Testing and certification for
NFC and EMV payments — end to end.
Contactless cards, payment terminals, NFC phones, transit cards, ePassports. Starting from the device under test and the applicable specification, we assemble test platforms, specification-specific test suites, reference antennas, calibration and automation as a complete set. Rather than a single instrument, we build a pre-certification test environment using the same class of tools, test suites, reference antennas and calibration equipment as accredited laboratories. The aim is to find problems before formal certification testing and reduce rework at the laboratory.
Counts: 48 products (45 equipment and software, 3 services). There is also one product guide and six standards update articles. The figures are generated from the product data, so they do not always match the number of pages.
Test platforms
ProxiLAB Quest (contactless PICC/PCD/NFC), ContactLAB (contact ISO/IEC 7816 and SWP), ProxiSPY Quest and NomadLAB.
Specification test suites
EMVCo, NFC Forum, ISO/IEC 10373, ICAO, CIPURSE and others, with test cases, verdicts and reports.
Reference antennas and test fixtures
Test PICC/PCD, PCD Assembly, PICC Probe and CMR. These define the reference RF environment on the opposite side of the device under test.
Calibration and measurement
Calibration coil, oscilloscope and RF amplifier, for reproducible measurement conditions.
Execution and automation
SCRIPTIS™ runs scripts, controls instruments, logs and reports. Robots automate regression testing.
Rail and transit
Taps that keep the gates moving. Offline verification and strict response times are the requirements.
Retail POS
Verification of contact, contactless and dual-interface paths across schemes.
Financial systems
Host and issuer connectivity with transaction coverage. We verify reachability across the payment network.
Mobile wallets
Through to certification of SoftPOS and Tap to Phone, which turn a standard smartphone into a terminal.
Not sure what you need?
Start here.
Two questions identify the test layer. For Level 3 and operations, one more question establishes the objective — terminal configuration verification or transaction UAT — and we suggest the right partner products.
Filter products by test layer.
The first axis is the layer; vendor and certification are applied as facets on top of it. Because of this structure, ICC (L2/L3 testing of terminals and ATMs) and B2 (UAT and regression with test cards) never share the same shelf.
Browse by technical axis
You can reach the products from the device under test, the protocol role, the interface or the test domain.
By device under test
By protocol role
By interface
ICC and B2 have different roles.
Grouping both under “EMV cards” is a procurement view. From an engineering view the test objectives are fundamentally different, so we separate them structurally.
Level 2 and Level 3 — terminal configuration and kernel coverage
The main platform for Level 2 (kernel behaviour) and Level 3 (terminal integration). ICCSim TMat covers terminal configurations and branches through to certification.
- ICCSim TMat — EMV Level 2 / Level 3 test suite
- ICCSimTMat for Fiserv — Fiserv kit
- Merchant Test Cards — cards for verifying terminal configuration
- VIABLE — closed-loop test kit
- ICCSim Dev and certification services
Host and issuer connectivity, scheme UAT
Tools for issuer-side acceptance testing and transaction coverage by region and scheme.
- EMV test card set — UAT by region and scheme
- Touchless Dual Interface Collection — contactless and dual interface
- USA Debit test card set — US Common Debit AID
- 8-digit BIN test card set — verifying 8-digit BIN support
- UAT EBT Card — special-purpose UAT
- Magnetic stripe simulator — generating track data
- Professional Services — test strategy and certification support
- eLearning and training — payment testing courses
Automating payment terminal testing
A joint venture between Abrantix AG and B2 Payment Solutions Inc. It drives existing certification test tools and automates execution and result collection.
- PaytestHub — the hub for authoring, managing, running and analysing tests (cloud)
- PaytestPlayer — EMV Level 3 test execution engine
- PaytestLab — the product family as a whole
- PaytestRobot T1 / T4 — physical handling
- PaytestMux — electronic switching of test cards
- PaytestCore — the automation execution platform
- PaytestECR — POS register integration testing
- PaytestProbe — analysis of terminal-to-host traffic
The description format changes with the product type.
We do not use the same headings for every product. Changing the core information by type means products that need detail get detail.
Function and suite type
Test platform type
Reference type
Coverage type
Card type
Embedded and service type
Certification is a state, not a layer.
Certification exists at Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 alike. Rather than making it a separate tier, we treat it as a cross-cutting concern that applies to every layer.
EMVCo L1 / NFC Forum
Keolabs EMVCo Level 1 benchmark suite and the NFC Forum suite support RF and analog/digital certification from the earliest stage.
Kernel certification
SCRIPTIS™ and ICCSim TMat test kernel behaviour for Level 2 certification.
Terminal and scheme approval
The ICC Solutions Level 3 test environment and certification support services assist with integration testing of terminals, kernels and acquirer hosts.
Bureau Veritas ICTK — EMVCo accredited test laboratory
Test equipment and certification are two sides of the same coin. Bureau Veritas ICTK is an accredited test laboratory and certification body providing smart payment security testing and certification against EMVCo, Visa, NFC and Discover requirements, covering mobile devices, payment cards and POS terminals. Founded in 2001, it was acquired in 2017 by Bureau Veritas (founded 1828).
Worth noting: ICTK uses the KEOLABS fully automated EMVCo Level 1 test solution for both cards and readers, and holds EMVCo accreditation. A test bench built from the KEOLABS equipment we supply is therefore the same class of environment as the one used in the accredited laboratory. Using a comparable environment from the development stage narrows the difference in test conditions and makes problems easier to find before formal certification testing. Passing a pre-certification test does not mean the formal certification test will be passed.
See ICTK certification services and process →Not a tool for testing,
but a runtime embedded in the product.
Everything above is test equipment. Alcinéo sits on a different axis and supplies the runtime that runs inside the product — the payment processing itself — for payment terminals and SoftPOS. It is supplied as an an implementation built for certification such as EMVCo Level 1 and Level 2, and it sits on the device under test that the test equipment verifies.
Positive ONE distributes the Alcinéo embedded runtimesBeneath the layers sits the runtime environment.
SCRIPTIS™ and RGPA are not products for one particular layer. They are the execution platform and user interface that run the KEOLABS test suites. Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 all run on top of them, so we keep them off the layer shelves and list them separately as a cross-cutting runtime environment.
Verification on the card issuance side, not the terminal side.
Barnes International builds tools for card issuance and personalisation verification, on the issuer and card manufacturer side. CPT and CAT read a card and verify the EMV chip and magnetic stripe personalisation data, while the certification test modules check cards before submission to the payment scheme. We treat this as a separate axis from terminal integration (Level 3).
7 partner vendors and their products.
Leading payment test vendors worldwide and related suppliers — 7 in total. Each entry shows the vendor's role (which layer, which axis) and the products we carry. KEOLABS, ICC, Barnes, B2 and PaytestLab supply test equipment; Alcinéo supplies embedded runtimes; MULTOS supplies the card-side platform (the latter two on separate axes).
Conformance suites for EMVCo Level 1, NFC Forum, ID documents and transit, plus ProxiLAB and ProxiSPY and reference fixtures. SCRIPTIS™ and RGPA provide the runtime across all layers.
- Keolabs EMVCo Level 1 benchmark suite
- Keolabs NFC Forum suite
- Keolabs reference antennas and test fixtures
- Keolabs positioning test robot
- ProxiLAB Quest
- ProxiSPY Quest
- ContactLAB
- NomadLAB
- Keolabs ID document test solution
- Keolabs Transport / Access suite
- SCRIPTIS™ (test suite execution environment)
- Quest / RGPA (analysis software)
ICCSim TMat (Level 2 / Level 3 suite), the Fiserv edition, Merchant Test Cards, VIABLE and certification services.
CPT and CAT 3000v3 card and personalisation verification, certification test modules, P3 issuance data preparation and magnetic stripe QC. This is the card issuance side, not terminal integration.
EMV kernels and SoftPOS / MPoC SDKs embedded in terminals and SoftPOS. Supplied for the device under test, not for testing it.
Region and brand test cards, a magnetic stripe simulator, training and services. Tools for transaction UAT and regression against terminals and acceptance devices.
A joint venture between Abrantix AG and B2 Payment Solutions Inc. It drives existing certification test tools and automates execution and result collection.
A bank-designed, multi-application secure smart card operating system with an on-chip virtual machine and ALU loading. CC EAL6+ High (VM EAL7). This is a card platform on the device under test, not test equipment.
An accredited test laboratory and certification body for EMVCo, Visa, NFC and Discover, based in Korea and part of the Bureau Veritas group. Holds EMVCo accreditation using the KEOLABS EMVCo Level 1 solution. After verification during development on the equipment we supply, this is the accredited laboratory that carries out formal conformance testing. The laboratory tests and produces the report; the approval, such as a Letter of Approval, is issued by EMVCo or the payment system concerned.
See ICTK certification services →Deployment support and services
Beyond supplying equipment, we work with the manufacturers — KEOLABS, ICC Solutions, B2 and others — to support you from deployment through operation and certification.
Not sure what you need? Start from there.
Engineers with experience from R&D through validation and certification will work alongside you.