The Calypso® brand
Calypso Network Association (CNA) recognises that to guarantee that products comply with the Calypso standard and that the integrity of Calypso is maintained, independent certification is essential. This delivers real and objective assurances to all entities within the transport ticketing community that Calypso technology has been validated and performs to the highest standard without bias and without restrictions.
Alongside Calypso functional certification is its licensing scheme. Calypso® is a registered trademark and is the ‘stamp’ used to certify products and confirm that they have achieved the requirements as stated in the Calypso Specifications.
Producing and selling Calypso products based on the license creates an equal, competitive marketplace, making it possible to mandate Calypso product certification in tenders and encourage ticketing innovation and cross market mobility services.
Calypso currently offers certified products available from ten different suppliers. Discover all the Calypso Certified products here.
What are the benefits to transport operators and to Calypso providers?
Calypso® offers operators
- Assurances that products will meet the performance, security and reliability expected to achieve a trusted framework, regardless of suppliers
- Confirmation that the ticketing system has long-term sustainability and that products will be backward-compatible
- Guarantees that the products will behave in a consistent form regardless of the product provider
Calypso® offers providers
- Access to public contracts without discrimination
- The guarantee that the Calypso standard can evolve to meet the long-term needs of the market to benefit the entire ticketing community
- Protection against unfair competition from products that claim to be Calypso, but are actually low-cost counterfeits.
Why have a certification and licensing programme?
Certification is mandatory for achieving openness. It promotes trust among all entities and provides assurances to a buyer that a Calypso product has successfully completed a robust evaluation process and will functionally perform as advertised.
This is vital as technology evolves. Transport operators and authorities want and need to provide a range of ticketing solutions supporting different consumer media and using several suppliers to avoid vendor lock-in and contain costs. New and exciting partnerships are also being created across networks; connecting different modes of transport and connecting different regions, as well as a range of access control services. These need to interoperate without compromising functionality or security.
How does the certification and licensing process work?
It is mandatory for Calypso products to conform to the functional requirements detailed in the Calypso Specifications.
Paycert is the independent certification body that manages Calypso product functional evaluations and ensures complete neutrality of the programme. Paycert uses accredited laboratories for the testing of Calypso products. The manufacturer can select an accredited laboratory for product testing. For further information on the certification process and accredited laboratories, please visit the CNA/Paycert website.
A license agreement is required when manufacturers want to create and sell Calypso products. This entitles them to access the Calypso Specifications, use of the Calypso brand and access to brand support, such as delivery of unique serial numbers. Calypso is responsible for the licenses signed by the manufacturers, and uses a third party, Innovatron, to provide legal and administrative management.
At the radio frequency (RF) layer level, defined in the ISO/IEC TS 24192 standard or its European version: CEN TS 16794, CNA, in cooperation with Paycert, proposes a certification process for terminals and portable objects which ensures their compatibility with these standards. This certification is also applicable for non-Calypso products in the context of the Smart Ticketing Alliance.
The majority of Calypso products are also required to achieve a hardware security evaluation of EAL4+ in line with the Common Criteria (CC). This, however, is managed directly by the chip providers as part of their fundamental production processes.
