First Ondemand mobile security is just the ticket

TheTrainline has announced that First Ondemand will provide a mobile-phone security solution for Trainline Smart, the ITSO smartcard system which will be piloted in 2008.

As smartcard ticketing is extended across each UK rail franchise over the next few years, customers will be able to buy their tickets using Trainline Smart. Tickets can be bought online or by mobile phone and then downloaded onto a smartcard either at home with a plug-in reader, or at stations as each train operating company introduces smartcard ticketing. The ticket on the smartcard is validated by touching it against a reader at railway stations fitted with gates, or with a handheld version onboard the train.

First Ondemand's system called ‘Authentisic Mobile' enables Trainline Smart customers to log on to their online account securely from most mobile phone handsets and see what tickets are on their smartcard. Customers can also manage their account, buy and pay for tickets and renew season tickets using their mobile.

Jeremy Acklam, business development director at TheTrainline, comments, “Our customers want to manage their ticket purchase with minimum fuss but with maximum reassurance that the transaction is secure and complete. First Ondemand's ‘Authentisec Mobile' secure identity and authentication solution is an enabling technology which provides an essential security layer for TheTrainline's new market leading Smart service.”

“Smart technology is changing the way the world does business and how companies and people communicate,” continues Stephen Moore, CEO, First Ondemand. “The popularity of the London Oyster smartcard shows this innovative method of rail ticketing is clearly becoming the delivery channel of choice for many customers. The ability to incorporate an identity and authentication layer brings a greater level of client and customer assurance for transactions through the mobile phone.”