Klaus Nagel

The days of purchasing tokens for mass transit are long gone. Today's transit riders simply flash a card or a smart phone in front of a contactless reader to gain access to trains, buses and other transit options. Throughout much of Europe and beyond, Calypso has become the international technical standard for electronic ticketing for transit operators. ELATEC readers support electronic ticketing and rider identification using the Calypso standard - along with more than 60 additional identification technologies. This allows transit operators using multiple card or smart phone technologies to support all of their ticketing solutions with a single reader. Complete multi-Sourcing environment Electronic ticketing relies on Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) cards or Near-Field Communications (NFC) applications on a smart phone to provide fast, secure and accurate identification of each rider as they pass the ticket kiosk. This allows riders to be connected to their electronic accounts, where information on ticketing and account balances is stored. Calypso provides an international standard used by transit operators for electronic ticketing Calypso provides an international standard used by transit operators for electronic ticketing. The open standard, which was created by and for its users, enables interoperability between different transit providers in the same area. This means riders can access multiple forms of transit with a single card or app. Calypso has been in use for more than 15 years and has been successfully deployed in many large cities throughout Europe and the Americas. It is the only electronic ticketing standard without any proprietary scheme for a complete multi-sourcing environment. It is also considered to be the most secure solution available. Supporting transit operators ELATEC is a member of the Calypso Networks Association (CNA), the non-profit cooperative organization that supports manufacturers and transit operators using Calypso. CNA gives transit authorities and operators a voice in determining the future evolution of the Calypso standard. ELATEC's participation in CNA allows them to fully support their Calypso users around the world. “We're proud to support the Calypso Networks Association and the spread of the Calypso standard globally,” says Klaus Nagel “Calypso makes electronic ticketing easy for transit operators and riders. We're here to support transit operators with a reader that works with Calypso as well as any other technologies they choose to use.” Philippe Vappereau, CNA Chairman: “Elatec is an important player in the supply of contactless readers. We are delighted to have them as an active member of CNA, increasing Calypso's potential supplier base for transport operators and authorities all around the world.”

ELATEC, the manufacturers of innovative multi-frequency RFID readers, will exhibit at the Embedded World 2020 trade show being held in Nuremberg on February 25–27 (Hall 3, Booth 239). ELATEC will be presenting its universal RFID readers as well as identification solutions that are based on BLE and NFC. Special focus at the trade show presentation: services and tools for developing software and applications for ELATEC products. Radio-Based identification RFID is a necessary component of our customers’ projects, but not part of their core business. “We aim to make the integration of radio-based identification as simple as possible,” explains Klaus Nagel, Executive VP Global Sales at ELATEC. With our RFID readers the manufacturer remains flexible and is prepared for future changes" “No matter which technology and RFID standard the customer selects – with our RFID readers the manufacturer remains flexible and is prepared for future changes. With our toolset, we also make software implementation extremely convenient and offer consistently competent development support and comprehensive service.” Visitors to ELATEC’s booth are invited to benefit from the company's pre-sales consulting service with a needs analysis and individual advice regarding configuration decisions. Maintenance of installed readers The modular ELATEC software package supports developers beyond the configuration and extends to the maintenance of installed readers. At its core is the AppBlaster tool as the configuration center with functions for reading cards, modifying formats, defining output formats (decimal/hexadecimal), generating output logs, selecting supported transponders, memory management, and user feedback. The reader firmware can be processed as an image or adapted via configuration cards. Since more and more smartphones are being used as identification tokens to replace or supplement classic transponders, ELATEC also offers broad support in the implementation of NFC and BLE solutions. In addition, some first projects for electric vehicle charging stations have been implemented and certified by Apple as a value-added-service. This new add-on functionality enriches the broad spectrum of Elatec reader capabilities and simplifies everyday authentication for the user.

The ELATEC TWN4 line of RFID card and smartphone mobile ID readers have received Apple’s Value-Added Services (VAS) Certification. The new functionality enables for example EV charging service operators and e-mobility service providers to support customer identification using a NFC enabled membership Pass stored in Wallet on an iPhone or Apple Watch. Physical RFID card The iPhone or Apple Watch is simply presented to a TWN4 RFID reader replacing the physical RFID card currently in use. ELATEC’s multi-technology TWN4 RFID readers uniquely support all major RFID transponder technologies worldwide, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), but now also the Apple VAS protocol. “We’re very pleased to have our readers certified for the use with the Apple VAS protocol and users will love to simply hold their iPhone or Apple Watch up to the NFC reader for lightning fast, hassle-free interaction at e.g. EV charging stations,” said Klaus Nagel, Executive VP Global Sales.