Smartspace Software Share Discussion Threads

[garth] 26/10/2006 15:44

Chairman2,

I've found the pdf if you would like it emailed.

G.

[igoe104] 26/10/2006 15:44

garth do you still hold igp ?

[garth] 26/10/2006 15:43

Are they going to raise more cash at 3p?

[jotoha1] 26/10/2006 15:20

So whats going down here?? company seems sound , yet the price and spread tells you beware! are the mm playing tricks with this little minow, and if so why?

[garth] 26/10/2006 07:22

Reforms of bus transportation would surely have to include the SMART ticketing initiatives reforms seen inScotland, Wales and a number of authorities in England? Good news for us:

LONDON (AFX) - The push for reform of regional bus services is gathering
pace with the government indicating that local authorities may be given more
powers similar to those of the Greater London Authority.
Today is the 20th anniversary of the Transport Act coming into force. It
removed all restrictions on competition in the bus industry and to coincide with
the date parliament's Transport select committee is releasing a report on
services across the UK.
Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander is said to be "actively" working on a
strategy to reform how bus services are organised, subsidised and regulated,
junior Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman said.
Sources said the Transport committee's findings will stop short of calling
for re-regulation, something which may please operators,including Arriva PLC,
Stagecoach Group PLC, National Express Group PLC and Go-Ahead Group PLC.
Some operators and the Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman believe more
subsidy would be needed to make such a move work.
While London is cited as a success story, it has been exempted from the
deregulation law and allowed to introduce private franchises with strict rules
over routes, quality and frequency.
Ladyman said London Mayor Ken Livingstone had made the system work due to
revenues from the 8 stg a day congestion charge payable by motorists who enter a
zone in the centre of the city.
This allows him to invest 560 mln stg a year on buses alone. Critics of
regional services say operators can "cherry-pick" lucrative routes and hold
passenger transport executives and local councils to ransom over the least
profitable services.
"He (Livingstone) was prepared to take difficult decisions to introduce
congestion charge in order to get that money (and) he was prepared to say buses
are going to have priority over other forms of traffic so we are going to have
bus lanes, bus priority at traffic lights and do all these other things that
make buses work," Ladyman said.
"And it was all of those things, particularly the way the system was
regulated, the money from the congestion charge and his priority of the
roads, that have made buses work in London."
"So even if you gave other parts of the country the same regulatory system
you have got in London, unless they are prepared to do other things to find
the money and give bus lanes priority over cars you are still not going to
get improvement in bus services you have got in London."
"Councils have got to be willing to do something unpopular which is
to give buses priority over cars if they are going to make buses really
work."
"So what I'm saying is the secretary of state has made his promise. He's
going to look at the way buses are organised and regulated and he'll make an
announcement on that but if you really want to see improved bus services
actually 50 pct of the job has to be done by local councils taking unpopular
decisions to make buses work in their area."
Alexander, pledged in his speech to the Labour Party conference in
Manchester last month that it was time to end the regional "free-for-all".
He was speaking against the backdrop of "bus wars" that had broken out in
Manchester. The city centre had been gridlocked several times by empty buses as
rival transport firms (legally) battled for business.
Hostilities broke out when UK North began running 12 services an hour on the
Manchester to Chorlton route already served by Stagecoach.
"In too many of our communities we have seen a free-for-all that has left
the needs of the public behind," Alexander said at the time.
"So to ensure the private sector delivers the bus services our communities
demand, I will act to empower local communities," he added, raising hopes that
changes will be announced before the end of the year, but also admitting that an
initiative known as "quality partnerships" has failed.
These partnerships were meant to allow regional Passenger Transport
Authorities (PTA), councils and bus operators to work closely together to
improve services and standards in a bid to attract more people out of their cars
and onto public transport.
Transport authorities are allowed under law to introduce rigid "quality
contracts" which can force bus companies to operate to specific standards.
However, because these contracts have proved to be so complex combined with
the fact that councils and PTAs must prove there has been a failure of the
system, the contracts have yet to be used.
Go-Ahead North-East's commercial director Martin Harris and Arriva London's
managing director Mark Yexley said re-regulation may not be the solution to the
problem.
In an interview with the Newcastle Journal newspaper Harris said there
needed to be "political will to see public transport working".
"But to do that you also need the money behind you. To replicate what you
have in London is going to be very expensive," he said.
"I fear that people are heading for a fall if they mislead the public into
believing re-regulation will solve all the problems of public transport," he
added.
Yexley warned that "the worst possible outcome would be to put all the money
into extra bodies but because there is no new money coming into the system there
will be less to invest on the network".
"If the money was there for re-regulating great. But if it's not you will
end up with the worst of all worlds," he said.
Both men have called for "quality partnerships" to be given a greater chance
to work and be introduced on a wider basis.

[chairman2] 25/10/2006 21:44

hanks Garth trying to find the shareholders

[garth] 25/10/2006 20:03

Interesting piece new today:


How will the charges be made? Any takers?

G.

[garth] 25/10/2006 19:57

Disappointing to the share price down today....

13th - one of the quality papers will be showcasing the lead players in ITSO. As SMRT technology lies at the heart one would expect a wide readership to her the name for the first time.....

Chairman,
AIM doc link seems to be dead. A broker note is available here.


I'll check to see if I have the AIM pdf somewhere.

Kind regards,

G.

[awilson] 24/10/2006 22:28

Garth

Thankyou for 184 as it adds further support for the future of SMRT.
Presumably 19th November is when the results come out?
I was not too happy with the late sale at 3.0p which is the lowest price for quite some time although it was just over £2000 of stock.

[garth] 24/10/2006 17:35

London rail fare tariffs cut from 97,300 to 21
Filed 20/10/06

Train fares in London are to be massively simplified after the government announced that from January next year the prices of single and return rail tickets within London will be based on the same six zones already used for Underground and Travelcard tickets.

The new structure will pave the way for Oyster pay-as-you-go smart ticketing to be rolled out across National Rail routes in London over the next few years. It will simplify the current complex system of individually-priced station-to-station fares. There are over 330 rail stations within the Travelcard zones, and at present each of 97,300 different station-to-station combinations has its own set of fares. These will be replaced by 21 zone-to-zone combinations, with a single, return and cheap day return set for each.

Announcing the new structure yesterday (19 October) rail minister Tom Harris said: "This removes a barrier to the introduction of smart ticketing, bringing seamless travel for London passengers closer. The new system is simple and sensible. It will make train fares in different parts of London consistent with each other and will use the zones that travellers are already familiar with.

"The zonal fares are another step in rolling out Oyster pay-as-you-go across national rail in London over the next few years. As other smartcards are rolled out outside London, passengers across the country will start to benefit from integrated smartcard ticketing on all modes of travel."

Steve Howes, director of London, Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "We will work with the Department for Transport to implement this historic change to London's fare structure. It is designed to make travel around London's rail network easier and simpler for passengers. It will also enable the introduction of Oyster Pay as you Go across London's overground rail network."

Brian Cooke, chairman of London Travelwatch, said: "This is a great boost for London. Research shows that the complexity of fares is one of the barriers to greater use of the railway and we hope today's announcement will substantially remove that barrier. We believe this simplified system will make travelling across London and on different modes of transport much easier and ensure passengers are always sold the cheapest and most appropriate tickets for their journey."

As compatible smartcards based on the ITSO (integrated transport smartcard organisation) standard are rolled out outside London, passengers will be able to take advantage of national smartcard-enabled through-ticketing on all modes of public transport.

[garth] 20/10/2006 11:37

Looks like 14th November could just prove a good day to be holding. Put it in your diaries...... ;0) Shhhhhh...

G.

[archa] 17/10/2006 21:29

Large sale of 350,000 sahres @ 3.25p. Price didn't blink. Does this imply an underlying strength?

Arch

[garth] 17/10/2006 16:34

Nice RNS from IGP this week though.

G.

[garth] 17/10/2006 16:09

WJ,

stop looking for a spring-time harvest! Seeds take time to grow. Want an example outside of Scotland (and you know there are plenty - London, Wales, Ireland, South Africa)? Compare these two...

"Easier public services access"


"....delivery channels such as the BT Multimedia kiosk, where Ecebs and BT co-operate, showed just how simple and practical smartcard implementations have now become."


From little acorns.....

G.

[wjccghcc] 17/10/2006 14:03

Hey Garth. I'm still watching and waiting for some significant contracts outside Scotland. Did I miss any?

[garth] 17/10/2006 12:18

Also important for us is that this is just one of a number of applications of Ecebs' technology. Multefile is certified for banking level security. But that is not the only string to the bow. Its also aimed at bus passes, entitlement cards, biometric passports, health records, library passes, free school meal and meal payment applications, ITSO/transport interoperability, anti-counterfeiting......

The ease of use and the ability to add applications provides an excellent platform for synergy and cross-selling.

G.

[colsmith] 17/10/2006 10:33

Chair - re your ""Banks do not gain like you say: the problem is that the amrt cash card
is not an alternative to coin it is an additional system from their
point of view. Small traders will still need to handle oodles of cash.
The public for various reasons likes having cash in the pocket or
handbag. How do you buy the Big Issue with an Oyster Card?""

As you say cash is not going to dissapear quickly but its time is coming at least in places such the UK, US etc; just like credit cards were not used in the 1950's but are now used uniquitioulsy. Small traders will see the benefits of card over cash provided it does not reduce their profits - for at least one reason: they don't have to handle the physical stuff and trundle to a bank to pay in. So the key advantage of card over cash is clear - its easy to handle and does'nt requre physical movement. That means less person hours for banks and retailers and so increased profits. Banks have clearly seen this in internet banking - its clearly profitable provided seciurity is effective; and that is the big issue for all these cards - security for user, retailer and bank.

Banks are slow to really address security even though there are technolgy solutions to keep card not present, cloned cards (chip and pin helps but the process still allows sign off and clone usage)and ID fraud created cards under extemeley effective control. For example SMART cards are capable of a one time password generator (curent systems use a separate card for this!), precluding the need for a user to remeber a password,and putting effective control over card not present.

Anyhow we shall see but whatever there are for sure many reason for truly SMART cards and increased profit for stakeholders is probably the biggest.

[garth] 16/10/2006 12:31

Chairman,

Thanks for your questions. I will reply at length at some point but cannot right now.

What Ecebs are selling is a platform for you or I to load our own functionality onto a Smartcard with a level of expertise comparable to that of using a spreadsheet. Not only that - you or I can add, change or take away that functionality after issue. And A.N.Other organisation can approach us to add their own synergistic functionality. We don't need to pay large consultancy fees, we don't need to go back to the 'expert'.

How much money have Microsoft made from the universal uptake of Excel?

The idea is that Multefile offers this for smartcards.

Everytime a reader or back office gets added a smartcard carrying a SAM (Security Application Module) is needed. This carries the Multefile application. It looks like these equate to about £50 a time revenue for Ecebs.

As far as I am aware Ecebs get no transaction royalty with ITSO. I do not know what specific EMV/electronic purse contracts & arrangements are in place. I just know that they are doing work for RBS 'on this kind of thing'.

What makes this attractive for me is that here is a £9m company that is already profitable and already has its technology foot in the door with ITSO & MULTOS. They are fairly valued on current performance so there appears to be little medium term downside. And then there are there those proposterous £3m forecasts for 2008.... Seems a no-brainer for an investor with some cash and patience.

Welcome to the board.

Kind regards

G.

[chairman2] 16/10/2006 11:58

GARTH

May I ask a (for me) critical quasteion of the economic model being followed
by this company? From the RNS's it would appear that t/o is exclusively
from new contracts for new software/hardware contracts?

If that is so surely they will never benefit from the actual use of smart
card infrastructure. The very best economic model for something like this
is to take a tiny royalty every time a card is used or software transaction takes place. This goes way way back to the invention of things like Cats
eyes and Tetrapack milk cartons. Make the installation free but ask for 0.000000002 cents per user and sit back and watch the billions roll in for
the next 30-50 years!

In other words will company make an investor rich? I dont want an education
on payment systems - I want to know how to cash in on them! There are lots
of routes in. Hardware - software - intsllation - maintenance - even
consultancy. One of them will make the dosh the others will be hard work.

[chairman2] 16/10/2006 11:48

COLSMITh re your 136

Banks do not gain like you say: the problem is that the amrt cash card
is not an alternative to coin it is an additional system from their
point of view. Small traders will still need to handle oodles of cash.
The public for various reasons likes having cash in the pocket or
handbag. How do you buy the Big Issue with an Oyster Card?

So if cash and coin continue - albeit at lower volume - the bank cash
handling infrastructure cost has hardly moved at all. But they have
added a very large and costly to maintain infrastructure of electronic
payments systems. Banks have just had direct experience of the cost of
installing, maintaining, advertising, issuing, running etc a retail
terminal system for Chip and Pin. It isnt cheap and Oyster is not
compatible with Chip and Pin as I understand it?

(CORRECT ME SOMEONE PLEASE IF I AM WRONG).

[chairman2] 16/10/2006 11:41

Garth re post 134 Why Oyster e-money failed

I have just started joining this thread - so forgive me if I make
ignorant or repetitive observations.

SMRT management have experience of MONDEX which was a Nat-West led trial of an electronic purse with big schemes launched in Swindon and various university campuses like Exeter.

What this showed conclusively is that the critical takers of traditional cash (newsagents etc)had less incentive to put in the MONDEX terminals than the model assumed. In fact they positively need small change and instead of being net takers of coin were net issuers (customers exchange large notes for pocket cash.

SMRT management were all on the technology side - not the comercial side but they must have observed that while the technology worked well the failure was in marketing and or commercial structures.

So no one should have been surprised that Oyster - for whom it was a 2nice" additional functionality but far from essential should have balked.

The big mistake is the assumption that Banks will pay because they have incentive to simplify payment systems. They wont pay. They do not have an incentive to simplify payment systems. They make money from their high street networks - even tho they are closing branches to cut costs.

[garth] 12/10/2006 14:59

Ecebs (Advanced Smartcard Technologies) are partnering Royal Bank of Scotland in their multi-application smartcard applications. RBS are currently trialing Paypass at their Head Office. Keycorp partner with Ecebs in the development of their MULTOS ICAO biometric passport. In that context might this announcement be significant?

Keycorp dual–interface MULTOS certified by MasterCard for PayPass™ M/Chip applications
Sydney, 14 September 2006

Secure electronic transaction solutions provider Keycorp Limited (ASX: KYC) today announced that they are the first smartcard vendor to receive full MasterCard certification under the MasterCard ® PayPass M/Chip approval scheme.

The certification is for a MasterCard Type A Reduced Embossing M/Chip 4 PayPass card using their MULTOS I4Dc dual interface platform for MasterCard PayPass M/Chip programs worldwide.


MasterCard PayPass programs allow cardholders to make payments by simply tapping the card on a specially equipped merchant terminal without having to swipe the card through a terminal. This eliminates the need to hand over the card to a sales clerk and is ideal for quick payment environments such as fast food outlets, service stations, supermarkets and movie theatres.

Keycorp's contactless MULTOS technology is already being used in a multifunction card for banking and transit in Taiwan which is the world's first MasterCard OneSmart™ PayPass Chip Combi Card, known as the TaiwanMoney Card.

As a result of the certification by MasterCard, Keycorp is now able to work with a number of card manufacturing partners to offer a contactless chip payment product for general use by any issuer worldwide who wants to offer a OneSmart PayPass product.

"Contactless payment cards are becoming increasingly popular and there is a growing trend to combine a number of applications on a single card," said Richard Cusson, Keycorp's General Manager, Smartcard Technologies.

"Keycorp is well placed to address those opportunities because of the security, openness and flexibility of our MULTOS technology with the added ability to offer contactless and contact card EMV applications to some of the most innovative Issuers worldwide."

"Mastercard is pleased to announce that Keycorp's Type A Reduced Embossing M/Chip 4 PayPass card has now achieved full certification." said Toni Merschen, Head of Chip Center of Excellence, Global e-Business and Emerging Technologies, MasterCard Worldwide.

"This milestone allows us to provide our customer financial institutions globally with a fully type approved product to support their contactless payment ambitions"