LONDON, UK —Together with chip suppliers Infineon Technologies AG and INSIDE Contactless S.A., smart-card manufacturers Giesecke & Devrient GmbH (G&D) and Oberthur Technologies S.A. have launched an industry initiative to provide a security solution for next-generation, smart-card-based public-transport applications. The solution will build on an open standard that is being implemented by the four partner companies. Eventually, that standard will be governed by an independent body. Companies that are active in the smart-card arenaproviders of chips, smart cards, application-specific operating software, reader devices, and transportation systemsare invited to join the initiative for the advancement of more secure publictransportation applications.
The new standard promises to bring many key benefits to public-transport agencies and smart-card industry players. In addition to providing higher-performance and advanced system security for public-transport applications, it will ensure that multiple sources are available for chip products. Through independent testing, the open standard will provide optimized interoperability to enable simple and fast integration into publictransport schemes. The first emulation chips and transportation smart cards using this standard are scheduled to be available by the end of this year.
The industry initiative is based on groundwork performed by Infineon, which has developed a hardware-based security system suited for public-transportation smart-card applications. INSIDE Contactless has signed an agreement with Infineon to implement the security scheme for its chip platforms. In addition, G&D and Oberthur Technologies have agreed to develop public-transport applications based on the scheme.