LA Metro selects NXP’s MIFARE Plus Microcontroller IC for Ticketing

“LA Metro’s chief goal is to provide mass transit riders with a hassle-free traveling experience based on leading contactless technology that is both easy to use and robust,” said Jane Matsumoto, Deputy Executive Officer, LA Metro. “Security is a key element of our system, and NXP’s MIFARE Plus has proven to meet all our demands related to security features and superior scalability. With MIFARE Plus, LA Metro is implementing a transport ticketing system that provides outstanding convenience to our passengers, while also anticipating system security requirements for the future.”

MIFARE Plus is the latest addition to NXP’s market-leading MIFARE family of contactless technologies used in transport networks and access management worldwide. MIFARE Plus meets the highest industry standards in performance and security, including 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cryptology and an easy migration path from existing MIFARE Classic infrastructures.

“Working with LA Metro in one of the most populated cities globally is a strong endorsement to the high standards NXP places on delivering leading contactless solutions to the market,” says Henri Ardevol, general manager, automatic fare collection, NXP Semiconductors. “In addition to its backwards compatibility into existing MIFARE systems, MIFARE Plus features open standards encryption in a very cost effective solution ideally suited for mass transit.”

Migration planning is made easier as MIFARE Plus supports the pre-issuance of new cards; co-existence of current and new cards; and software-based infrastructure upgrades. After upgrading the system infrastructure, service operators can easily switch MIFARE Plus-powered cards in the field to a higher security level without the need to revoke or re-issue the cards.

MIFARE Plus contactless technology comprises a number of additional security and privacy features which, when used optimally in the infrastructure, provide a system that prevents individuals from being identified and tracked by others. It is targeted to receive Common Criteria EAL 4+ certification and complements NXP’s leading range of contactless technologies, such as MIFARE DESFire and SmartMX, which are already providing superior levels of performance and security in the automatic fare collection, access management, eGovernment and banking markets.