Calypso Networks Association (CNA), which brings transport operators and authorities together to evolve contactless ticketing systems, has released Eclipse Keyple 2.0. This is an open source framework supported by the Eclipse IoT Working Group at the Eclipse Foundation that aims to facilitate quick and low-cost implementations of smart card readers and terminals for secure transport ticketing.
Keyple, developed with the Eclipse Foundation open source software community, enables Public Transport Operators (PTOs) and Authorities (PTAs) to easily implement ticketing terminal software independent from their existing hardware and infrastructure. This enables choice and freedom from proprietary vendor lock-in, while significantly reducing the investment required to implement and maintain digital ticketing based on Calypso open standards.
Philippe Vappereau, CEO of Calypso Networks Association, explains, “Upgrading transport ticketing systems to meet the evolving needs of passengers can be time-consuming and prohibitively expensive for organisations using proprietary systems. Unfortunately, this often leads to transport networks waiting several years to renew their system to meet current and future ticketing requirements. It damages the customer experience and discourages uptake of public transport.
“Our goal at CNA is to empower the transport community to control and evolve the smart ticketing ecosystem and help make mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) a reality. Keyple 2.0 means transport organisations can now modify ticketing software independently from their hardware solutions, for example whenever they want to implement a new tariff.
Ticketing suppliers no longer need to develop and maintain their own complex library to handle Calypso processing or solution evolutions, nor do they need to adapt solutions specifically to integrate an existing ticketing system. Keyple’s modular approach enables developers even those who are new to Calypso to quickly, easily and inexpensively integrate advanced smart ticketing solutions into their public transport offer,” adds Vappereau.
Keyple 2.0 is built around three independent component layers, Plug-in, Core, and Calypso. All components of Eclipse Keyple are now separated with limited dependencies to enable flexibility and greater stability.
- The Keyple ‘Plug-in API’ reduces the complexities of integrating a smart card reader solution by implementing a single interface.
- Keyple Core implements the Calypso terminal ‘Reader API’ and ‘Card API’: a universal interface to manage reader and smart card solutions, independently to the terminal architecture (embedded or distributed).
- Keyple Calypso implements the Calypso terminal ‘Calypso API’: a high-level interface to implement fast and secure contactless ticketing transactions based on the Calypso standard.
These tools significantly reduce development cost and time as developers do not have to familiarise themselves with any legacy proprietary specifications. PTOs and PTAs can also turn to other suppliers for infrastructure upgrades as part of their ticketing strategy, or when new fare structures and lines are added to their network. CNA plans to introduce functional certification for developers using Keyple in the future, to further support the creation of ticketing terminal applications.
“Open source provides the best means for global communities to collaborate,” says Frederic Desbiens, program manager IoT & Edge computing of the Eclipse Foundation. “We are pleased that Eclipse Keyple and the Calypso open standard will continue supporting transit networks and developers alike as public transport ticketing continues to evolve. Thanks to such developments, a process that often takes years and requires significant investment can now take less time at a fraction of the cost.”
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