TicketNetwork, which became Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant late in 2008, remains the secondary ticket industry's only certified PCI compliant company, but one of its rivals has launched a similar initiative, TicketNews has learned.

Kansas-based broker software company Ticket Technology, bought by StubHub for an undisclosed price in November 2008, began informing its clients this month that it is working on achieving PCI compliance by the end of the second quarter of this year, more than six months after TicketNetwork.

In an email to clients from Dave Ring, who is heading up the project for Ticket Technology, he stresses that PCI certification is the company's top priority:

As PCI compliance is a hot topic, we have made it our number one priority moving forward. In order to make your business fully compliant with the PCI Data Security Standards, there are certain changes that need to be made to our software, in addition to potential issues that need to be addressed by your own company.

It is our goal to have POSNET support PCI compliance by the end of Q2 2009. In conjunction with the changes necessary to support compliance, we will improve the stability and scalability of our platform and network. Along the way, you may see incremental changes that improve data security and push us closer to compliance. A timeline for PCI compliance with the Ultra and Enterprise systems has not been established yet, but we will advise you of any potential changes once they are known, the email read in part.

Ring did not return a message seeking comment. Ticketmaster Entertainment is PCI compliant, and Ticket Technology parent company StubHub is also compliant, according to StubHub spokesperson Sean Pate.

TicketNetwork is the parent company of TicketNews, and it spent $2.25 million and more than a year and half to achieve PCI compliance. The company is now a certified merchant, service provider and payment application provider.

PCI DSS compliance is a mandate imposed by all of the major credit card companies, and failure to be compliant exposes a company to the potential of receiving stiff fines.

"With our PCI DSS certification, we have exceeded the ticket industry's best practices by keeping consumer and partner financial information as confidential as possible. Next steps include assisting TicketNetwork's brokers and partners to achieve heightened levels of individual certification," Don Vaccaro, CEO and founder of TicketNetwork, said in a recent statement.

(This story was edited at 5:10pm on Thursday, January 15, 2009)