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8th November 2005

Thales and G2IS partner to bring Chip and PIN security to car parks

Today Thales, a leading provider of solutions for secure electronic card payment, announced it is forming a partnership with G2IS Integrated Solutions, a leader in payment processing and a subsidiary of Moneybox plc, to deliver Chip and PIN payment technology to the parking market in the UK. This partnership means that Thales will be the primary provider of hardware technology for all G2IS' parking sector projects. The first project the two companies will collaborate on is a trial of Chip and PIN at the Mid Stay Car Park at Stansted Airport. It is believed this will be the first live, UK trial of Chip and PIN technology with Unattended Payment Terminals (UPTs) at an airport car park.

Meteor Parking Ltd, a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group plc, is one of the largest parking operators in the UK, and manages the car parks at Stansted Airport. G2IS in conjunction with APT Skidata and Meteor selected Thales to provide the hardware for their car park UPTs. Thales will be working closely with G2IS and APT Skidata to deliver the system, which is due to be installed and under trial by the first quarter of 2006.

As part of this project, G2IS will be implementing the PayServe software application, designed for use in the parking sector for both magnetic stripe and Chip and PIN transactions, which interfaces to the car park servers and Thales' payment hardware to process transactions and route them to the acquiring banks. Thales' solution is based on the Artema Modular hardware, a combination of robust card reader with a compact form factor PIN pad, which will be incorporated into the Skidata pay-on-exit lanes at the Mid Stay car park. Subject to acceptance at the trial this approach will be applied to other projects currently in the pipeline, including deployments at other UK airports such as Heathrow, Southampton, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

Fred Tyler, head of business development for G2IS, said: "Our partnership with Thales recognises its superior product offering. Thales offers purpose-built Chip and PIN products tailored to the specific needs of the parking industry, complemented by a competitive commercial model. Once seen in operation at the trial at Stansted Airport, I believe that the parking industry will recognise Thales as the best suited hardware supplier for its requirements."

Paul Jackson, General Manager of Thales' e-Transactions business line said: "The parking sector is a key area in which UPTs can provide a valuable service for customers. Chip and PIN technology has won widespread acceptance within the payment industry and it is now vital such technologies make the transition from the traditional retailer environment to the physically demanding UPT arena. Our partnership with G2IS will combine our joint expertise to ensure the highly robust and secure Artema Modular Chip and PIN payment terminals are rapidly deployed within the parking industry, and we look forward to building on the success of the Stansted Airport contract."

About Thales

Thales is an international electronics and systems group, serving defense, aerospace, services and security markets. The group employs 61,500 people worldwide and generated revenues of €10.3 billion in 2004.

The e-Transactions business of Thales is a leading European provider of systems for secure electronic card payment. The product portfolio includes fixed, portable, integrated and unattended payment solutions supplied to customers world-wide including banks, network and service providers, integrators, retailers and health care organisations. In addition, Thales supplies high security PIN pads for ATMs. Thales' expertise in secure transaction solutions is acknowledged worldwide. For further information on the e-Transactions business, visit www.thalesgroup.com/etransactions.

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