BANK tech-trends News
 

 November 24 - November 28, 2008

• 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

USB 3.0 has arrived, or at least the specification that allows the technology to start being built into devices has arrived. Offering data transfer speeds up to 4.8 gigabits per second – which is 10 times the USB 2.0 speeds - USB 3.0 is also expected to offer better power efficiency. The new standard, also known as SuperSpeed USB, is expected to be backward-compatible with earlier versions of USB. It will be built into computers and devices around a year from now.

MagTek announced the MDX compact check reader at the recent BAI Retail Delivery Show. MDX has a built-in secure MSR that incorporates MagTek's MagneSafe security architecture, which mutually authenticates the MDX scanner to the bank's host application, ensuring the integrity and legitimacy at both points of the transaction. The unit also offers comprehensive multi-factor authentication.

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ATMs/Kiosks

NCR launched NCR APTRA Vision, a next-generation management and decision support system. According to NCR, the package provides banks with a single tool to assess the performance of their self-service and assisted-service channels for day-to-day management and strategic planning purposes. The portal extracts data from multi-vendor ATMs, self-service kiosks and teller applications across a variety of network infrastructures. This device-based data can be correlated with information on the transaction volumes, values, types and times in other channels, such as branch counters. Data is integrated, analyzed and presented in a range of graph, map or statistical formats for vendor management and business reporting purposes.

At last week's BAI Retail Delivery Show, Prognosis showed ATM monitoring software that delivers a real-time dashboard of ATM activity. For those banks driving devices in-house, this could be used in a command center for monitoring. The software will automatically send alerts to support personnel when problems arise. Prognosis also has software performing similar functions for Web application and IT infrastructure monitoring.

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US Biometrics is targeting community banks with their AccessQ system for controlling physical access to entrances with fingerprint biometrics. US Biometrics offers their "Ease Into Biometrics" and "Secure One Door" incentive programs to banks which allows them to specify, purchase and implement the system over time.

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The GSMA - an international trade group of mobile operators - is calling for full near field communication (NFC) functionality to be built into handsets from mid-2009, in a bid to drive the uptake of contactless payments. The GSMA's Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative has already seen trials get underway across eight countries - including Australia, Korea and the US - involving nine mobile operators, with further pilots planned in another 14 countries by 15 operators. 

Diebold is now offering mobile banking services through a strategic alliance with ClairMail. Diebold will distribute and provide managed services for ClairMail's two-way mobile platform, which can be deployed either on-premise or as a managed service.

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Unlike existing commercial operating systems, Integrity OS is designed and certified to defend against sophisticated attacks. After receiving the highest security rating by a National Security Agency-run certification program, Green Hills Software announced that its Integrity-178B operating system was certified as EAL6+ and that the company had spun off a subsidiary to market the OS to the private sector. Windows and Linux, meanwhile, are EAL 4+ certified, which means they can only defend against "inadvertent and casual" security breach attempts. Integrity-178 B meets the rigorous Common Criteria Separation Kernel Protection Profile (SKPP) standard, which guarantees that malicious code can't corrupt or harm any other application running on the system. Windows and Linux can run atop Integrity-178B, basically as virtual "guests" on the OS, while Integrity runs in hardware. Each operates in its own partition so that if one area is compromised, it can't spread to other areas of the system. 

Gladiator Technology announced the release of its eSAT (Electronic Security Awareness Training) program enhancement designed exclusively for banks’ boards of directors. The eSAT program was originally designed to help banks comply with the provisions of GLBA which require periodic information security training for bank personnel. The newest component of eSAT focuses specifically on training banks’ board customers on topics that have been recently scrutinized by examiners, and on the role of boards in compliance with the new Identity Theft Prevention Program guidelines imposed by FACT Act modifications. 

Cymtec Systems announced that it has upgraded the reporting and threat protection capabilities of its Sentry network monitoring, analysis and enforcement appliance. Sentry 3.0 software adds longer traffic capture windows and more flow analysis tools, enabling the device to provide better snapshots of network activity that can be used to troubleshoot network congestion. The appliances can block malware and questionable URLs because they are equipped with Spy Sweeper antispyware software from Webroot and Secure Computing's SmartFilter filtering tool. The appliances come in two models: the Sentry 100, which costs $3,995, and the Sentry 10, which costs $1,295.  

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Core Systems:

Core Systems – Collaborating to Better Serve Customers

COCC - http://www.cocc.com Read Joe Trafton's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/COCC.pdf

Fidelity Information Services - http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com Read John Schooler's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/FIS.pdf

Open Solutions - http://www.opensolutions.com Read Michael Nicastro's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/OSI.pdf

Software and Management Associates - http://www.smausa.com Read Michael W. Taylor's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/SMA.pdf

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MeridianLink has published a new white paper on their website aimed at banks that are considering the automation of financial services such as account opening software and lending technology. Entitled “Automating Financial Services: Is It Worth It?,” it focuses on the issues of costs versus benefits or ROI, and offers information about financing or budgeting for new technology.

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A startup company called Bling Nation plans to combine contactless-payment technology with an on-us approach to debit transactions that it says will cut transaction costs for both banks and merchants. The company's core technology, in development for three years, is an integrated issuing-and-acquiring processing platform designed specifically for community FIs. The proprietary system, which relies on contactless stickers that customers can affix to their cell phones, will charge a 1.5% fee to merchants for each transaction. Of that amount, Bling Nation says it will collect 30 basis points as its network fee, with the bank pocketing the remainder as both issuer and acquirer, less an estimated 25 basis points for issuing costs, primarily for the contactless inlays. 

A company called WorkLight was demonstrating how banks can enhance their online and mobile capabilities by enabling secure interactions using consumer Web 2.0 tools such as gadgets and widgets at the recent BAI Retail Delivery Show. WorkLight says that their flagship product for financial services, WorkLight for Retail Banking, is the first of its kind to offer secure, enterprise-grade banking via consumer Web 2.0 tools, such as desktop and web-based gadgets and widgets, social networks, mobile applications, RSS feeds, and more.

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Internet Access

NEC Unified Solutions says that their UNIVERGE SV8500 communications server gives users access to information based on their locations, devices and preferences. The UNIVERGE SV8500 scales up to 4,000 stations on a single server, and includes features such as presence, instant messaging, unified messaging, conferencing, click-to-call and single number reach. It also supports distributed workplaces through tools such as PC-based softphones and mobility clients designed to give employees access to their unified communications suite even when away from their desk.

TalkSwitch announced that its IP PBXs have been tested and approved for interoperability with Covad's Integrated Access service, a combined phone and Internet service. With Covad's Integrated Access service, TalkSwitch customers can take advantage of managed quality of service (QoS) for VoIP that extends to their premises. Pricing for TalkSwitch systems equipped for VoIP services start at $995. 

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Call Centers

Avaya has launched a new service product for financial institutions called Proactive Outreach for Financial Services that is designed to help banks use outbound communications and self service automation. Outbound self-service is a contact center technology to deliver information to consumers - such as appointment reminders or loan collection requests - and let them complete transactions using automated menus or speech commands. banks can use Avaya Proactive Outreach to initiate outbound communications via multiple channels, such as phone, e-mail or SMS.

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