Ericsson and Aconite collaborate to enable mobile contactless payments

Aconite has integrated to Ericsson’s Trusted Service Manager (TSM)
Enables deployment and personalization of payment applications into GlobalPlatform secure elements
Financial institutions and other service providers can now easily deploy their services for the rapidly growing mobile NFC ecosystem

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) announced today its collaboration with Aconite to provide a service that securely delivers and remotely manages applications for consumer’s NFC (Near Field Communications) enabled mobile phones. Banks wishing to issue contactless mobile payments applications are the service’s primary market. Other markets include organizations issuing access, ID, loyalty, ticketing and proximity marketing applications. Aconite is a leading provider of software and consulting services for managing business applications on chips in smart cards, tokens or mobiles.

Together, Ericsson and Aconite will offer application issuers a turnkey solution for distributing innovative mobile-based products to their customers and for refreshing those products, whenever necessary, to maintain a competitive edge. This solution is a fast track to the market, offering a route with much lower risk and capital-investment than an in-house solution. It is based on the integration of the Aconite Mobile Application Manager™ with the Ericsson Trusted Service Manager (TSM) service, through GlobalPlatform standard interfaces.

This collaborative solution enables an issuer to create a security domain within the secure element (of any type) in the NFC handset and to load, personalize, update or delete applets on that domain. All with very little impact on legacy banking systems.

The Aconite Mobile Application Manager is standard compliant with GlobalPlatform standard messaging interfaces, which ensures that the issuers’ data is always isolated from the mobile infrastructure and maintained securely within the Aconite Mobile Application Manager environment. The Ericsson-Aconite collaboration also enables issuers to transfer data between their security domains within secure elements and Aconite Mobile Application Manager, in order to manage payment transactions, EMV scripts, prepaid top-ups and other transactions securely and privately.

Patrick Regester, Aconite’s SVP Sales & Marketing, said “Our collaboration with Ericsson lets us offer retail financial institutions, of all sizes, the opportunity to give their customers innovative, world-class mobile payments services economically and without delay. Aconite is very pleased to be working with such a reputable global leader as Ericsson. We are very confident that issuers taking advantage of the opportunity to launch mobile payments products will receive excellent service and derive significant benefits”.
Richard Anell, head of Ericsson’s IPX business, commented “Aconite has an excellent reputation and experience with their proven smart card management product, and have demonstrated its reliability and functional flexibility in industrial scale production use. The Ericsson TSM platform lowers the barriers of entry to the contactless ecosystem for issuers. We feel this collaboration is a winning combination and look forward to meeting financial institutions’ requirements in the mobile payments space”.

Notes to editors

About Ericsson’s Trusted Service Manager

With the Ericsson Trusted Service Manager (TSM) service providers have a shortcut to the NFC ecosystem, allowing them to securely and easily distribute and manage their contactless applications remotely. The TSM is offered as a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and follows GlobalPlatform standards and makes it easier to offer NFC services reducing the need to integrate with each Secure Element issuer.

About Aconite’s Mobile Application Manager

Aconite’s Mobile Application Manager (MoAM) provides mobile application issuers with a GlobalPlatform standard compliant service provider system, offering TSM plug-in capability and full application lifecycle management and data preparation functionality. MoAM can be offered as an in-sourced or managed service component and allows issuers to create, distribute and manage their secure mobile applications while simplifying the task of integrating to TSMs.

About Ericsson’s Internet Payment Exchange

Ericsson Internet Payment Exchange (IPX) is a global mobile commerce and connectivity enabler. As a carrier/operator payment broker with connections to more than 100 network operators, IPX provides delivery and charging, using direct billing, premium SMS, Web and online mobile payment. Customers include more than 1000 successful multinationals reaching consumers with high disposable incomes in many countries across the globe.

Download high-resolution photos and broadcast-quality video at www.ericsson.com/press

Ericsson is the world's leading provider of communications technology and services. We are enabling the Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions that allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely, in sustainable societies around the world.

Our offering comprises services, software and infrastructure within Information and Communications Technology for telecom operators and other industries. Today more than 40 percent of the world's mobile traffic goes through Ericsson networks and we support customers’ networks servicing more than 2,5 billion subscribers.

We operate in 180 countries and employ more than 100,000 people. Founded in 1876, Ericsson is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2011 the company’s net sales were SEK 226,9 billion (USD 35.0 billion). Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ, New York stock exchanges.

www.ericsson.com
www.twitter.com/ericssonpress
www.facebook.com/technologyforgood
www.youtube.com/ericssonpress