Computerworld - December 5, 2011

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New SIM Card Will Lead to Thinner Phones

Holiday Shopping at Work Raises Risks

EMPLOYEES ARE PLANNING to do more online holiday shopping while on the job this year, a new survey shows. And many will be using their personal smartphones and tablets.

As a result, IT managers are worried about corporate network security because personal devices may be especially vulnerable to being hacked during shopping forays. This is according to ISACA, a nonprofit IT advisory group with 95,000 members, most of whom have IT-related jobs.

In two surveys, ISACA found that the
average American will spend 32 hours shop-
ping online this holiday season, with 18 of
those hours spent on a personal smartphone
or tablet that’s also used for work. Because
those devices connect to corporate networks
and access data at times, precautions need
to be taken to keep hackers at bay, ISACA
officials said.

A new SIM card, dubbed nano-SIM, will free up room in phones for additional memory and larger batteries, allowing manufacturers to create thinner devices, German card maker Giesecke & Devrient claimed.

At approximately 12 millimeters by 9 millimeters, the nano-SIM is around one-third smaller than the smallest card currently available — called a micro-SIM — and about 60% smaller than the traditional SIM card that is still used in most phones, Giesecke & Devrient said. The nano-SIM card is also about 15% thinner than current models, the company added.

The first phones to incorporate the new card will arrive next year, the company said. With adapters, the format will be backward-compatible.

Giesecke & Devrient has shipped samples to mobile network operators for testing.

Apple, which already uses a
micro-SIM card, has been helping
develop the new form factor. In
It’s only a matter of time before
virtual SIMs take over, accord-
ing to Malik Saadi, an analyst at
Inform Telecoms & Media.