Bank tech-trends News
 

October 16 - 20, 2006

• Hardware News
• Software Updates
• ATMs/Kiosks
• Biometric Digest Highlights
• Wireless World
• Security Section
• Leaders Roundtable
• Technology and Marketing
• Online Banking/E-Commerce/
  Website Design
• Internet Access
• Call Centers

Hardware News

Samsung has developed what they are calling the world's smallest laser printer: 15 inches wide, 13 inches tall and 10 inches deep. The Samsung CLP-300 weighs 30 pounds and prints in black and white at 17 ppm and color at 4ppm. It uses small toner bottles and runs around $300.

MicroNet's 1.0TB PlatinumNAS comes with new 750GB disk drives which means that four disks can be combined to make a 3.0TB appliance. It includes several nice features: the drives are truly "hot swappable"; there is no need to load software on any computer for any reason; and it comes with improved performance from Serial ATA drives over the older IDE drives. The 1.6TB box is $1,759 retail, the 2.0TB $2,349, and the 3.0TB $3,759.

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ATMs/Kiosks

At the recent National Association of Convenience Stores meeting, Triton Systems provided a preview of its new low-cost ATM: the RL2000. The new machine will feature the Win CE.net 5.0 operating system and a large storage capacity for journaling. Options include an 8-inch VGA color display, a Level 1 vault option, and a backlit high-topper sign or mid-topper sign. 

Over in the United Kingdom, the Felix Corporation is rolling out a very unusual ATM/kiosk unit. In addition to cash dispensing, the machine will offer instant digital photo processing, mobile phone top-up and mobile content downloads, a digital jukebox and Felix’s Everyone’s A Winner game that guarantees a prize worth at least double the cost of taking part. The company is targeting pubs with its Max Box kiosks.

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Porticus Technology has partnered with Harborlight Technologies to offer multifactor authentication for telephone banking and Interactive Voice Response systems. Their system can be in-house or service bureau and utilizes Porticus’s Versona biometric voice verification system, and Voice Compass, an interactive voice response application. 

True Me is a system for Internet-based authentication using fingerprints, and it is designed to combat phishing, keylogging, and other frauds plaguing the Internet. Its sponsor has already established a biometric payment network at 2400 retail locations in 44 states. They are also developing an application involving remote deposit capture, the process by which paper checks are truncated into electronic image files for processing. Learn more about this in the upcoming issue of BANK tech-trends - subscribe now.

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NCR has introduced a new radio frequency identification (RFID) technology that they say can make branch banking a more personalized experience. Their RFID Branch Portal is an archway equipped with RFID readers that scans information from RFID microchips embedded in a plastic card, cell phone or personal digital assistant (PDA). With this permission-based, in-branch service, a customer’s information could be sent electronically to the branch-counter staff, branch manager or loan officer, alerting them that a particular customer has just entered the branch. 

ClairMail, a provider of mobile phone-based customer interaction solutions, has introduced the latest version of its messaging-powered mobile customer interaction system customized for the financial services industry. The offering adds new features to power retail banking services – including actionable alerts, on-demand access to account information, second-factor authentication and no-hold customer service. 

The latest report from Harris Interactive claims that about 74 percent of U.S. adults subscribe to a wireless service, while only 58 percent said they still have a landline service. Also, a full 24 percent of those surveyed claim they use their mobile phone as their primary line. The figures may not sound surprising now, but just a year and half ago only 9 percent of adults had committed to using their mobile phone exclusively. At the time 5 percent were seriously considering such a move and 47 percent were somewhat considering it. 

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Sophos, a provider of IT software security, announced the availability of its Host Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS), which they say proactively identifies and blocks programs that behave suspiciously before they execute. Sophos's Behavioral Genotype Protection has now been fully integrated into all of Sophos's anti-virus solutions. Sophos claims that their HIPS technology completely prevents malware from executing, identifying it at the gateway, on fileservers and at the endpoint. 

At the recent Virus Bulletin conference, some experts were saying that targeted Trojan horses have become the nightmare scenario for IT Departments. These stealthy attacks install keystroke-logging or screen-scraping software, and they are used typically for financially motivated crimes. They say that many of these attacks include Office files that use yet-to-be-patched vulnerabilities in Microsoft applications to install malicious code on vulnerable systems. Office files are also popular with attackers because organizations typically allow people to receive those files in e-mail, while executables or other files seen as more likely to be malicious are often blocked. "Targeted Trojan horses are still a tiny amount of the overall threat landscape, but it is what the top corporations worry about most," said one attendee.

USA TODAY research shows that a dozen or so thriving cybercrime forums online where criminal buyers and sellers convene. They report that these are the typical costs of goods and services in these forums:

- $1,000 to $5,000: Trojan program that can transfer funds between online accounts. 
- $500: Credit card number with PIN. 
- $80 to $300: Change of billing data, including account number, billing address, SSN, home address and birth date. 
- $150: Driver's license. 
- $150: Birth certificate. 
- $100: Social Security card. 
- $7 to $25: Credit card number with security code and expiration date. 
- $7: PayPal account log-on and password.

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Stay Tuned for Upcoming Leaders Roundtables! 

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Relenta CRM announced the general availability of its customer relationship management (CRM) software that they say makes it easy for sales, marketing, and client-service teams to manage email, customers, and activities. They are targeting the small to medium business market with their hosted web-based application - there is no software to install. The system includes business-class e-mail, contact management, calendar, and e-mail newsletter marketing. Pricing for month-to-month service runs $50 per user per month, while pre-paid costs $1,000 per year for 5 users. 

Research firm Packaged Facts believes that credit card issuers may be sitting on a windfall of opportunity in the 42.7 million Hispanics currently residing in the U.S. Their new report says that with an estimated disposable income that could balloon to $1.1 trillion by 2010, reaching the U.S. Hispanic community — and in particular those that are currently un-banked — means tapping into the wealth of the fastest growing U.S. demographic, one that shows no signs of slowing down.

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CashEdge has expanded its OpenNow/FundNow online service to support multiple channels for account acquisition. The system creates a shared database of new account information and enterprise data, which allows customers to initiate applications through one channel and complete the process, or have the process completed for them, through a different channel with no loss of data or efficiency. For example, call centers can complete an application that was initiated online, or use the same platform to assist customers who wish to open an account entirely by phone. In both cases, call centers can verify account ownership and decision status instantly, and present cross-sell opportunities customized to each caller. 

Visa International is testing a battery-powered card with a display that would provide consumers with single-use passwords for online banking and shopping. The card contains a thin, film battery from a company called Solicore, and a specialized chip that generates a one-time number. Solicore officials say their battery is thin enough to fit within a standard-sized credit or debit card. They see batteries being added to smart cards that store coupons and loyalty points, allowing the cardholder to check how much value remains on the card.

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Internet Access

Fiber to the home (FTTH) has surpassed the one million home mark. FTTH architecture involves the direct wiring of homes and businesses with fiber optic cabling (it is not to be confused with Fiber-to-the-Premises or Fiber-to-the-Neighborhood, which don’t involve bringing strands into the building). Because services are delivered “door-to-door” from a service provider’s central office, entirely over fiber, there is little to no signal degradation (i.e. jitter, latency or packet loss). By avoiding the need to deliver services over disparate networks (and differing types of network architectures, including hybrid networks), FTTH can deliver superior quality voice and video services, as well as super fast data speeds (in some cases as high as 100 Mbps).

ScanSafe provides web security via a fully managed service at the Internet level. All traffic between their clients and the Web goes through the service, which scans it in real time for both violations of the organization's business rules and malware. Scansafe recently also introduced a new service that provides the same scanning for IM and in addition can archive the contents of session. The service allows you to set up varying degrees of Internet access for different groups of users at a granular level, while providing audit trails and logging. 

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Call Centers

At the recent Internet Telephony Expo, Switchvox introduced a new version of its IP PBX server software package aimed at small businesses. Switchvox SMB 2.6 includes VoIP call center and call-recording features. For small call centers, the new product includes the ability for a call center manager to monitor phone conversations or jump into calls taken by agents. The software also includes a new tool for managing the recording of calls, and the backing up of recorded-call sound files. New reporting in Version 2.6 includes the ability to create graphic displays of call activity. Switchvox says its software also now supports the ability for remote clients, using different VPN equipment and software, to access the VoIP system from a home office or remote site-to-site office link.

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