BANK tech-trends News
 

May 26 - May 30, 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

Smaller banks may want to take a look at the new Hewlett-Packard Officejet J6480. HP's newest all-in-one printer comes with a host of features designed to appeal to small-to-midsize businesses that want a low-cost, feature-rich device. The HP Officejet J6480 has a lot of built-in features that are rarely found included in a $200 printer: autoduplexer, auto-document feeder, Optical Character Recognition scanner; one-touch faxing; and excellent quality text, graphic, and photo prints. HP includes a one-year warranty with its J6480, with the option to upgrade to its "Total One Package," which offers an additional two years of HP Accidental Damage Protection and access to its Pick Up and Return program.

Tape and data protection vendor Spectra Logic announced that it will integrate FalconStor’s virtual tape library and deduplication technology into its nTier Intelligent Secondary Storage appliances. This product will let the nTier disk-based backup function as a backup target and reduce the amount of redundant data that is being stored. The VTL and deduplication will span all the nTier appliances – the nTier300, 500 and 700 – which scale from 10TB to 600TB. Spectra nTier Deduplication starts at $12,500.

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ATMs/Kiosks

Level Four Software surveyed European financial institutions that deploy ATMs and found the following top concerns:

• Reducing ATM downtime (22%) 
• Rolling out new services (21%) 
• Pursuing/executing a multivendor strategy (17%) 
• Upgrading to new IT infrastructures, such as a Windows (16%) 
• Integrating the ATM channel with other banking channels (16%) 
• Security (8%)

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Lumidigm's patented Venus multispectral fingerprint sensors will now be part of every new Diebold identiCenter installation. The firm says that their technology was selected by US Biometrics for Diebold's identification solution because of the sensor's superior enrollment capability and ease of use. Diebold’s identiCenter, powered by US Biometrics, is a biometric security solution for banks that uses an individual's fingerprint to identify account holders within a branch. Later this year, Diebold will be integrating biometrics with its drive-up systems and has selected Lumidigm's multispectral imaging technology for these applications.

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Mobile digital signatures are proving successful around the globe, according to new research from Forrester. A mobile phone and SIM card are the smartcard and reader you always have with you and can transform any mobile phone into an identity card and signature pen for online and mobile services. A user-chosen PIN tells the SIM card to generate a digital signature. The signature is then sent via encrypted SMS, and the password remains inside the secure SIM and is not exposed over any network. Beyond secure online banking and e-commerce, mobile signatures enable a wide range of other value-added consumer and corporate services, according to Forrester Research. 

WAUSAU Financial Systems and ClairMail announced an agreement which will extend the mobile channel to WAUSAU’s remittance processing solutions. By integrating ClairMail’s Mobile Lockbox technology with its remittance processing managed service, WAUSAU will allow their customers to include payments via mobile phones as part of their receivables processing. With ClairMail’s Mobile Lockbox technology, a 2-way alert message is sent to the payer’s mobile phone with bill payment details such as payee name, dollar amount and due date. Payers reply to the message to instantly pay the bill from their mobile phone.

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A new security system from Fujitsu aims to improve security in facilities like datacenters and branches by catching attempts to tailgate authorized employees into secure areas. The system relies on a network of video cameras mounted on the ceiling of the area in front of the access door to the area. Each of the cameras watches over an area of about 3 square feet and the video signal is fed to a computer that spots when someone is walking up to the door. If it is a single person then they are allowed to authenticate themselves at the door and enter as normal, but if there is someone else in the area the computer won't let the door open until either the second person has also authenticated or until they walk away. 

Cisco's chief security officer John Stewart stirred up a bit of controversy recently when he said that companies are wasting money on security processes - such as applying patches and using antivirus software - which he claims just don't work. Speaking at an Australian security conference, Stewart said the malware industry is moving faster than the security industry, and that a better way of dealing with the unknown is to use whitelists - where only authorized or approved software can execute.

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Security:

Perimeter, Host and Endpoint Security – Finding the Right Mix

Arcot - http://www.arcot.com   Read R. 'Doc' Vaidhyanathan's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Arcot.pdf

Astaro - http://www.astaro.com Read Alex Quinonez's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Astaro.pdf

Code Green Networks - http://www.codegreennetworks.com   Read Brian Czarny's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/CGN.pdf

Digital Resolve - http://www.digital-resolve.net Read Dennis Maicon's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/DigitalResolve.pdf

e-DMZ Security - http://www.e-dmzsecurity.com   Read Kris Zupan's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/e-DMZ.pdf

HEIT - http://www.goheit.com   Read Dan Holt's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Heit.pdf

Integrated Computer Solutions - http://www.icsinc.com   Read Stephen Goldsby's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/ICS.pdf

MagTek - http://www.magtek.com   Read Kiran Gandhi's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/MagTek.pdf

Netsecuris - http://www.netsecuris.com   Read Leonard Jacobs' comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Netsecuris.pdf

Network Box - http://www.networkboxusa.com   Read Pierluigi Stella's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/NetworkBox.pdf

Perimeter eSecurity - http://www.perimeterusa.com   Read Kevin Prince's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Perimeter.pdf

Proofpoint - http://www.proofpoint.com   Read Sandra Vaughan's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Proofpoint.pdf

Sydel - http://www.sydelcorp.com   Read Antonio Gonzalez's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Sydel.pdf

TraceSecurity - http://www.tracesecurity.com   Read Jim Stickley's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/TraceSecurity.pdf

TriGeo Network Security - http://www.trigeo.com   Read Michelle Dickman's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/TriGeo.pdf

ZixCorp - http://www.zixcorp.com   Read Dena Bauckman's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Zix.pdf

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A federal appeals court just upheld a ruling stating that the US Treasury Department discriminates against blind and visually-impaired people by keeping all denominations of paper dollar bills the same color, size and texture. The appeals court rejected the Treasury Department's arguments that "making currency accessible would impose an undue burden on the government." The American Council of the Blind has previously proposed a number of ways of making US bills more user-friendly for blind people, including providing notes of differing sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to notes and using raised ink. In a statement following the appeal court ruling, Mitch Pomerantz, president of the ACB, said that “we hope that the Treasury Department will now sit down with us to come up with a mutually satisfactory way of making our currency accessible.”

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Acxiom unveiled FactCheck-X Authenticate which they say is a more secure means of online account authentication. The system is based on unique, biographically based question-and-answer sessions for account holders. Acxiom’s FactCheck-X Authenticate does not require sensitive information or knowledge-based authentication, and the firm claims that their software is more advanced than other biographically based exams on the market. The 100 biographical data points to assess identity are customizable to suit the organization in terms of question difficulty, pass rate and exam length.

The Federal Reserve Banks announce the availability of FedEDI Plus, the newest addition to its suite of information services available to banks. This newly-enhanced service provides online translation of ACH addenda records for Receiving Depository Financial Institutions (RDFIs) and eliminates much of the manual data entry required by other translation services. The Fed says FedEDI Plus will enable banks to provide a new level of service to their business customers, who will benefit from end-to-end delivery of payments-related information by providing automated electronic reporting tools and turnkey delivery options. By using the automated report delivery option available via FedEDI Plus, RDFIs can enable their business customers to retrieve valuable reports and other data via an encrypted e-mail portal without manual intervention, providing a streamlined, efficient process for managing ongoing information needs.

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Internet Access

ShoreTel just announced several software and hardware upgrades and two new voice switches. Included in the announcement are enhancements to the ShoreWare Call Manager product line, more open interfaces for integration, and the addition of two new voice switches: the ShoreGear 24A and the ShoreGear 30. The ShoreGear 24A includes 24 analog ports, while the ShoreGear 30 features 30 VoIP ports and is designed for branch offices. 

Speech technologies provider Intervoice announced the latest release of Intervoice Voice Portal 5 (IVP 5) that includes new features like Multi-Channel Outbound Notification for time sensitive information delivered via SMS, email and voice alerts. Intervoice says that Multi-Channel Outbound Notification makes it possible for banks to be more proactive about communicating with their customers and eliminates the need for customers to call into the contact center for information. Instead, customers will receive automatic notification of events via the channels they prefer to receive them on.

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Call Centers

SpeechStorm announced that their speech recognition-based self-service solutions now offer personalization thanks to having been integrated with the Intelligent Customer Front Door (iCFD) solution from Genesys. iCFD enables contact centers to personalize responses to inbound calls by using a business rules engine that determines callers’ identities’ and establishes the callers’ intents based on previous experience, collected from back end systems. The company says that their SpeechStorm solution uses advanced call handling and call identification to assist callers in resolving their inquiries in a swift and natural way. This feature, combined with its assistDashboard provides call centers with the ability to monitor and manage the performance of the application themselves via a Web-based user interface. The specific products integrated with iCFD include Sentinel (caller identification); Depot Finder, Store Locator; Information Line; Outbound Notifier; Questionnaire Builder; Call Router; Order Status, Account Status, Balance Checker, and Name & Address Capture.

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