NXP's contactless microcontroller, MIFARE Plus, has been chosen by the Russian city of Sochi - host of the 2014 Winter Olympics - to power the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) system of its ground transportation network. This will be the first rollout of MIFARE Plus in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Working with partners, including the solution provider and equipment manufacturer Strikh-M, inlay manufacturer SMARTRAC, and card manufacturer Novacard, the project, which is currently in the pilot phase, will offer all the benefits associated with a contactless AFC to both passenger and transport operator alike.
Since its launch in 2009, NXP's MIFARE Plus has brought new standards of security and privacy to contactless smartcard systems. Designed to offer a smooth upgrade path from earlier products such as MIFARE Classic, NXP's latest MIFARE contactless IC enables systems integrators to add new security features and functionality into existing MIFARE infrastructures.
Serving Sochi's population of 500,000 residents and one million annual tourists, the MIFARE Plus-based systems will help improve the overall passenger experience and drive operational efficiencies. Eliminating the need for cash, the system will let passengers purchase and fill up contactless travel cards and season tickets at the automatic smart-card payment terminals, speeding up passenger embarkation.
The project is an essential part of Sochi's preparation for building a highly secure AFC system for the Olympic Games. At present, the city expects to receive about 400,000 additional visitors to the city during February 2014, and the MIFARE Plus-based AFC system will enable the local transport operator to scale up for the larger number of passengers it will be required to carry.
About MIFARE Plus
MIFARE Plus, designed specifically for contactless applications which require additional layers of security such as public transport tickets schemes, road tolling, loyalty cards, closed loop micro payments and in access management in both the public and private sectors, features 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and supports migration from existing MIFARE Classic implementations. The contactless microcontroller IC offers an upgrade path for system integrators and operators wishing to implement additional layers of security to their automatic fare collection, access management and micro-payment installations. In addition, the product has received Common Criteria EAL 4+ certification by the German Federal Office for Information Security, and has undergone thorough security and privacy assessment by the Universities of Bochum and Leuven.
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