Be Prepared: Smart POS Planning
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The Financial Services Industry Source for Education, Inspiration and Actionable Advice October 8, 2001 Issue 01:10:01 Be Prepared: Smart POS Planning Inside This Issue: question compelling, particularly s we noted in our third when the business has multiple ter- quarter GSQ, Visa has Features minal types and even manufacturers announced that three to in use. Some Merchants Pass on Visa’s four issuers will deploy Latest Price Hike A 70 million smart cards in the U.S. by by Patricia A. Murphy ........................9 While I certainly would not say that IrFM Messaging Standard 2005. While this does not mean that my August/September trip was a Ready to Test the Waters smart cards are finally going to be as by H.R. Damon González Jr ..........21 working vacation, I did travel for the common a household item as a first time with no travelers checks toothbrush, it will be something that and almost no U.S. cash, testing my Company Profiles ISOs can really get their teeth into ability to travel extensively on plas- POS Portal ........................................27 from a terminal sales Miva ................................................31 point of view. Europe is far News While I have been ahead of the U.S. Banking Software Developer Enters as skeptical as any- Conversion Game..........................13 in smart card Under-a-Buck Wonder.......................14 one about both the processing Givex To Release Gift Card time it will take for Software Application .....................16 smart cards to be John Marshall Leaves Hypercom, seen in any signifi- Joins Blackstone ............................17 cant number in the New Products U.S. and about their relevance in a Calling All Customer Service Agents ..39 Pairing Up to Empower Merchants ....39 single-currency It Keeps Going and Going and … .....41 U.S. market, my recent vacation has Inspiration made me reconsid- Do This, Don’t Do That ....................49 er. Let’s Shake Hands on It .....................49 Wait for the Beep .............................50 I just completed Departments five weeks traveling through Jordan, Sicily, Italy, Austria, Forum.................................................6 tic and use my ATM card as a pri- Switzerland and France and found FYISOs .............................................43 mary payment vehicle. Perhaps it Datebook..........................................50 hundreds and hundreds of smart card was this little test that caused me to Resource Guide.................................51 terminals in use. While this is not pay even more attention than usual surprising with Europe so much to equipment and to discuss with ahead of the U.S. on this point, I people wherever I traveled their Notable Quote: found the equipment’s ability to strong belief in chip cards. move back and forth between swiped and chip cards completely The news from Wal-Mart seamless and Schlumberger equip- As a starting place, let’s see if and other merchants that ment much revered by retail estab- we can answer the most obvi- lishments in numerous countries. they no longer will accept ous question: What real Interlink cards could create Needless to say, perhaps, I pay atten- advantages should merchants a wave of defections. tion to equipment wherever I shop expect from smart cards? and regularly ask questions about Story on Page 9 how it works, if the employees like using it and, if a business owner is With Visa, MasterCard and Amex willing to talk, why they choose the actively promoting usage of smart equipment they have. I find this last cards, it makes good sense to begin Visualize a Wireless World MIST FreedomGate™ technology from MIST Inc. enables a wireless world. It provides services such as Messaging, eCommerce and Time & Attendance. FreedomGate also allows two-way communication between MIST Freedom terminals and PCs with e-mail and/or Internet capabilities, cell phone, PDAs, fax machines and pagers. With FreedomGate, the wireless possibilities are limitless. Call 1.888.508.MIST (6478) or visit www.mistwireless.com and say goodbye to your wired past > One. Wireless. World.™ © 2001 MIST Inc. All rights reserved. Page 3 preparing for chip cards to become a part of day-to-day Range of terminals for different environments business operations in the bricks-and-mortar retail world – and in your life as a sales professional in this industry. SchlumbergerSema has more than 10 years of experience Smart cards have two major advantages for retailers. One in smart card-based POS terminals and a worldwide advantage is enhanced security associated with the smart installed base of an estimated 700,000 units. Based on this card’s encryption and firewalling capabilities. While cred- experience, it has designed its state-of-the-art, highly reli- it card fraud is not a major issue for North American able and versatile MagIC line of POS terminals. retailers, increased online transmission of confidential customer data and the growing use of Web-based account- There are three types of MagIC terminals, all built on the ing and maintenance processes makes secure network same open platform. All MagIC POS terminals are smart access a necessity. card ready and ergonomically designed with a small foot- print and fast, quiet printers. They are compliant with ISO The second advantage is the capability to quickly and eas- Standard 7816.2, fully approved (level I and level 2) for ily download exciting new loyalty programs and other EMV standards and can handle both synchronous and innovative applications directly onto a smart card or a asynchronous protocols. State-of-the-art hardware- and smart card-ready POS terminal. Here the smart card’s software-based firewalling protects data against access by inherent security comes into play again, protecting the unauthorized users and ensures that data from different integrity of the applications and ensuring that unautho- applications is never shared unless they are specifically rized information is not shared between the many different designed to do so. types of applications that reside on the card or terminal. Multiple-application capabilities allow merchants to With several clear advantages and a major push from card implement a variety of value-added smart card applica- issuers, it’s inevitable that smart cards will begin being tions – such as gift cards, loyalty, age verification, check seen by retailers in the near future. So what is the most reading and e-purse – whenever they desire. The MagIC cost-effective way to transition to this new technology? Management System even enables remote terminal initial- Here is one choice that might help a lot of ISOs who wish to get a jump on this learning curve. SchlumbergerSema, which has pioneered smart card- based technologies for more than 20 years, has been focus- ing its resources on creating a cost-effective, seamless POS solution that enables North American retailers to painlessly move to smart card transactions. According to Paul Beverly, Vice President of the company’s Transaction Systems business in North America, all it takes is a little “MagIC” – the SchlumbergerSema acronym for its Magnetic Stripe/Integrated Circuit POS solution. “SchlumbergerSema understands the issues associated with the slow but inevitable transition to smart cards and has created a range of simple-to-use, easily upgradeable electronic payment terminals that combine magnetic stripe and smart card technology, software applications develop- ment and computerized tools for infrastructure manage- ment,” Beverly said. “The EMV-certified MagIC system combines the two technologies in open-platform POS terminals that support a full range of operating systems, including Visa Open, MULTOS and Proton. This approach enables retailers to rapidly and cost-effectively ramp up for the introduction of smart cards while utilizing today’s existing magnetic stripe technology.” Page 4 ization, remote application down- tle counter space and can process Remote management loads/updates and remote mainte- multiple cards per bill with online optimizes terminal nance. computation of outstanding amounts. performance. It supports up to three “SIM-size” SAMs to enable acceptance of a vari- But I am not going to be able ety of e-purse programs. The SchlumbergerSema MagIC to think about smart card ter- Management System (MMS) is an minals until my processor The MagIC 9000 comes in several operating and application manage- does! different models. The radio-frequen- ment system that enables remote ini- cy (RF) version is a completely tialization of MagIC terminals, portable unit equipped with a power- remote downloading/updating of While this may well be the case for ful radio link that allows online applications and remote mainte- many readers of The Green Sheet, transactions within an ideal radius of nance. MMS, which operates in an perhaps the following information 100 meters and offline transactions open Windows NT environment with will help you make some arguments at any distance. The infrared version a powerful Oracle database, provides and increase the sales and processing is portable and allows for single- all the functions necessary for man- stream: transaction capability near the base aging a broad terminal base in com- or complete offline transaction capa- pliance with EMV standards. • The MagIC 6000 POS terminal is a bility at any distance. dedicated, all-in-one, multitasking Remote software download enables EFT dial-up terminal that can be The corded version provides a semi- supervision of all applications run by used on a variety of processing net- portable solution with an integrated the terminals. Remote initialization works. Its effortless paper loading PIN pad in the handset that is con- provides flexibility through terminal allows the cashier to just drop the nected to the base station via a cord. activation and convenient installa- roll into the machine and close the The MagIC 9000 Mobitex terminal tion of applications. Remote mainte- cover, and the MagIC 6000 automat- is designed for home delivery or nance provides up-to-the-minute ically positions the roll for the next other mobile applications, can oper- supervision and optimization of ter- transaction.