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Technology firms set to develop open platform for transit card schemes
8 Dec 2010

Four technology firms have teamed up to develop a new open platform which will be used in transit card programmes, according to reports.

IDG News has revealed that smartcard makers Oberthur and Giesecke & Devrienand and chip manufacturers Infineon Technologies and Inside Secure have formed a new group.

The Open Standard for Public Transport (OSPT) Alliance will create a new specification for secure contactless travel card transactions called Cipurse, offering travel agencies more choice when choosing their e-money payment platform.

Turnstiles at public transport stations which currently accept contactless payments can be upgraded to use Cipurse, while it is also compatible with Near-Field Communication-enabled mobile phones.

Charles Walton, chief operating officer at Inside Secure, claimed the market is currently dominated by NXP Semiconductors

He told the news provider: "At the heart of all of today's systems is one technology with one provider defining what it costs. It's a complete pyramid, with NXP at the top.

"We believe that this technology will come to market at a lower price."