Card Personalization System
Bringing Kona I's smart-card personalization system from its head office in South Korea to Bangladesh.
- Role
- Software Engineer II, Kona Software Lab
- Built with
- Java, Apache Struts
- Standards
- GlobalPlatform, EMV, Visa and Mastercard specifications
- Status
- In commercial use
What it is
A chip card works only after it has been personalized: the cardholder's data and the card's keys are written onto the chip so that terminals and payment networks will accept it. GlobalPlatform defines how applications and keys are managed on the chip, EMV defines the payment application, and Visa and Mastercard add their own rules on top. Instant issuance does all of this on demand, so a customer can leave with a working card.
A general description of card personalization, not of Kona's implementation.
The problem
Kona I, Kona Software Lab's parent company, already ran a card personalization system at its head office in South Korea and wanted to offer the business in Bangladesh. Card personalization is a niche field. The system had never run in Bangladesh, and running it meant first understanding the specifications it is built on.
My role
I was chosen from the engineering team for a 14-day training program at Kona I in Seoul. Back in Bangladesh, I set the whole system up in our office and completed an end-to-end card personalization. In 2025 I worked on the Card Personalization with Instant Issuance project.
How I did it
There was no local playbook, so in many places I had to rediscover how the system worked before I could rebuild it.
- Study the specificationsGlobalPlatform, EMV, Visa, and Mastercard.
- Learn the running systemTraining on Kona I's system in Seoul.
- Set it up in BangladeshInstall and configure the system and personalization devices.
- Personalize end to endComplete a card from data to a working chip.
What it taught me
Reading specifications, working out how an unfamiliar system really behaved, and connecting the dots until a card came out working felt more like research than routine engineering. It is a large part of why I went on to a PhD.
“One of the most dedicated and detail-oriented professionals I've worked with.”