Smartspace Software Share Discussion Threads

[garth] 14/12/2006 12:15

Archa,

The NoWcard project states somewhere that around 1700 buses would be involved. With back-office support and any consultancy that might equate to around £100K for Ecebs - but that is total guesswork based solely on the sort of revenue they seem to get per ISAM and the assumption that they will install a card reader on every bus. Some contracts related to NoWcard appear to run 2004-07. I've no idea what the roll-out has been on equipment. Wayfarer talk about the roll-out of 500 of their ticketing machines. Are NoWcard using more than one ticketing supplier?

No idea what policy Ecebs will have used in booking revenue.

Hope that is of some limited help.

G.

[garth] 14/12/2006 11:50

Anyone any thoughts on SMRT's 'transparency' RNS on total shares?

Archa,

I'll get back to you on that one when I get a moment.

G.

[huttonr] 14/12/2006 11:29

Archa - it simply means that you can edit your posts after they have been displayed.

[archa] 14/12/2006 10:55

Help. My posts are being labelled 'edit' in the header. What might I be doing that I should not do or vice versa, not doing that I should be doing, that is causing me to be branded as some sort of a pariah?

Arch

[archa] 14/12/2006 10:51

A recent update to the Advanced Smartcard Technologies web site quotes David Braddock as saying, "Not only is this a momentous event for the NoW smartcard but it is also a momentous event for ITSO and Ecebs. The Blackpool system is operated using ISAMs supplied by Ecebs and the Ecebs AMS / HOPS back office system operated for NoWcard by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The incredible success achieved by Blackpool Transport in such a short space of time is testament to their capabilities but also of the underlying ITSO technology designed and supplied by Ecebs. It bodes well for the further ITSO deployments underway around the country and the growing International interest."

Does any reader of, or poster on this board have any idea of what this current supply contract could have been be worth financially to Ecebs, and more importantly in terms of its potential to contribute to the achievement of the forecast for current years profits?

Arch

[igoe104] 13/12/2006 16:10

yep here it is.

[huttonr] 13/12/2006 16:06

I've just seen a BBC news item about a Barclaycard and Oyster combined card trial - is this ecebs?? Garth - do you know?

[garth] 13/12/2006 16:04

Oyster equivalent to be introduced in Brighton:


And Oyster and Barclays sign VISA deal.....

[garth] 11/12/2006 11:06

Thanks AW.

I was kind of hoping we might have them before Christmas. The most recent ITSO newsletter has more on the Scottish roll-out of bus equipment.

G.

[awilson] 11/12/2006 11:00

Full year results are due "in the first two weeks of January but no firm date yet" according to SVS Securities.

[mcdermott900] 06/12/2006 13:54

test - can't seem to see post 263!!

[lourneslal] 30/11/2006 20:38

So what causes a stock to quickly appreciate in value? Fundamentals? News? Management? Well yes, to a degree. But what REALLY moves a stock price northward that you just purchased?
Answer: A Huge volume of buyers having been directed to the emergence of that stock by a qualified service which has a reputation for doing so. THIS service does:

[garth] 30/11/2006 12:55

Background reading:
Paypoint ITSO compatibility


Bolton SmartCard scheme using ITSO for travel, library & leisure:
/WP7-01c_-_Bolton_Pilot_Specification_-_v2%5B1%5D.0_Release.doc itso isam&hl=en &gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=46

[garth] 29/11/2006 19:45

Thanks igoe

[igoe104] 29/11/2006 15:57

This will interest some.

[garth] 28/11/2006 15:07

Worth a scan ;0)



G.

[colsmith] 24/11/2006 09:37

garth - is this thru cash loaded onto card? If not and its a credit transaction potnetiallyt many bits of paper will be needed for a user to keep track of what will apear on their monthly invoice; its a nightmare. Suggests the card needs self recording and a user can check by passing the card near their PC for example to get a readout later or weekly or when the invoice arrives. In fact this facilty on a SMARTCARD seems obviuos - the end of paper - where has that been stated before. All a move in the right direction but the whole process for customer payment needs to be defiend not just the payment bit otherwise users will liley shy away.

[garth] 24/11/2006 07:48

First Mastercard, now visa:

Visa to launch 'wave and pay' card in UK

Publisher: Jon Land
Published: 22/11/2006 - 17:19:58 PM Printable version

Visa 'wave and pay' card set
for UK launch Consumers will soon be able to pay for their morning coffee or buy a cheap round in the pub by "wave and pay" payment cards, it was announced today.

Visa UK said the contactless system, through which customers can buy small items by simply brushing their wallet over a card reader, will be rolled out across the UK by the end of next year.

Shoppers will be able to buy goods worth up to £10 without resorting to tapping in their pin number or waiting around for payments to go through.

But in a safeguard to protect users from getting fleeced if their cards get stolen, as soon as the £10 limit is reached, the card will require a 'chip and pin' transaction to verify that the owner is genuine.

Customers will then be able to use their contactless facility again for a further £10 worth of transactions.

According to Visa UK, the new technology could create time savings for customers and retailers and reduce queues at checkouts.

Transactions can be completed in less than half a second, the payment card company claimed.

It is envisaged that contactless payments would be particularly suited to fast-food outlets, coffee shops, newsagents, off licences, pubs and parking facilities - all of which tend to have high cash turnover.

It could put an end to long and frustrating queues at the bar and shave seconds off the morning rituals of buying the daily newspaper.

Sandra Alzetta, Visa Europe senior vice president of consumer market development, said: "With over 75% of all cash payments being less than £10, the introduction of contactless payments will play a major role in encouraging the use of cards over cash for low value transactions.

"In addition, the decision to go live in less than a year supports our vision for a cashless Olympic Games in London in 2012."

Visa UK said it was working with retailers to enlist their support in advance of the contactless roll out.

[garth] 22/11/2006 12:55

Sorry, hitting posting overload. This piece by Peter Stoddart from "Joined up Strategic Thinking for Government Online (JUSTGO) hints at the significance of a possible introduction of concessionary travel in England to match the schemes in Scotland and Wales. Such a move would seem to hit a real point of critical mass for more widespread ITSO adoption. At that point all UK buses would have ITSO compliant smartcard readers that would also be in use in some authorities as library and leisure cards....

A journey through ITSO
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Peter Stoddart, Head of Marketing at ITSO, talks about ITSO and the development of smartcards.
The end of 2005 brings with it some significant milestone achievements for ITSO and not only ensures its place as the industry standard for transport applications on smartcards but also provides an environment for others to share – the true start of the citizen smartcard.

These milestones are:
• Common Criteria Certification to level 4 high. At long last, the actual certificate from the French Government that validates the high level of security provided by the ISAM (ITSO secure application module), which will sit in every Point of Service and back office, has arrived. This level ensures that the ISAM is fit for such products as e-money – a fact also borne out by a recent independent analysis of security provided by schemes, carried out by Consult Hyperion for the DfT, in which ITSO came out top;
• Security delivered. The final link in the ITSO security environment has now been commissioned and the first schemes can now establish their own security environments;
• First Operating Licence signed. Cheshire CC have become the first scheme operator to take out an ITSO Operating Licence. Impressive demonstrations of their end-to-end scheme have taken place recently and included all of their main suppliers;
• NSCWP endorse ITSO. The software developed by the National Smartcard Working Party (sponsored by the ODPM) now contains modules to generate ITSO shells on cards and is to be certified by Integri. This is attracting a lot of attention in local authorities as it helps them achieve their e-GIF requirements for Priority Outcome G12;
• Scheme forecasts! The major schemes in Scotland, Merseytravel, GMPTE, Southampton, Wales, Nowcard and Notts CC, which will be implemented or upgraded in 2006, are now forecasting over three million ITSO-based cards before the end of 2006.

What is ITSO?
The primary focus of ITSO was the creation of a specification for interoperable smartcards for transport applications. Today, that specification rests at version 2.1 published in March 2004 and as Crown Copyright is available to all.

The specification is unique is a number of ways:
• It supports a wide range of smart media, whereas other specifications usually support only one. In ITSO, the choice ranges from low cost disposable cards to top of the range microprocessor cards. The specification recognises current popular contactless media such as Mifare 1K & 4K, and Calypso. But all are interoperable, giving schemes a choice of card that is more appropriate to their application – low cost for single journeys, higher specification for concessionary travel cards – which may also be citizen cards;
• It covers the whole life journey of transport applications and so specifies card data, card formats, point of service activities, transaction formats and back office processing – providing a complete end-to-end specification for interoperable smart media;
• It supplies the security environment specification for key management. This again is unique, as other schemes provide usually only a card key. ITSO provides card, shell and product keys;
• It provides the security architecture for both the card and back office transactions necessary for the secure transmission of data amongst interoperable schemes. This includes the architecture for the authority levels of operators' points of service. It enables interoperability;
• It allows non-transport applications to sit alongside the ITSO application on the card or to sit inside the ITSO application as 'private' applications using data structures that are not defined in ITSO but utilising all the ITSO facilities, such as the security environment;
• ITSO is mandated by the DfT for any smartcard scheme requiring financial support from them;
• ITSO is highly recommended by e-gov for ticketing and would have had a higher standing if there had been active schemes at the time of recommendation.

Most of the schemes being implemented are schemes where the card is issued for concessionary travel, and Free Local Concessionary Travel, which was announced in the last Budget, has coincidentally encouraged more schemes to consider smartcards (increased risk of fraudulent use that can only be resolved by the use of smartcards). Free Concessionary Travel, should this be extended nationwide (as per Scotland and Wales) can only be achieved if those smartcards provide that necessary interoperability through an industry specification. ITSO is that standard specification.

ITSO as a specification is unique in terms of interoperability, and it is the range of cards that is both impressive and gives schemes enormous potential – ranging from small memory low cost cards through some of the ones we have known for some years, such as Mifare, Desfire, JCOP and Calypso, to the top end microprocessor cards. This gives scheme designers a wider choice of cards to suit their application, which may even include a number of types within one scheme. For example, a campus may choose to use a Mifare 4K or even higher for its students to cater for the core applications such as transport, cashless environment, library, leisure and access. But for the outside visitor who comes to a two day course, perhaps a low cost card will identify them and give them free lunch.

The same type of example could apply in, say, a local authority. Residents get a more powerful card with multiple services on it; tourists have simpler cards. For the one-off event, such as a concert in the park, residents could have their ticket added to their card whilst 'in-comers' would be given a low cost card just for the event.

But is it a card? To be politically correct, CEN now refers to Customer Media – so it is anything you can put a chip into. We have already seen watches used on the Hong Kong Metro to great success, but the obvious candidate is the mobile phone. Nokia (amongst others) have a model with a built-in chip that can 'impersonate' a number of the Customer Media definitions in ITSO.

That is the end of our journey so far, but really we have just reached the first interchange (sorry!). I can see so many strands in the smartcard world coming together now –and I do believe that ITSO was the (unknowing) catalyst.

For more details of ITSO, please visit the ITSO website on www.ITSO.org.uk, or contact us at [e-mail]

Peter Stoddart is an Independent Smartcards and Business Development Consultant, previously contracted as ITSO General Manager during the development period, now contracted as Head of Marketing. Peter is also joint partner in SEDNA – a consultancy aimed at helping all to implement the interoperable dream.

[garth] 22/11/2006 12:23

Just looking back over the last announcement from SMRT - I had read it as being an ITSO contract. But looking again the NOVACARD element (1-3 million cards) is described as 'multefile'. That might imply greater margin for Ecebs?

The Aberdeen council element is definitely ITSO and there is more background info available here:

[garth] 22/11/2006 11:12

This is the initial framework agreement from this summer. Source ERG website:

Date Of Media Release 09/05/2006
Title ERG Transit Systems Selected as Preferred Supplier of Electronic Ticket Machines to Stagecoach Scotland
Contact Glen Smith
Phone [phone]
Fax [phone]
Email [e-mail]
Division ERG Group

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ERG Transit Systems Selected as Preferred Supplier of Electronic Ticket Machines to Stagecoach Scotland
ERG Transit Systems (UK) Ltd announced today that it has been selected as preferred supplier by Stagecoach to supply ERG's ITSO conditionally certified fare collection solution for Stagecoach bus operations in Scotland, in a deal expected to be worth more than £2.3 million.

After an extensive appraisal process of all potential vendors, ERG's TP5000 Electronic Ticketing Machine and TRACS Depot software, including wireless LAN capability, were selected.

In late 2005 ERG was included in the framework agreement by the Scottish Executive to be an official supplier of ticketing equipment to operators taking part in the Scottish National Concessionary Travel Scheme.

"I am delighted with this news so soon after the announcement concerning our conditional ITSO certification. We will continue to provide the highest level of service and support as a key supplier to Stagecoach in Scotland", said Jay Prothero, Managing Director of ERG Transit Systems (UK) Ltd.

The roll out of approximately 1,600 ticket machines and 40 depots will take place across Scotland during the remainder of 2006.

[garth] 22/11/2006 11:04

Sorry WJ, its just Scotland again ;0) But it is to be rolled out right across Scotland:

New high-tech equipment for Scotland's bus fleet

Publisher: Ian Morgan
Published: 07/11/2006

The technology could soon be
rolled out across Scotland A pilot of new high-tech equipment for Scotland's bus fleet has been launched in Shetland.

The new ticketing machines on mainline buses will require cardholders to place their smartcards on a machine reader instead of the previous 'show and go' process.

Once trialled in Shetland the technology will roll out across Scotland, with the aim of paving the way for a system of having just one smartcard usable on all forms of transport.

The introduction of the new technology will be a world first - the first scheme of its kind to be introduced into an entire country rather than a city.

The only similar schemes in scale are in cities such as Hong Kong and London.

Transport Minister Tavish Scott said: "This devolved government is committed to improving public transport across Scotland. We want more frequent and reliable public transport services, equipped with the very latest in technology.

"Last week, I launched WiFi internet technology on our trains, and this week, I am pleased to see the pilot of new high tech equipment on our buses.

"This technology will improve efficiency and tackle potential fraud. The smartcard systems being tested on Shetland have the potential to cut costs, and in the future we hope to see passengers using just one card to access all forms of public transport. That is great news for people across the country."

Councillor Jim Irvine, Chairman of the Shetland Transport Partnership said: "Once again this re-affirms Shetland's ability to be at the forefront of transport developments and technology, meeting National initiatives and ensuring accessible and affordable local transport services are provided."

The equipment is initially for use with the older and disabled person's concessionary travel scheme but in the future will also be used for the younger person's concessionary fares scheme.

Alongside the trial of electronic ticket machines on buses, Shetland will also be carrying out a live proving trial of new back office technology which will enable concessionary data to be transferred via a bus operators back office to Transport Scotland.

Shetland was chosen because it is a self contained area ideal to test the technology and systems, before it is rolled out to larger areas of the country. Shetland Islands Council's chosen ETM supplier, ERG, was also the first of the four ETM suppliers ready to start testing in a live environment.