Barcoding, encryption allow secure online ticketing

Sep 1, 2000 12:00 PM, CAREY ADAMS

The Internet is revolutionizing the way people do business. Transactions such as buying groceries or clothing are just a mouse click away. Now event tickets can also be bought and printed at home.

Etix.com, a six-month-old start-up company in Raleigh, N.C., has developed a system to allow any organization or venue to use the Internet to sell and distribute tickets directly to the public. Ticket buyers need only a PC, a standard off-the-shelf laser or inkjet printer, and an Internet connection.

Security for the system is based on public/private key encryption and two-dimensional barcodes that are non-duplicable.

"We are able to encode an encryption with a signature that is specific to the customer. The encryption can vary for each event and each customer," says Etix.com CEO Travis Janovich.

Once the ticket is printed and taken to an event, SPT1700 and LS4800 hand-held scanning devices by Symbol Technologies, are used to validate the ticket. Etix.com provides the hand-held scanning devices.

"Having a secure system is the main focus. Once someone comes through the gate, the ticket has to be scanned. We flag the ticket with the scanning devices, which authenticates it," says Janovich.

The scanning devices and barcoding will validate a ticket even if it is torn, wrinkled or wet. The security system incorporated into the barcode also works for lost or stolen tickets.

According to Janovich, tickets that are reported lost or stolen are taken out of the system. If anyone were to present the ticket as valid, the scanning devices would flag it.

Is this the future of live-event ticketing? Janovich thinks so.

"It is catching on extremely fast. You don't have to wait at home or wait for FedEx to drop tickets off," says Janovich. "The Internet is able to fulfill your order in no time."

In the six months that Etix.com has been in business, the company has gained several event organizers, including the Charleston Battery pro soccer team in South Carolina, minor league baseball teams Charleston RiverDogs, Fort Myers Miracle, and Hudson Valley Renegades, musical groups Jump Little Children and Widespread Panic. Etix.com was also used for the ALLTEL Big Free Show in May in Charleston, attended by more than 25,000.

The company has also made major inroads in Europe. On-line ticketing and leisure booking and merchandise service company ts.com signed a deal with Etix.com. London-based ts.com sells tickets for 2,000 venues across Europe.

Janovich says he knows that nothing is perfect, but he believes the security solutions in place - such as barcoding and key encryption - will keep all tickets used by Etix.com secure.

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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