The two associations say they recognise an increasingly aligned set of values, agenda and objectives. The merger will result in the convergence of the associations’ respective open standards, Calypso and Cipurse, to simplify the options available to public transport operators.
The merger was announced during the Transport Ticketing Global 2020 conference in London on Janaury 27. Speaking to IRJ following the announcement, CNA chairman Mr Philippe Vappereau said the move was driven by discussions between him and the president of the OSPT Alliance, Mr Philippe Martineau. Vappereau said they are now exploring how exactly the merger would be implemented, including what the new governance model will look like, and when the merger will take effect.
Initial talks will analyse in detail the unique strengths of the two standards and define a roadmap that “respects and supports existing solutions,” while also ensuring backwards compatibility.
“As such, CNA and OSPT Alliance members can be reassured that any investment in the Calypso and Cipurse specifications will be protected,” the associations said.
The associations have created three joint working groups to determine the necessary specifications and tools to achieve compatibility between Calypso and Cipurse.
These will focus on:
- governance - to optimise the association’s organisational setup
- marketing and communications - to ensure a common promotion of the open standard concept, and
- technical - to work on topics such as an SDK based on the existing Eclipse Keyple open source software and a common secure access module specification.
