East Kilbride, Scotland. 1st 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.

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.

Many of Ecebs solutions is based on its 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 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 Authentication 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 said “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 Ecebs Limited

Ecebs provides smart card-based technology solutions into a range of applications across the globe – and has knowledge and experience in the following areas: Transport Ticketing, EMV and Payment Cards, Secure ID and PKI, Smart card Operating Systems, Access Control, Government Schemes and Mobile Ticketing. In addition to providing software applications that reside on the card, it also provides back office software solutions for smart card schemes.

Ecebs’ technology enables the use of multiple applications on one card rather than many cards for different purposes. It has been specifically designed and built to allow smart card products to be developed and deployed more easily, and to integrate simply with existing systems. Furthermore, Ecebs’ proprietary Multefile™ technology uniquely enables card applications to be updated and/or added post-issuance.

Ecebs’ mission is to enable deployment of its client’s smart card solutions in minimum time, with minimum overhead, for maximum return.

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 further information, visit http://www.multos.com

PR contacts

For Ecebs Limited
Emma Robinson
Marketing Executive
emma.robinson@ecebs.com

For The MULTOS Consortium
Aline Schneider
aline.schneider@multos.com