Cepsco, the industry consortium established in 1999 to manage the on-going development and administration of the Common Electronic Purse Specifications (Ceps) has launched a Partner Group forum to encourage debate and implementation of the standard.
Speaking at the Cepsco-hosted Industry Roundtable at CardTech 2001 in Las Vagas, Hervé Kergoat, Cepsco Steering Committee chairman and head of prepaid products at Europay International, commented: "This is the next step in the evolution of Cepsco. As the guardians and managers of CEPS we've matured into a six-strong body and put the standard on the map - the next stage is for our partners to help us chart its future."
A number of potential partners have already stepped forward, including Schlumberger and Giesecke & Devrient. Registration is online via the Cepsco Web site.
Membership of the Partner Group includes online access to:
* regular news updates;
* directory with full product and service listings tailored specifically for the Ceps environment;
* a Partners' Trade Centre offering a virtual shopping mall for partners, as well as the opportunity to post business tenders and reviews;
* product and service reviews, including the opportunity for partners to sign-up as reviewers;
* regular updates from the Cepsco Working Groups;
* a Pilot Watch on the latest information on Ceps-related pilots; and
* a portfolio of information, factsheets, illustrations and presentations which can be downloaded by partners for use in their roll-out of Ceps.
Currently, organisations from over 30 countries representing more than 90 per cent of the world's electronic purse cards have agreed to implement Ceps. In addition, over 200 organisations have signed license agreements for Ceps and have received the specifications.