Technopolis GS to house smart cards production for Tricolor TV
Digital Television Systems (DTVS), OJSC, a part of the innovation cluster Technopolis GS, located in the town of Gusev, Kaliningrad region, launched the smart cards production line. The enterprise will start releasing the access cards for subscribers of the leading Russian satellite television provider Tricolor TV at the end of December 2014. Sales market is supposed to be further expanded by attracting other customers.
A special room was allocated at the DTVS plant and the new equipment purchased to produce the smart cards. In addition, several employees, that have undergone relevant training, were transferred to the new highly automated line. The total cost of the project amounted to 2.5 million euros. The new production line allows manufacturing a wide range of smart cards that are applied in various industries: access cards, SIM cards, loyalty cards, etc. The new production embraces chips coding, sealing them into plastic cases and applying the images on the cards.
Currently National Satellite Company, JSC (the Tricolor TV brand) is the unique customer ordering smart cards. GS Group, as the Tricolor TV key technology partner, designs and manufactures full set of user equipment to receive satellite signal at the Technopolis GS enterprises. However, Tricolor TV had previously been purchasing access cards for subscribers from another company which also carried out the programming of chips for Pay-TV access. Microcircuits encoding will be fully provided by the DTVS, OJSC specialists with the transfer of production to the Technopolis GS capacities which would increase devices protection against unauthorized data copying and reduce the cost of the finished product.
The planned smart cards output volume will amount to around 3 million units during 2015.
Additional information
Digital Television Systems, OJSC is the biggest digital set-top box manufacturer in Eastern Europe and a modern site for contract manufacturing, motherboard surface mounting rendering services and electronic device assembly. Its production capacity is 5 million units per year (with a possible expansion of production volume of up to 10 million). It has a production area of 13,000 square meters.
Technopolis GS is the only private innovation cluster in North-West Russia. It is a construction project that covers 230 hectares. The total amount of investment in Technopolis GS is estimated at approximately 850 million US dollars. Technopolis GS comprises an industrial zone, R&D and educational centers, a business incubator and a residential area. GS Group investment and industry holding is the promoter and investor of the Technopolis GS innovation cluster. Technopolis GS is being developed with the concept of the creative city, aimed at establishing a high-quality creative environment to attract talented people and facilitate their self-actualization.
GS Group is an international investment and industry holding, operating using its own high technology in telecommunications and innovation. The international headquarters are located in Zug, Switzerland.
Key activities are: the implementation of international broadcasting projects, nanomaterial and microelectronic R&D and mass-production; deep wood processing; investment in venture projects; media content production and management; software products design and integration; full-service advertisement; logistics and trade.
