OSPT Alliance has launched a System Integration Sub-Working Group to create a dedicated CIPURSE Specification and guidelines for terminals and readers. The work will enable any terminal, or a reader implementing application logic, to communicate and seamlessly interoperate with any CIPURSE-based card or account using the common language of CIPURSE.
The development of terminal requirements is in direct response to demand from reader and terminal manufacturers who want a secure, non-proprietary, hardware agnostic and globally interoperable messaging standard on which ticketing terminals can be developed. This activity also reflects OSPT Alliance’s efforts to support the full ticketing ecosystem.
OSPT Alliance is inviting reader and terminal manufacturers, and system integrators to join its existing community and ensure their needs are addressed.
Laurent Cremer, executive director of the OSPT Alliance, said: “The ticketing market is evolving to offer new ways to purchase tickets and validate your journey, such as account-based ticketing and a range of different mobile ticketing use cases. A ticketing kernel is no longer necessarily embedded in the terminal or reader, and system partitioning may vary across automatic fare collection systems and evolve over time. OSPT Alliance recognises that as the market continues to innovate, we must ensure that the system is saleable to support new form factors and applications. The System Integration Sub-Working Group will achieve this by specifying a non-proprietary API, which will be managed long-term by an open community, so it can evolve in line with market needs.”
The group will define and publish the minimum requirements for terminals interacting with CIPURSE products in early 2018. The CIPURSE Certification Program will then be updated to incorporate the certification of terminals.
Cremer concluded: “To realise our mission of supporting the full ticketing ecosystem, it is vital that we can independently validate that the communication of a terminal is compliant with the CIPURSE specifications and will perform as intended with CIPURSE certified products.”
To participate in this work initiative, a company must be a Full or Affiliate OSPT Alliance Member. Membership is open to system integrators, as well as reader and terminal manufacturers, active within the contactless market (for example transit, loyalty and access control).
