I'm getting started with GlobalPlatfrom Card spec and I cannot figure out how GLobalPlatform functinalify comes to JavaCard. Is there any applet that should be installed into a card to make this card GP-compatible? Or is the GP-functionality provided into a card during manufacturing as JRE extension? Or even is it possible to make non GP-compatible card to be GP-compatible?
Global Platform (GP) mainly handles the management of Applets and life cycle management on a smart card. GP cannot be loaded as an Applet as a normal Applet does not have those kind of permissions. Applets may however have certain privileges assigned to them by GP. The GP is part of the runtime that also contains the Java Card implementation.
GP also has a relatively small API available to Java Card Applets. This GP API allows Java Cards to request and (if they are privileged) change the life cycle of the Applet. Furthermore, the GP authentication and secure message implementation may be used to personalize Applets.
Most Java Card implementations rely on Global Platform to perform the management and there certainly is collaboration between Global Platform and the Java Card Forum. This is of course largely due to the fact that many companies are members of both organizations.