EANS-News: German premiere: E-ticketing without borders

Hoeft & Wessel produces first interoperable solution conforming to
VDV-KA

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Subtitle: Hoeft & Wessel produces first interoperable solution
conforming to VDV-KA

Hanover/Germany, 03/12/2010. (euro adhoc) - With the e-ticket that is
valid on two separate transport networks, Germany for the first time
has a cross-border, trans-regional e-ticketing solution. The Almex
division of Hoeft & Wessel Group has just implemented an
interoperable solution of this kind for the Schwäbisch-Hall and
Ostalbkreis districts in the German federal state of
Baden-Württemberg. Passengers can use their e-ticket on scheduled
buses belonging to different transport companies both in "their own"
and in the neighbouring region. Previously a separate ticket had to
be purchased for travel in the neighbouring region.

This is a first for Germany. Despite the existence of the VDV-KA
e-ticketing standard, which covers the whole of Germany, only closed
solutions catering for individual regions had been realised to date.
"Our objective is to make it possible for e-tickets issued by
individual transport networks to be used throughout Germany. Once
this has become a reality, even more passengers will switch to bus
and rail," says a confident Thomas Wolf, member of the Management
Board of the Hoeft & Wessel Group.

Thanks to the intelligent solution developed by Almex, the two
separate e- ticketing systems in the Schwäbisch-Hall and Ostalbkreis
districts were successfully linked up. And this despite the
differences in the way the two systems operate: in the Ostalbkreis
district, the fare is deducted when a passenger boards a bus, but the
Schwäbisch-Hall district runs the check- in/check-out system made by
Almex, where the cheapest fare is calculated at the end of the
journey (using the "best price" method).

The software specialists from Almex have now upgraded both systems in
such a way that they can handle e-tickets from the neighbouring
region. The VDV-KA system from Almex provides German regional
transport companies with a proven solution from a single source.

The e-ticketing application implemented by Almex in the
Schwäbisch-Hall district was a German first, back in the year 2006.
Having obtained certification for the dominant e-ticketing standards
- VDV-KA in Germany, ITSO in the UK and Calypso in southern Europe -
Almex is one of Europe´s leading providers in this market and has
already successfully completed a large number of projects in Germany,
the UK, Portugal, Switzerland and Spain.

The Almex division of the Hoeft & Wessel Group is one of the largest
manufacturers of ticketing systems for public transport in Europe.
The division also supplies mobile GSM-R communications solutions for
railways.

www.almex.co.uk

Press folder with photos:
http://www.presseportal.de/pm/12945/hoeft_wessel_ag/

About the company The Hoeft & Wessel Group is the leading German IT
and engineering technology group for ticketing, parking and mobile
solutions. Founded in 1978 by the two entrepreneurs of the same name,
the company has developed into a corporate group with sales revenues
of just under EUR 100 million and a workforce of 500 employees. Its
headquarters are Hanover, Germany, and Swindon, UK, to the west of
London.

end of announcement euro adhoc
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ots Originaltext: Höft & Wessel AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

Arnd Fritzemeier

Tel.: +49-511-6102-300

E-Mail: PR@hoeft-wessel.com

Branche: Technology
ISIN: DE0006011000
WKN: 601100
Index: TecDAX, Prime All Share, Technology All Share
Börsen: Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Berlin / free trade
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Stuttgart / free trade
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München / free trade