Security IP

August 2011

Ecebs is to take advantage of the skills and experience of Scottish digital IT Company of the Year iomart Hosting, to supply Tyne and Wear’s transport authority, Nexus, with the ability to process thousands of smart card transactionseach day.

Nexus is the first concessionary pass issuing authority in the North East of England to put a Smart processing system in place and will use Ecebs’ Paragon HOPS (Host Operator Processing System).

Ecebs technology already forms the backbone of Smart travel in the UK as Ecebs administers the security system for ITSO, guardian of the UK’s national open standard for smart ticketing.

The system will be hosted by iomart Hosting and will validate and record passengers’ journeys using Smart technology such as cards or phones.

David Burdett, Managing Director of Ecebs, commented: “We have recently won a number of projects that take advantage of our scalable Paragon HOPS technology to deliver efficiency savings and reduce fraud. We felt the support of a specialist hosting company with its own infrastructure, able to grow quickly along with the needs of our clients, was the best way to deliver a technology platform which matched our software capabilities.

iomart Hosting has a great reputation for service and we are looking forward to a close working relationship as the growth in Smart technology continues across the UK.”

Ecebs’ Paragon HOPS includes a vast array of processing and management capabilities and is set to become the backbone of Oyster style travel in Scotland following a recent deal with Strathclyde Partnership for Travel (SPT) to deliver contactless payments across all forms of travel in the SPT region.

iomart Hosting managing director Sarah Haran said: “iomart Hosting already has significant expertise in helping transport organisations deliver greener and smarter travel to the public so we are delighted to be helping Ecebs with the smart card project for Nexus. With our guaranteed service levels, Ecebs is free to concentrate on the development and delivery of the Paragon HOPS, knowing that their IT infrastructure is in safe hands.

Information security is a key issue around the delivery of this project. The fact that our all our data centres carry the ISO: 27001 standard gives Ecebs and Nexus peace of mind when it comes to managing the data on the smart cards for thousands of commuters.”

iomart Hosting will deliver a secure hybrid server and network infrastructure leveraging their virtualisation expertise and provide a 24/7 fully managed service desk in support of Ecebs objectives for service performance and availability. As part of the architecture, Ecebs will also benefit from iomart Hosting’s flexible managed collocation services, supporting custom smart card reader shelves with iomart Hosting’s on-site staff operating card-reader swap-outs on request.

July 2011

Operators say proposed new West ofScotland smart card ticketing system “could be used throughout the nation.”

The first operational elements of a new Oyster-style multi-modal transport system have been commissioned ahead of schedule for Glasgow and the West of Scotland’s smart travel scheme.

The Paragon Transport system designed and operated by Lanarkshire-based smart media Company -Ecebs, has now been commissioned and installed at their brand new data centre in East Kilbride. This represents the first step in enabling technology for passengers to use smart cards instead of paper tickets on all modes of public transport in the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (‘SPT’) area.

The Paragon Transport system will essentially provide a back office system to validate and record smart journeys on, buses, ferries, trains and the Subway using the same smart card or smartphone and forms the backbone of a fully integrated smart travel programme.

The system’s operator Ecebs, say the technology could be applied to any transport system in Scotland immediately because it is accredited by the U.K. Government’s technical standard, ITSO. According to Ecebs, the activity could pave the way for operators to benefit from a simple, cashless smart card system across the country, building on the concessionary Bus Travel scheme deployed by Scottish Government.

David Burdett, Managing Director of Ecebs commented “Our vision is to build on the successful concessionary travel scheme and to deliver the next step enabling everyone in Scotland and the wider U.K. to benefit from smart travel – and by delivering it quickly and efficiently to the entire SPT area we hope to demonstrate to others what can be achieved”.

“The heart of the system is in place, the operational systems are tried and tested and everyone agrees that a smart card for Scotland makes sense. Until recent years, a smart future for Scotland was just a theory, but now that we are on the road to making it a reality, we very much hope that other operators across the country will join us in delivering a truly inter-operable system.”

The smart travel programme is being implemented through a new Joint Venture between Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and leading smart technology company, Ecebs.

David Burdett added: “This week saw the opening of the new Riverside Museum marking the history of transport in Glasgow. The Joint Venture Company is now helping define the future of transport in the region.

The new system will enable passengers to top up cards or buy and download travel tickets on line or at multiple locations throughout the area such as bus stations, Rail and Subway stations and shops. In addition, customers will be able to access data about their travel habits, ensuring they can target best value products which suit their needs

The highly secure system will be fully operational in advance of the 2014 Commonwealth Games and allows for future inclusion of additional services onto the cards including delivering travel and events tickets to mobile phones, providing credit card-style payment services and a number of Council services such as travel passes for schools.

David Burdett added: “If we’re serious about improving Scotland’s transport, then ease, convenience and simplicity should be the lowest common denominators for every journey taken on public transport. An Oyster-style transport infrastructure is just the beginning and it will advance the ability for Scottish transport operators and local authorities to consider the positive impact on services of a fully integrated smart solution for Scotland.”

Read the BBC Scotland article about Smart Ticketing in Scotland.

December 2010

The MULTOS Consortium, the group of companies leading the on-going development and deployment of the MULTOS platform, today announced that Ecebs Limited has joined as a partner member of the consortium.

Many of Ecebs solutions are based on the proprietary Multefile™ technology that enables on-card applications to be developed more efficiently and dynamically reconfigured after a card has been issued. Ecebs first demonstrated Multefile™ for MULTOS over six years ago and has worked with MULTOS implementers to integrate Multefile™ into several MULTOS products.

Ecebs is a technology solutions provider that has, for over ten years, delivered a range of smart card products and applications in the fields of transport ticketing, EMV and payments, health, education, secure ID and access control. Ecebs has smart card expertise at every level, developing proprietary smart card platforms as well as supporting open platform multi-application operating systems, including MULTOS.

Ecebs is also a leading provider of technology for ITSO, the nationally interoperable smart transport ticketing system of the United Kingdom. It created and developed the ITSO Secure Application Module (ISAM) used in all ITSO ticketing point of sale terminals, the ITSO Security Management System (ISMS), and was awarded the first HOPS certificate by ITSO. In addition, Ecebs has a range of ITSO compliant smart cards and card issuance and management systems to fulfil an overall ITSO smart ticketing solution.

As smart ticketing becomes widely deployed across many territories, card issuers often look to combine this function with other applications, such as payments. Multefile™, when loaded on a MULTOS smart payment card, can provide the ticketing container as well as a framework to easily add new applications as required. Meanwhile other scheme-approved applications, such as M/Chip or VSDC provide the domestically or internationally accepted Chip & PIN and contactless payment functionality. MULTOS, in conjunction with Ecebs, permits both transport operators and financial institutions to share a single card with high assurance security mechanisms separating the applications and data for each function and provider. Multefile™ complements MULTOS’ own application loading mechanism by permitting a flexible, dynamically reconfigurable environment for many smart ticketing scenarios, including not only single journey fares, but also high-value travel permits and entertainment event ticketing.?David Burdett, Managing Director of Ecebs Limited explained why Ecebs has joined the consortium.

“Ecebs is very aware of the convergence occurring between the payment and ticketing markets. Leveraging the current MULTOS platforms and their strength in the payment arena, together with Ecebs’ strength and depth of experience in the transport markets, produces a very strong product foundation and new growth opportunity for those with an existing MULTOS investment. By introducing Ecebs’ Multefile™ technology on MULTOS, clients will be able to future-proof their investment and open up new opportunities for revenue through the ability to add and adapt card applications in the field.”

Welcoming Ecebs to the MULTOS Consortium, Alan Johnson Technical Director commented:

“Ecebs and the consortium have worked together for many years to ensure their innovative Multefile™ application and its flexible approach to application data storage was available to MULTOS customers worldwide. However, as increasing numbers of issuers look to combine many applications onto a single contactless card – realising the multi-application card future envisioned by MULTOS’ development back in the 1990’s – the consortium needs to work with expert providers like Ecebs to ensure these combined requirements of different applications, such as transport ticketing, payments and identity are delivered effectively by a single technology platform. We hope that Ecebs deep knowledge and experience in the transport ticketing arena will contribute to MULTOS continuing to provide the best in class platform for application convergence. We look forward to working with Ecebs in this endeavour.”

Ecebs will be joining other members of the MULTOS Consortium for this year’s Cartes show in Paris from 7th to 9th December, at booth 4N066. It will be showcasing their ITSO-based remote ticket download solution for MULTOS which was developed with Ecebs’ parent company, theTrainline.com in mind. The solution is enabled by Multefile™ and demonstrates a system that is capable of loading tickets to a card, over the internet, with full end-to-end security.

About MULTOS

MULTOS is the most robust, industry-backed smart card platform delivering simplicity and innovation to the world’s leading issuers. With more than 180 million issued smart cards across 40 countries, MULTOS is overseen and provided by a consortium of smart card and silicon manufacturers, payment schemes, card management system providers and integrators. A range of applications including payment, authentication, digital identity, biometrics, loyalty and contactless ticketing may securely co-reside on a MULTOS powered chip.

For more information visit www.multos.com

The MULTOS Consortium
Aline Schneider Marketing Specialist
[email protected]

Employees turned up armed with paint, brushes, cleaning and DIY materials with the goal to transform and re-decorate the premises inside and out.

Local MSP Christina McKelvie was clearly impressed at the awards ceremony and commented in her latest June statement:

‘Ecebs is a company that started out about eight years ago with a set of plastic garden furniture and an ambition to be the best. Since then the company has been built up to be a world leader in Smart card technology. It’s good to see success stories like that one coming out of Scotland’s business community’.

Ecebs benefited with teamwork and the simple satisfaction of being able to help others, while the Dementia Group has been able to enjoy the work done in the new premises.

For more information on the Dementia Carers Group visit www.dementiacarers.co.uk

June 2010

The first in the market to create the latest version of the HOPS Smart ticketing management system in accordance with ITSO specifications.

Ecebs is proud to announce the certification of its Paragon HOPS product to version 2.1.4 of the ITSO specification. The product is available now- with Nottingham City being among the first of Ecebs’ customers to take advantage of this release. The existing 2.1.3 Paragon HOPS system, already provided by Ecebs, will be smoothly updated to the new 2.1.4 version.

James Bloor, Principal Officer of Nottingham’s Citycard Scheme commented:

‘Nottingham City is delighted to be able to take advantage of the upgrades that Ecebs is providing. It ensures that our transport scheme will be aligned to the latest levels of compliance to ITSO. This places the Nottingham Citycard scheme at the forefront of the U.K. Smart card Ticketing rollout, backed by the Department For Transport’.

Version 2.1.4 of the ITSO specification was released by ITSO in February of this year. In completion of the 2.1.4 certification, Ecebs is now the first to achieve certification to both 2.1.3 specifications and 2.1.4 specifications after their release by ITSO. This clearly demonstrates Ecebs commitment to continuous improvement of its ITSO products- as part of the latest specification. As a result, the technical excellence and ITSO expertise to achieve this in just two months after the specification was published is outstanding.

The new release of Paragon to version 2.1.4 of the ITSO specification makes great sense since it provides the ITSO market with the most up-to-date features available. What does this mean for any scheme operator? By implementing Paragon Hops, a scheme operator has confidence that their operation will be executed effortlessly, leveraging on the considerable experience that Ecebs has gained from operating previous versions of the HOPS. Paragon HOPS 2.1.4 includes the updated version of IPE TYP 24 for storing ticket data for use in the rail industry and a complete reconfiguration of the remote fulfilment of ticketing has also been carried out. In addition, the facility to manage complex capping is supported, which performs an automatic ‘best value’ action for the most cost-efficient ticket.

Ecebs has strong and considerable expertise of ITSO products and technology as well as a wider knowledge of smart technology and its use in the transport industry and beyond. Ecebs created and developed the ITSO Secure Application Module (ISAM) used in all ITSO transactions, the ITSO Security Management System (ISMS), and was awarded the first HOPS certificate by ITSO. In addition, Ecebs has a range of ITSO compliant smart cards and card management and issuance products available. This latest release further strengthens the Ecebs product range and cements its place as a leader in the smart card market within the U.K.

Ecebs is uniquely positioned as a supplier of a wide range of components that are required to complete an ITSO smart ticketing environment. The HOPS itself is available in all versions as licensed software or fully outsourced and managed by Ecebs’ support team.