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A smart biometric shipping solution?
news mass transit
in brief • On Track Innovations (OTI), a provider of contactless smart card solutions, is providing a point-of-sale solution to Loews Cineplex as part of MasterCard’s PayPass trial in Orlando, Florida. OTI has developed a reader that allows customers to pay for admission tickets, as well as snacks at concession stands, by placing their MasterCard PayPass-enabled payment cards in front of a glass window. The systems can operate through the glass ensuring the payment card never has to leave the customer’s hand. • VeriFone has launched a smart card-enabled wireless terminal. The Omni 3600 supports cellular technology using Qualcomm’s CDMA2000 1X modem technology. This new capability allows traditional transactions to be completed in less than three seconds, the company claims, which is considerably faster than the 20 plus seconds for a regular debit or credit transaction. The terminal comes with a triple track magnetic card reader, a smart card reader, an internal PINpad and an integrated printer. It meets all specifications required for EMV standards, the supplier said. • Nasdaq has officially informed PubliCARD that the company has failed to comply with the US$1.00 minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market. This means that PubliCARD will now appear on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol “CARD”. Through its Infineer subsidiary, PubliCARD designs smart card solutions for educational and corporate sites. The company says its future now revolves around a potential acquisition strategy that would focus on businesses in areas outside the high technology sector while continuing to support the expansion of the Infineer business. However, the company acknowledged it will not be able to implement such plans unless it is successful in obtaining additional funding. Meanwhile the company announced its 2002 fourth quarter results showing sales of US$1,092,000, compared with US$1,218,000 in the fourth quarter of 2001. Net losses also suffered rising to US$2,354,000 compared with US$1,353,000 in the fourth quarter of 2001. Full year revenue in 2002 hit US$4,605,000 compared to US$5,652,000 in the previous year. The 2001 figure includes US$1,040,000 of revenues associated with the smart card reader and chip business, which the supplier exited in July 2001. • Visa EU and CEMEA has awarded payment technology supplier Hypercom Corporation its Visa Chip Vendor of the Year award for 2003. Visa EU and CEMEA said Hypercom was committed to provide smart, fast, easy-use payment terminals and technology that met the highest EMV standards.
4
Stockholm and San Francisco take ticketing journey Stockholm’s public transport authority, Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), has signed up Australian supplier ERG Group to provide a smart card-based automated transit fare collection system throughout the city and county of Stockholm. The project, known as Resekortet (the Travel Card Project), will generate revenues in excess of A$49 million plus maintenance to ERG over the term of the system implementation. The contract involves the upgrade of the current magnetic ticketing system to ERG’s smart card platform. ERG will also install its central computer processing system to manage the smart card database, financial reconciliation and management reporting. Smart cards will be used across SL’s entire public transport network, comprising 150 rail and metro stations and more than 1,800 buses. The network currently handles over 2.4 million passenger trips on a normal weekday and generates approximately A$690 million in ticketing revenue annually. The project is expected to lead to the issuance of 1 million smart cards within the next two and a half years and work is commences on the project this month. The new system is expected to be fully operational by the fourth quarter of 2005. This deal follows on from an earlier ERG project which saw a smart card upgrade to the transit system in Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg. When considering the type of replacement technology for Stockholm, SL placed particular emphasis on minimising the risks of ticket forgery. This is one area where smart card technology excels. However, the technology is also expected to give SL greater insight into customer travel patterns and provide greater flexibility in the introduction of new fares and ticket types. Gunnar Schön, managing director of SL commented: “The new system will be an important cornerstone in establishing the Swedish transport smart card specification (the RKF specification) throughout all of Sweden’s Public Transport Authorities. An equally important cornerstone will be the possibility to establish a seamless travel card system in the Mälardalen Region, the single biggest public transport network in Sweden covering 75% of all public transport in our country.”
Meanwhile, a smart card-based mass transit system in the San Francisco Bay area moved forward after many delays, as approval was given to order card-reading equipment worth US$8 million and 400,000 smart cards at a total cost of approximately US$1.6 million. This order signals a shift from the testing phase to full roll out, which is expected by April 2004. If approved by the six transit agencies involved, there could ultimately be more than one million passengers using the TransLink card on buses, trains and ferries. The primary contractor on this project is Motorola, with ERG Group as a major subcontractor. Contact: Shaun Duffy at ERG, Tel: +61 8 9273 1879, Fax: +61 8 9273 1281, email: [email protected]
biometric
A smart biometric shipping solution? Fingerprint technology and contactless smart cards have combined to enable the fast processing of frequent travelers between the Danish island of Bornholm and the Danish and Swedish mainland. Every year some 1.2 million passengers make the journey on ferries belonging to the shipping company Bornholmstrafikken. Using this new smart card and fingerprint-based biometric technology, passengers now have the option to purchase tickets and check themselves in. The solution is provided by Swedish company Precise Biometrics and its Danish systems integrator PayVend Solutions. So far 8,000 people have registered their fingerprints to get the Bornholmercard, which is a reduced price ticket (to which commuters are entitled) in the form of a contactless smart card. Up to 10,000 people are eventually expected to use the system. The shipping company hopes that the new system will decrease its ticket sales administration costs, while improving service for commuters. Once the smart card holders arrive at the ferry station, they put their smart card and fingerprint on one of the designated fingerprint readers (Precise Biometrics’ BioAccess Mifare reader) to confirm their identity and then board the ferry. Precise Biometrics’ technology allows the fingerprint to be stored directly on the smart card, helping to alleviate any possible privacy concerns. Contact: Christer Bergman at Precise Biometrics, Tel: +46 46 31 11 00, Fax: +46 46 31 11 01, email: [email protected]
Card Technology Today April 2003
in brief • On Track Innovations (OTI), a provider of contactless smart card solutions, is providing a point-of-sale solution to Loews Cineplex as part of MasterCard’s PayPass trial in Orlando, Florida. OTI has developed a reader that allows customers to pay for admission tickets, as well as snacks at concession stands, by placing their MasterCard PayPass-enabled payment cards in front of a glass window. The systems can operate through the glass ensuring the payment card never has to leave the customer’s hand. • VeriFone has launched a smart card-enabled wireless terminal. The Omni 3600 supports cellular technology using Qualcomm’s CDMA2000 1X modem technology. This new capability allows traditional transactions to be completed in less than three seconds, the company claims, which is considerably faster than the 20 plus seconds for a regular debit or credit transaction. The terminal comes with a triple track magnetic card reader, a smart card reader, an internal PINpad and an integrated printer. It meets all specifications required for EMV standards, the supplier said. • Nasdaq has officially informed PubliCARD that the company has failed to comply with the US$1.00 minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market. This means that PubliCARD will now appear on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol “CARD”. Through its Infineer subsidiary, PubliCARD designs smart card solutions for educational and corporate sites. The company says its future now revolves around a potential acquisition strategy that would focus on businesses in areas outside the high technology sector while continuing to support the expansion of the Infineer business. However, the company acknowledged it will not be able to implement such plans unless it is successful in obtaining additional funding. Meanwhile the company announced its 2002 fourth quarter results showing sales of US$1,092,000, compared with US$1,218,000 in the fourth quarter of 2001. Net losses also suffered rising to US$2,354,000 compared with US$1,353,000 in the fourth quarter of 2001. Full year revenue in 2002 hit US$4,605,000 compared to US$5,652,000 in the previous year. The 2001 figure includes US$1,040,000 of revenues associated with the smart card reader and chip business, which the supplier exited in July 2001. • Visa EU and CEMEA has awarded payment technology supplier Hypercom Corporation its Visa Chip Vendor of the Year award for 2003. Visa EU and CEMEA said Hypercom was committed to provide smart, fast, easy-use payment terminals and technology that met the highest EMV standards.
4
Stockholm and San Francisco take ticketing journey Stockholm’s public transport authority, Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), has signed up Australian supplier ERG Group to provide a smart card-based automated transit fare collection system throughout the city and county of Stockholm. The project, known as Resekortet (the Travel Card Project), will generate revenues in excess of A$49 million plus maintenance to ERG over the term of the system implementation. The contract involves the upgrade of the current magnetic ticketing system to ERG’s smart card platform. ERG will also install its central computer processing system to manage the smart card database, financial reconciliation and management reporting. Smart cards will be used across SL’s entire public transport network, comprising 150 rail and metro stations and more than 1,800 buses. The network currently handles over 2.4 million passenger trips on a normal weekday and generates approximately A$690 million in ticketing revenue annually. The project is expected to lead to the issuance of 1 million smart cards within the next two and a half years and work is commences on the project this month. The new system is expected to be fully operational by the fourth quarter of 2005. This deal follows on from an earlier ERG project which saw a smart card upgrade to the transit system in Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg. When considering the type of replacement technology for Stockholm, SL placed particular emphasis on minimising the risks of ticket forgery. This is one area where smart card technology excels. However, the technology is also expected to give SL greater insight into customer travel patterns and provide greater flexibility in the introduction of new fares and ticket types. Gunnar Schön, managing director of SL commented: “The new system will be an important cornerstone in establishing the Swedish transport smart card specification (the RKF specification) throughout all of Sweden’s Public Transport Authorities. An equally important cornerstone will be the possibility to establish a seamless travel card system in the Mälardalen Region, the single biggest public transport network in Sweden covering 75% of all public transport in our country.”
Meanwhile, a smart card-based mass transit system in the San Francisco Bay area moved forward after many delays, as approval was given to order card-reading equipment worth US$8 million and 400,000 smart cards at a total cost of approximately US$1.6 million. This order signals a shift from the testing phase to full roll out, which is expected by April 2004. If approved by the six transit agencies involved, there could ultimately be more than one million passengers using the TransLink card on buses, trains and ferries. The primary contractor on this project is Motorola, with ERG Group as a major subcontractor. Contact: Shaun Duffy at ERG, Tel: +61 8 9273 1879, Fax: +61 8 9273 1281, email: [email protected]
biometric
A smart biometric shipping solution? Fingerprint technology and contactless smart cards have combined to enable the fast processing of frequent travelers between the Danish island of Bornholm and the Danish and Swedish mainland. Every year some 1.2 million passengers make the journey on ferries belonging to the shipping company Bornholmstrafikken. Using this new smart card and fingerprint-based biometric technology, passengers now have the option to purchase tickets and check themselves in. The solution is provided by Swedish company Precise Biometrics and its Danish systems integrator PayVend Solutions. So far 8,000 people have registered their fingerprints to get the Bornholmercard, which is a reduced price ticket (to which commuters are entitled) in the form of a contactless smart card. Up to 10,000 people are eventually expected to use the system. The shipping company hopes that the new system will decrease its ticket sales administration costs, while improving service for commuters. Once the smart card holders arrive at the ferry station, they put their smart card and fingerprint on one of the designated fingerprint readers (Precise Biometrics’ BioAccess Mifare reader) to confirm their identity and then board the ferry. Precise Biometrics’ technology allows the fingerprint to be stored directly on the smart card, helping to alleviate any possible privacy concerns. Contact: Christer Bergman at Precise Biometrics, Tel: +46 46 31 11 00, Fax: +46 46 31 11 01, email: [email protected]
Card Technology Today April 2003