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NXP Accelerates German National Transport Ticketing with Contactless Microcontroller Chip
Security IC Chosen by Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen (VDV) as Nationwide Electronic Ticketing Standard
EINDHOVEN, Netherlands – NXP, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, today announced that its secure contactless microcontroller chip – SmartMX, has been selected by the VDV-Kernapplikations GmbH & Co. KG, to power future electronic transport ticketing schemes in Germany. Alongside card and inlay-manufacturer Cardag, NXP will provide SmartMX ICs for around eight million contactless cards to be issued throughout Germany by 2012. The aim of the scheme is to provide a single ticketing solution that will be used across all nationwide transport networks.
The SmartMX-powered electronic ticketing platform will now be deployed by transport companies throughout the country, helping improve operational efficiencies, while enhancing passengers’ overall travel experience through convenient and secure contactless ticketing across Germany’s diverse public travel system.
NXP’s contactless microcontroller technology will be integrated in smart cards created and personalized by Cardag, and is fully compliant with the VDV-Kernapplikation (Core Application), the national data and interface standard defined for contactless ticketing and automatic fare collection in Germany. The development of the standard was driven by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs to ensure standardized electronic tickets in a range of formats such as smart cards, bank cards and mobile devices would be fully interoperable for use within public transport schemes throughout the country and internationally.
“Our vision is to provide passengers with a convenient and secure electronic ticket that can be used on any public transport scheme across Germany,” said Jozef (Sjef) A. L. Janssen, general manager VDV-Kernapplikations GmbH & Co. KG, who is leading the implementation of the new transportation standard. “Having initially defined the core VDV-Kernapplikation standard, we needed to find a technology solution that would unify and enhance operations in each of the schemes, while delivering the best possible travel experience. The SmartMX-based platform from Cardag and NXP provides for this tender the optimal solution, proven in deployments worldwide and offers enhanced security and interoperability with contactless interface standards.”
“The latest roll-out across Germany is yet another example of the global demand for leading NXP smart chip solutions that can both improve the effectiveness of mass transportation schemes and deliver an unsurpassed passenger experience,” said Henri Ardevol, general manager, Automatic Fare Collection, NXP. “We are delighted that German transport operators and passengers will benefit from the advanced security, performance and reliability that our contactless microcontroller ICs deliver. We will continue supporting them to evaluate new future advancements, such as mobile ticketing based on Near Field Communication technology.”
“Winning this tender in an extremely competitive environment confirms the leading position of Cardag as manufacturer of contactless smart cards for electronic ticketing projects in Germany.” said Hans-Dieter Knapp, CEO at Cardag Deutschland GmbH. “By successfully supplying more than 2 million cards for major projects with VDV-Kernapplikation technology over the last two years, we have proven the outstanding quality of our products.”
NXP’s SmartMX chips comply with the strict security standards demanded by VDV, including public key cryptography based on the RSA algorithm. The chips comprise a number of unique security features, such as the recently introduced Secure Fetch™ technology – which guards against light and lasers attack scenarios and a dedicated hardware firewall to protect specific sections of the chip.
NXP is the market leader for contactless smart card ICs and its use within transport networks. The company’s range of contactless microcontroller chips, including MIFARE DESFire, MIFARE Plus and SmartMX are currently deployed throughout a wide range of contactless security applications globally including banking, access management, eGovernment programs and automatic fare collection.
About NXP Semiconductors
NXP is a leading semiconductor company founded by Philips more than 50 years ago. Headquartered in Europe, the company has 31,000 employees working in more than 20 countries and posted sales of USD 6.3 billion (including the Mobile & Personal business) in 2007. NXP creates semiconductors, system solutions and software that deliver better sensory experiences in TVs, set-top boxes, identification applications, mobile phones, cars and a wide range of other electronic devices. News from NXP is located at www.nxp.com.
About VDV-Kernapplikations GmbH & Co. KG
Following the wish of the executive committee, the VDV-Kernapplikations GmbH & Co. KG was incorporated by the German Association of Public Transport, Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen (VDV), specifically for the purpose of carrying out all the necessary initial and central organizational duties necessary the ensure interoperability of the EFM systems launched by transport operators on the basis of the VDV Core Application. www.vdv-ka.org
About CARDAG
Cardag Deutschland GmbH is specialized in the development, design, manufacturing and sales of high quality and long lasting contactless and contact smart cards. The highly automated inhouse production starts from module manufacturing and goes along the value chain with antenna development and production up to the laminated card with initialisation.
Forward-looking Statements
This release may contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of NXP and certain plans and objectives of NXP with respect to these items. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
Operators call for contactless payment support
On Tuesday, a number of mobile operators from around the globe called on handset vendors to implement contactless payment functionality in devices from mid-2009 in a bid to drive adoption of mobile payment services.
At a GSM Association (GSMA) event held in Macau, China this week, the mobile carrier community called for full NFC (Near Field Communication) capabilities in handsets from next year.
Under its Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative, the industry body is backing the implementation of the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) endorsed Single Wire Protocol standard, to provide the interface between the SIM card and the embedded NFC chipset within the handset.
NFC, or contacless payment as it is sometimes called, allows consumers to pay for low value goods, such as magazines or coffee, by waving their device over a reader at the point of sale.
Pay-Buy-Mobile trials are currently underway across eight countries involving nine mobile operators, with further pilots planned across 14 countries by 15 mobile operators.
Last month, industry analyst Juniper Research said that while the mobile payments market is currently dominated by purchases of digital content such as ringtones, music and games, it will in future be driven by users transferring money and using NFC to make purchases.
The researcher said that mobile money transfer and NFC (Near Field Communications) transactions are predicted to account for 50 per cent of the global mobile payment market by 2013.
The GSMA has also been busy with another initiative this week, announcing the successful pilot of the international Carrier ENUM service.
ENUM, an E.164 telephone Number Mapping protocol, is used for IP-based routing and interconnection between IP networks like the internet and the traditional telephone system, essentially translating a phone number into an IP address.
The service, recently branded PathFinder, is now generally available to mobile and fixed network operators, carriers and related service providers.
By providing mobile and fixed line operators with a single routing mechanism, PathFinder claims to simplify and reduce the cost of delivery of IP-based services, including packet voice, Instant Messaging (IM), MMS, email, and video.
PathFinder is already supported by Bharti, Lleida.net, mobilkom austria, SMART, Telekom Austria, Telecom Italia and Telenor.
GSMA backs contactless payments for mobile
French say, Oui.
Payez Mobile THE BODS that run the GSM mobile phone industry, the GSMA, have thrown their rattles out of the pram and demanded that, from mid-2009, mobile handsets should support an NFC capability for contactless payments. In layman’s terms that means that you should be able to go up to a turnstile on the London Underground and pay for your ticket by waving your handset over the contactless yellow readers as if there was an Oyster card inside the phone.
There’s already a standard for contactless communications which the mobile phone industry has incorporated into NFC – Near Field Communication. For the whole thing to work, however, you need some form of authorisation for payments.
The obvious thing to do is utilise a SIM card because A) all GSM handsets have them and B) they are a pretty damned secure way of paying for things in the first place. So at this week’s industry shindig in Macau, China, the GSMA has thrown its weight behind the ‘Single Wire Protocol’ interface. In essence, this will enable an NFC chip inside the phone to talk to the SIM card. Being politically correct, the GSM prefers to call these cards Universal Integrated Circuit Cards (UICCs) which includes those SIM cards inside non-GSM phones.
As the GSMA quite accurately points out, consumer trials with NFC style handset payments have proved extremely popular with the general public. And thumbing their Gallic noses at our American cousins, the French are way ahead here. No fewer than seven banks and four mobile operators – including Orange and SFR – have been involved in the French trial.
The GSMA says that over 90 per cent of participants in the trial said they found contactless mobile payment convenient and easy to use. Furthermore, 94 per cent of them declared that they would recommend it to their friends and family. Naturally, the French call the scheme ‘Payez Mobile’ which sounds better than the GSMA’s Pay-Buy-Mobile. Just like GSM makes more sense if you know it originally meant Groupe Special Mobile.
The GSMA should easily get its way, too, given that LG, Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung (four of the five top phone vendors) are developing phones for NFC-enabled mobile payment services. As is France’s Sagem, of course.
