Smartspace Software Share Discussion Threads

[m5artin] 14/2/2007 08:57

Was it that 100k sell , spud?

[spud] 14/2/2007 08:32

Just taken an additional 100k.

spud

[garth] 14/2/2007 08:27

Phil,

It illustrates growing credibility aswell as opening up a significant new revenue stream. £8m SMRT has its core technology bundled into Hitachi's MULTOS banking cards......

Can't help smiling. :0)

G.

[philjeans] 14/2/2007 08:14

Great news; playing with the big boys now and will assist profile and credibility.

Leaving the 4p marker well behind (in the guard's van).

[garth] 14/2/2007 08:07

Up at the open, horrible spread, but moving up quickly ;0)

G.

[garth] 14/2/2007 08:03

Woof! :0)

Advanced Smart Re Agreement


ADVANCED SMARTCARD TECHNOLOGIES PLC

SIGNIFICANT NEW MARKET CHANNEL

14 February 2007
Advanced Smartcard Technologies plc (RIC: SMRT/L, the "Company"), the Scottish
based software group specialising in smartcard technology, through its wholly
owned subsidiary Ecebs Ltd. ("Ecebs"), is delighted to announce that it has
reached an agreement with Hitachi Ltd. ("Hitachi") for the use of the Company's
core smartcard technology.
Under the agreement, Hitachi, one of the world's largest suppliers of secure
smartcards for banking and other applications, has taken a licence to
incorporate the Company's MultefileTM technology into their chips that are
loaded with the MULTOS high security operating system.
This will be an added benefit to Hitachi's customers, as the addition of
MultefileTM will greatly increase the utility of the Hitachi smartcard chip as
far as application flexibility is concerned.
David Braddock, Chief Executive of Advanced Smartcard Technologies commented:
"We are most pleased and excited to have this co-operation with a global player
of such standing. This is akin to putting MultefileTM on the shelves of a
worldwide retail chain.
This arrangement represents another strategic step in developing our channels to
market. It creates a channel where users of Hitachi cards can easily procure
and deploy Ecebs' core product, Multefile, thus gaining all the benefits of
enhanced security and flexibility and consequently protecting their investment."Peter Jones, Business Manager of Systems Solutions Division, Hitachi Europe Ltd.stated: "We see the inclusion of Multefile in our secure MULTOS package
smartcard offerings as a differentiator in winning new business in many
different markets such as banking, retail, security and public sector. We are
delighted to have an association with Ecebs and have access to their excellent
technology." -ends-
.......................

Worth a read of the notes to editors....

G.

[garth] 09/2/2007 07:39

Not directly SMRT, although Multefile has been used in library trials and it is one application that local authorities are supposed to bundling onto a smartcard...

One card to rule them all
8th February 2007
By CBR Staff Writer
The UK's Museums, Libraries and Archives Council recently published the results of a feasibility study for a single membership card for all of London's public libraries. The card is likely to be a smartcard and the possibility of linkage with transport card Oyster is being considered. The launch of such a card would represent an interesting development, especially if the smartcard format is used.
'Content The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council's (MLA) proposal for a single library membership card for all London libraries is a very interesting development as it brings the idea of a single, multipurpose smartcard and its potential for service and business efficiencies much closer to reality.


With smartcards, operational and transactional data can be gathered automatically and reports about services produced on-demand online. This would allow libraries to monitor the effectiveness of their service in real-time and design promotional schemes that would increase income by better targeting of customers.

At present, most London library services operate their own membership systems, so if users want to borrow books or multimedia material from neighboring libraries run by different councils, they would have to join both and carry a different membership card for each. In addition, most libraries offer online catalogue checking and reservation services, and also operate self-service and out-of-hours checkouts.

A smartcard as a membership card is ideal for all of these operations as it would enable automatic authentication and tracking. Depending on functionality, it would be possible to make electronic payments using the same card to pay for borrowing multimedia material such as music and DVDs, and to pay library fines.

London libraries would have to decide how the scheme is to be operated; for example, outsourcing card issuing, processing, management, and maintenance, as opposed to setting up a shared services structure. The business rules would have to be agreed for application processing, data capture and validation, security, and quality standards. It would also be essential to go through a data quality exercise to ensure that all the membership and catalogue data is accurate and valid.

Another factor to be considered is compliance with the UK's Data Protection Act. That would require customers to sign up to new terms and conditions to allow libraries to share their data.

Linking the libraries card with Oyster and its existing systems and smartcard infrastructure would make the business case viable by creating economies of scale and also genuinely extend the reach of the scheme to all parts of London. This will depend on spare capacity on the Oyster smartcard, or the ability to fit all the applications on a new card. However, economies of scale could be generated even without the Oyster card, if all London libraries join in.

Such a scheme would meet the UK's transformational government and shared services objectives, and allow councils to continue with their modernization agenda.

The single library card should be a smartcard - the only type of card that has built-in automation and data-gathering capabilities, thus providing the means for local authorities to gain real-time insight into their business. If successful, the scheme could be extended to include additional applications on a single card, such as concessionary fares, and leisure and car parking schemes, for the whole of the capital. This would cut card processing and administrative overheads in all of those areas, and extend real-time data gathering and reporting capabilities to all those local authority departments.

Source: OpinionWire by Butler Group (www.butlergroup.com)

[garth] 06/2/2007 07:02

Thats fair enough jotoha1. Some patience needed here.

G.

[jotoha1] 05/2/2007 21:48

Not really a fan of small cap companies with modest growth plans..hence my desicion to leave it alone untill they show some true potential... will then invest substantiall amounts!

[jotoha1] 05/2/2007 21:48

Not really a fan of small cap companies with modest growth plans..hence my desicion to leave it alone untill they show some true potential... will then invest substantiall amounts!

[bella media] 05/2/2007 21:19

DYOR and see

[garth] 05/2/2007 21:15

WJ,

I can't say categorically. Ecebs won the contract to design and build the ISAMs under tender. I have never seen anything to suggest that that is for a fixed contract length. The ISMS incorporates elements of Multefile so I would assume that there would be some royalties due - and that would lead to towards assuming that they may well get a slice of recurring revenues. Section 2 on the "Early Lifecycle of the ISAM" in the ISAM Management Code of Practice refers to ISAMs being returned to Ecebs. But it also refers to the ISAM 'owner'. It is possible that the pricing structure allows for the fact that Ecebs might issue the ISAMs only for them to be sold on again. In this instance Ecebs would 'initially' sell the ISAMs. Just a guess. A conversation neded with DB I think....

www.ailo.org.uk/?download=CoP%202%20ISAM%20Management%20Final.pdf

[wjccghcc] 05/2/2007 15:32

garth, when it says initially sold by Ecebs, does that mean it will be initially sold at that price or initially be sold by Ecebs and then also by other companies thereafter? i.e. how long do they have exclusivity on the ISAM?

[rambutan2] 05/2/2007 12:34

garth, many thanks.

it's certainly a question that could do with some sort of answer as rr is quite rightly so prized.

[garth] 05/2/2007 12:16

This is the pricing page for ITSO:


This is the pricing document:


Page 3-4 gives the relevant information of the ISAMs:

5.2 ISAMs will initially be sold by Ecebs Limited at the following prices:-
Volume (per order) Unit price for 3v Unit Price for 3/5v
Up to 50 £77.25 £81.90
51 – 499 £61.80 £65.50
500+ £51.50 £54.60

The question of on-going fees arises here:

6. ITSO Security Management Service (ISMS) – (Schedule Three)

6.1 ITSO will provide via a trusted third party a central ISAM registration and key management service in the UK, the ISMS.

6.2 The ISMS is likely only to have a direct interface with the following ITSO roles:-
· ITSO Product Owners
· ITSO Shell Owners
· Collection and forwarding agents
Links to the ISMS by any of the other roles will probably need to be through one or other of the above, although in practice the interface to the above will be via an organisation carrying out an asset managing function.

6.3 The charges for the ISMS will therefore be made to one or other of the above three roles. The commercial relationship between the respective parties will determine which organisation is actually charged by ITSO. This will need to be established at the time the ITSO registrar is notified of a request for the supply of ISAMs and the initial creation of each set of keys.

6.4 The charges for the ISMS comprise:-

a) An asset management set up fee of £800 payable by a member defined in 6.2 above, who will be receiving keys/messages and sending acknowledgements that they have been received directly from/to the ISMS, with a subsequent annual maintenance fee of £160.

b) A one-off ITSO Product Account registration fee of £530 with a subsequent annual licence fee of £106.

c) For changes to an ITSO Product Account, a charge of £106 per change

d) An annual ISAM connection fee of £10.60 per ISAM.

e) A charge of 6.3p for each secure data frame download (per IPA per ISAM) – a secure data frame is created by the ISMS to distribute new keys, via asset managing HOPS Systems to individual ISAMs.

.................

The question is what, if any, recurring revenue from the ISMS function goes to Ecebs. They designed and built the ISMS:

"ISMS

The ITSO Security Management System (ISMS) was designed and built by Ecebs. The Royal Bank of Scotland, on behalf of ITSO Limited, operates the ISMS in a highly secure and resilient environment. The purpose of the ISMS is to provide the necessary cryptographic keys and security covering all elements of an ITSO environment. This enables licensed ITSO Members to be confident in the overall integrity of their ITSO compliant schemes."



The company has stated that 2009 forecasts are based on the uplift of royalties on already completed development work. Could it in part be from the ISMS work for RBS?

In which case do they get a slice of either of these:

d) An annual ISAM connection fee of £10.60 per ISAM.
e) A charge of 6.3p for each secure data frame download

(d) would be annual recurring revenue, (e) looks like to be based on usage

.....................

I'd love to know for sure if anyone finds out..... :0)

G.

[garth] 05/2/2007 11:57

Ram,

when I spoke to the company they did not want to discuss royalties.... that may have changed?

The ITSO payment framework I posted several weeks back stated that ongoing ISAM fees were included in the initial cost of the ISAM. However, there was an annual registration fee per ISAM related to the communication of ISAM with the RBS security key part of the system. I don't know if that fee goes to Ecebs or to RBS or is shared......

G.

[rambutan2] 05/2/2007 11:25

garth,

once installed, what sort of recurring rev might be available for ecebs?

[garth] 05/2/2007 11:12

Bonty,

re. the discussion over ISAMs, Stagecoach alone operate over 13,000 buses (2004) in the UK. That's a potential £650,000+ order just for their fleet. Stagecoach put their 2003 market share at 16% (see below). That makes the cost of ISAMs for full ITSO implementation of the UK concessionary bus travel from 2007 at pushing £4 Million.

Transport for London: 0.3%
Smaller Groups: 3.2%
Municipals: 6.5%
National Express: 5.7%
Go-Ahead: 8.3%
Management: 9.1%
Arriva: 14.5%
Independents: 14.5%
Stagecoach: 15.9%
First Group: 22.1%
(Source: Bus Industry Monitor 2003 TAS)



That's without any rail, car parking, library cards, POSTs, back offices, electronic purse etc.....

Do the maths. DYOR.

G.

[rajstaff1] 05/2/2007 01:11

Post remvoved by ADVFN

[Abuse team] 04/2/2007 20:53

Post removed by ADVFN

[garth] 04/2/2007 20:30

jotoha1,

"they are lacking in any kind of expertise to use it to grow this company"

LOL! They've just announced pushing 100% growth, have another 130% pencilled in this year, jumping to over 400% growth the year after as royalties on previous work start to really kick in!

You need to look at the standing within the industry of one or two of the directors.

The share price has treaded water for 12 months - but don't mistake that with a lack of growth in the underlying business. Effectively the pe has halved over the year......

DYOR.

G.

[jotoha1] 04/2/2007 19:55

Clearly this this company has some interesting technologies..but like so many before them they are lacking in any kind of expertise to use it to grow this company..hence the poor performance of the share price .r&d is fine but they need to maximise growth !

[garth] 04/2/2007 19:48

Bonty,

Did you notice how much more? I was rushing so only tried one type.....

G.

[bonty] 04/2/2007 15:32

Thanks Garth - slightly more for the 3/5volt version I see!

[garth] 02/2/2007 15:01

Bonty,

try this one



10,000 ISAMs would cost you £515K

G.