OSPT Alliance Approves First CIPURSE-Certified Products

The Open Standard for Public Transport (OSPT™) Alliance today announced it has certified the first two products to implement the CIPURSE™ open security standard: a contactless security controller from Infineon Technologies and a CIPURSE smart card applet for NFC smartphones from INSIDE Secure. System integrators, transit systems operators and other transit ecosystem members can use these and other certified products when creating next-generation public transport fare collection systems based on the CIPURSE open security standard to ensure that the contactless fare cards, NFC smartphone apps and other system components they choose will work with each other.

“We congratulate Infineon Technologies and INSIDE Secure on achieving these CIPURSE certification milestones for their hardware and software products, and look forward to the arrival of many more certified ecosystem products from numerous vendors in the coming months,” said Laurent Cremer, Executive Director for the OSPT Alliance. “Transit operators, system integrators and other members of the transit ecosystem will all benefit from having a wide diversity of interoperable CIPURSE certified products available to them.”

Members of the OSPT Alliance can seek certification for end-user contactless devices, packaged devices, embedded integrated circuits or applets. Compliance with the CIPURSE specification is evaluated according to the OSPT Alliance Test Plan, which is managed by KEOLABS, a global provider of test and development solutions for the microelectronics industry. Through the testing provided by the CIPURSE Certification Program, members of the public will be able to have the convenience of using a single device such as a transit card or smartphone to pay for transit across systems and locations. Certification program documentation is available for download from www.osptalliance.org/certification.

“We are proud to be one of the first suppliers of a CIPURSE solution certified by the OSPT Alliance. We are now able to offer a solution based on a truly interoperable and open standard essential for the success of future-proof contactless ticketing systems. CIPURSE allows transit operators to lower the risk of their technology investment decisions when upgrading existing ticketing systems or installing new fare collection systems,” said Thomas Rosteck, Vice President & General Manager Secure Mobile & Transaction of the Chip Card & Security Division at Infineon Technologies AG. “It is also very exciting and encouraging to see that one of the next CIPURSE compliant products from Infineon to be certified by the Alliance is among the finalists for this year’s prestigious SESAMES Awards, the unrivalled seal for approval in innovation for card manufacturers and related industries.”

The Infineon CIPURSE controller enables public transport companies to easily and efficiently implement tickets or cards for secured access to trains and busses, as well as secured, interoperable and flexible automatic fare collection systems. It is based on the Infineon SOLID FLASH™ product family of 16-bit security controllers, which has been successfully used in many smart card applications. The CIPURSE controller is the first of several CIPURSE compliant products for public transport applications that Infineon will launch within the near future.

“As a CIPURSE-certified component, our Java Card applet allows any NFC mobile device to be used as a transport ticket for a CIPURSE-based fare collection system, making it easy for transit operators to introduce this innovative fare media,” said Pierre Garnier, Executive Vice President NFC and Secure Payments at INSIDE Secure. “By delivering one of the first CIPURSE-certified components, INSIDE continues to demonstrate its leadership in and commitment to this emerging and important market.”

Written in Java and conforming to the GlobalPlatform standard, the INSIDE Secure CIPURSE Applet V1 is operating-system independent and gives device manufacturers and system integrators the opportunity to implement a virtual CIPURSE smart card on any NFC mobile device. A smartphone or other NFC mobile device containing this applet can be used just like a physical CIPURSE smart card to pay for transit fares, and can be reloaded at any kiosk designed to reload the smart cards.

The CIPURSE open security standard addresses the need by local and regional transit authorities for future-proof fare collection systems with more advanced security than currently in use. Because it is an open standard, CIPURSE promotes vendor neutrality, cross-vendor system interoperability, lower technology adoption risks, higher quality and improved market responsiveness, all of which result in lower operating costs and greater flexibility for transport system operators.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, mobility, and security. In the 2011 fiscal year (ending September 30), the company reported sales of Euro 4.0 billion with close to 26,000 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and in the USA on the over-the-counter market OTCQX International Premier (ticker symbol: IFNNY). Further information is available at www.infineon.com.

About INSIDE Secure

INSIDE Secure (NYSE Euronext Paris FR0010291245 – INSD.PA), is a leading designer, developer and supplier of semiconductors, embedded software and platforms for secure transactions and digital security. INSIDE mobile NFC, secure payment and digital security products provide security for a wide range of information processing, storage and transmission applications. The company’s customers are found in a wide range of markets including mobile payment, identification documents, access control, transit, electronic device manufacturing, pay television and mobile service operators. For more information, visit www.insidesecure.com.

About the OSPT Alliance

The OSPT Alliance is an international association chartered to define a new open standard for secure transit fare collection solutions. It provides industry education, creates workgroup opportunities and catalyzes the development and adoption of innovative fare collection technologies, applications and services. The OSPT Alliance was founded by leading technology companies, and membership is open to technology providers, transit operators, consultants, solution vendors, government agencies and other stakeholders in the transit ecosystem. For additional information, please visit www.osptalliance.org.