Axalto and Intercede Join Forces to Market Best-of-Breed Smart Card and Identity Management Security Solution

Amsterdam, December 20, 2004 - Axalto (Euronext: NL0000400653 AXL) Axalto and Intercede today announced their collaboration in the smart card and identity management market with a combined solution designed to enable businesses, government agencies and educational establishments to quickly and easily protect their PCs, networks, virtual private networks (VPNs), buildings and facilities.

Combining Axalto's card and middleware expertise with Intercede's smart card and identity management expertise, the new solution takes card and ID management to new levels. This partnership integrates Intercede's MyID ™ smart card and identity management technology with Axalto's Card Management Toolkit technology, smart cards and middleware. The combined offering provides unrivalled lifecycle management of smart cards, digital certificates, Open Platform applets and biometric credentials.

The combined offering enables organisations to immediately start issuing and using smart cards/USB devices for applications such as:

"I am delighted that Axalto, a leading provider of microprocessor cards is partnering with Intercede to create one of the best ID management solutions in the industry. This further demonstrates Intercede's outstanding technology and confirms significant penetration in the identity management sector" said Richard Parris, Chairman and Chief Executive, Intercede Group plc. "The integration of MyID with Axalto's cards, middleware and card management toolkit, provides global customers with a compelling and powerful world-class identity and access control solution that can be rapidly and cost effectively deployed."

"This technology partnership with Intercede to deliver a strong identity management system will enable customers to deploy digital credentials and smart-card based security solutions in the most cost effective manner," said Marvin Tansley, Vice President of Axalto's Access group. "We are confident that the alliance with Intercede will make life much easier for our corporate badge customers."

About Axalto
Axalto (Euronext: NL0000400653 AXL) is the world's leading provider of microprocessor cards (Gartner Dataquest 2004) - the key to digital networks - and a major supplier of point-of-sale terminals. Its 4500 employees come from 70 nationalities and serve customers in more than 100 countries, with worldwide sales reaching 3 billion smart cards to date. The company has 25 years' experience in smart card innovation and leads its industry in security technology and open systems.

Axalto continuously creates new generations of products for use in a variety of applications in the telecommunications, finance, retail, transport, entertainment, healthcare, personal identification, information technology and public sector markets. Microprocessor cards provide convenience, security and privacy to public and private services operators, their customers and end users.

For more info, please visit www.axalto.com

Emmanuelle Saby
Public Relations Manager, Axalto
Tel: + 33 (0) 1 46 00 71 04
Fax: + 33 (0) 1 46 00 67 13

About Intercede
Intercede Group plc is a leading developer and supplier of smart card and identity management software listed on the London Stock Exchange (IGP LN) (IGP.L). The Group's MyID™ software manages the secure registration, issuance and lifecycle of digital identities for a wide range of uses. This requires the integration of multiple technologies and products from many different vendors, including smart cards, biometrics, digital certificates and Open Platform applets.

Intercede's customers cover a range of industries and include Barclays Bank, COLT Telecom, Fujitsu, Lloyds TSB, the UK National Health Service (NHS), Pink Roccade, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ubizen and various US and UK Government agencies and departments.

For more information, visit Intercede's home page at www.intercede.com

ENQUIRIES:
Ian Lowe - Marketing Manager
Intercede Group plc
Tel. +44 (0) 1455 558111
Email: ian.lowe@intercede.com