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News Archive
The Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation, ITSO, today announced that they have reached an agreement for the development of groundbreaking technology upon which the Integrated Transport scheme depends. The agreement with Ecebs Limited, the specialist Smartcard Technology Company, means that transport providers in the UK will, in future, be able to offer their customers a standard smartcard based ticket wherever they choose to travel, using whatever form of transport. 'For the passenger, these developments will bring real benefit as for the first time they will be certain that they can use their 'smart-ticket' with confidence across all modes of transport' said Neil Scales, Chief Executive of Merseytravel, 'It will bring an end to a traveller having to purchase a multitude of tickets, spending time queuing for new ones and will also allow quick and easy access to all modes of transport by simply waving the smartcard at a machine' The Passenger Transport Executives and bus operators, with the support of the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR), established ITSO in 1998. ITSO's remit is to manage and develop the technology specifications that make inter-operable, multi-modal public transport a reality. ITSO and the DTLR published version 2.0 of the ITSO specification, in September 2001 to provide a clear definition of the technology and its operation. The specification represented a world leading effort by all involved in the provision of UK public transport. A cornerstone of the technology is a device known as the ITSO Secure Access Module (ISAM), which will reside in all ticket issuing and reading machines to make Smartcard ticketing quick, easy and exceptionally secure. The agreement with Ecebs is for the design and build of the ISAM to enable the ITSO standards to be deployed. Peter Stoddart, General Manager of ITSO said 'This advancement will be fully recognised when the public transport operators are able to confidently procure a rigorously managed smartcard system which will enable their systems to integrate efficiently and securely with all other operators systems. Interoperability of systems is the very essence of ITSO. The first stage to enable the practical deployment of the ITSO standard is the ISAM itself, which following our agreement with Ecebs, will now be available in the fourth quarter of this year'. David Braddock, Managing Director of Ecebs said 'as vigorous supporters of open standards technology, we are delighted to have reached the agreement with ITSO, following an exhaustive review of the ISAM design. The fact that the ITSO specification has been devised and agreed by both the UK transport industry and Government shows a genuine determination to make a significant improvement for all users of public transport.' It is anticipated that 'prototype' ISAMs will be available to producers of transport ticketing equipment in Q3 2002 and production versions available in Q4 2002. For further information please contact: David Braddock, Managing Director, Ecebs Limited Telephone: +44 (0)1355 272 911 Email: davidbraddock@ecebs.com Peter Stoddart, General Manager, ITSO Telephone: +44 (0)7785 707 995 Email: info@itsonews.com Sean Hampsey, Grey Matter Communications Telephone: +44 (0)114 266 5151 Email: seanhampsey@usegreymatter.com
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