group is also Switzerland's leading provider of Internet and on-line services. In the first half of 1999 alone, Blue Window's customer base increased by 27% to a total of 193,600. Swisscom's clear strategy for the future aims to preserve the leading position in the domestic market and establish a targeted presence abroad. Successful customer relations, an innovative pricing policy, the comprehensive range of products and services and technological know-how are the foundations for Swisscom's strategic objectives.