BANK tech-trends News
 

 August 4 - August 8, 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

Dell just introduced an ultra-small desktop that the company says is 80 percent smaller than standard minitower desktops. The Hybrid will run Intel's Pentium dual-core and Core 2 Duo processors, and support up to 4GB of RAM and up to 320GB of hard drive storage. It will also include Gigabit Ethernet and optional wireless networking. It will come preloaded with the Windows Vista OS. The Studio Hybrid mini-desktop also uses 70 percent less power than a typical desktop, the company claims. Pricing starts at $499.

A comprehensive feature set and a competitive price help make the OmniView SMB KVM-over-IP switch hard to beat for banks in need of an affordable keyboard-video-mouse switch for their server room or data center. The Belkin switch includes native CAT5 support and can be used to manage up to 248 servers (via daisy-chaining) from a single console. The installation is straightforward, and the browser-based interface used to access different servers is easy to use. It also includes BIOS-level access to connected servers, 128-bit SSL encryption, and support for serial devices.

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ATMs/Kiosks

Nautilus Hyosung has signed an agreement to acquire Triton Systems, a global ATM provider having its primary presence in North America, from Dover Corporation. Nautilus Hyosung, based in Korea, is a global manufacturer of complete ATM solutions, including hardware, software and services to the ATM deployers. 

The Electronic Funds Transfer Association, in conjunction with the ATM Industry Association, are working together to sponsor a conference this fall on ATM security. The conference will be held in Houston Sept 8 - 10. Sessions will cover such topics as: hardware protections; software- and server-monitoring tools; prepaid-card security; PCI standards; debit-card fraud; ATM skimming; and the security of RFID technology and mobile-phone transactions.

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Access has introduced a range of biometric programmable keyboards with integral DigitalPersona "U.are.U" fingerprint readers. Users place their finger on a red illuminated window to activate the fingerprint reader. On-board electronics encrypt the 512dpi resolution scanned image before sending it through the USB interface. Access says these readers recognize even the most difficult fingerprints accurately and rapidly, regardless of placement angle, and that the built-in intelligence rejects counterfeit and printed fingerprint images.  

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Meru Networks is introducing an RF Barrier product that they say will keep your corporate WLAN signals from seeping through building walls into parking lots and other public areas where eavesdroppers might lurk. The product comprises a Meru AP-200 802.11a/b/g access point with special packet-inspection software plus a 180-degree directional antenna. You mount it outside the building – at least one AP/antenna pair per outside wall per channel in use – and the device corrupts 11a/b/g signals emanating from authorized MAC addresses, rendering them useless to outsiders.

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According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC), many identity-theft monitoring services are overpriced and don't provide anything close to full protection against identity theft or credit fraud. They recommend that consumers who think they need monitoring services should first make sure that there are no free or lower-cost alternatives that they can take advantage of before purchasing a service. Monitoring services are most useful, PRC says, in helping individuals detect new account fraud resulting from someone using their name, SSN and other personal information to open credit card, mobile phone or other accounts. However in general, monitoring services fail to protect against a variety of other kinds of fraud, such as the misuse of existing accounts, debit and check card fraud, or in situations where an imposter might use another individual's SSN to obtain employment.

ArcMail Technology, a leading provider of email archiving and management technology, announced the availability of the first email archiving appliance with built-in Blu-Ray backup and email export capability. ArcMail Defender is a stand-alone network appliance offering up to 16 terabytes of raw storage and data integrity technology. The firm says that the Blu-Ray drives will enable organizations to perform backups of their email archive directly to high capacity, high bandwidth random access removable storage, rather than to much slower tapes, making both backup and restore operations much faster. Using their DirectExport technology, ArcMail says that an administrator can search an email archive and produce either a DVD or Blu-Ray disk containing all the emails from that search in a matter of minutes. 

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Online Banking:

Online Banking... Catering to Your Most Desirable Customers

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

Exstream - http://www.exstream.com   Read Jerry Driscoll's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Exstream.pdf

Microsoft - http://www.microsoft.com Read Marley Gray's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Microsoft.pdf

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

Piraeus Bank - http://www.piraeusbank.gr   Read Sotiris Sirmakezis' comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Piraeus.pdf

uMonitor - http://www.umonitor.com   Read Dinesh Sheth's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/uMonitor.pdf

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CDC Software announced the general availability of Pivotal CRM 6.0, a newly-designed customer relationship management (CRM) platform based on Microsoft.NET technology. Pivotal 6.0 is highly-integrated with Microsoft Outlook (including calendaring, task and email capabilities) within the platform, allowing users to complete much of their daily work without having to leave their CRM system. CDC says that the new features of Pivotal 6.0 provide easier customization, enhanced searching and better reporting capabilities. Pivotal 6.0 also embeds SharePoint, which enables organizations to deploy SharePoint Server 2007 with SharePoint Designer 2007 and to implement a new feature in Pivotal 6.0 called SmartPortal, a Pivotal portal which allows IT professionals to set-up pre-defined portals by functional area.

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According to results from a recent SYNERGISTICS online survey, nearly one-tenth of Internet households have made a serious financial decision based on advertising or information they have gotten from some type of social media source. Social media includes blogs, podcasts, social networks, and video sharing sites. Although wider among 18- to 34-year-olds, as would be expected, response is actually quite stable among those ages 35 to 64. William H. McCracken, CEO of SYNERGISTICS, stated, "social media channels enjoy heavy traffic and have a large reach, making the potential impact of these new channels significant. Already, about one-tenth of Internet households have made a financial decision as a result of information gleaned from one of these types of sites. With direct mail experiencing declining response rates and the implementation of the ‘do not call’ list, these new channels represent new consumer contact points for financial institutions."

SentryBay has launched PhishLock which the firm says is a real-time solution which protects users of an organization's website from phishing attacks. The software operates on the end user client, or in the cloud. SentryBay claims that PhishLock immediately alerts an organization of a phishing attack so steps can be taken to shut it down. This happens automatically when the first user loads a phishing website - without the need for anyone to report or discover it.

Americans carry approximately $961.8 billion in revolving debt, according to the Federal Reserve Board. Delinquency rates on credit cards are at the highest levels since the end of 2002. In response, nearly 70 percent of financial institutions say they have cut back on credit card solicitations and 6 of 10 say they are limiting the amount of credit offered to consumers, according to Javelin Research.

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Internet Access

NetScout's nGenius Performance Manager and nGenius K2 add-on application monitor anything related to voice quality - jitter, latency, etc. NetScout technology can not only monitor voice, but it can be used to spot applications' bandwidth consumption and to track network usage during security events. The nGenius K2 application helps detect network problems and provides an early warning system. K2 is installed on the same server as nGenius Performance Manager and uses information collected by probes throughout the environment. 

Objectworld Communications, a provider of unified communications solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses with Microsoft Windows platforms, announced that it is now offering unified communications for as little as 7 cents a day. per user. The unified communications features include e-mail, voicemail, messaging, and fax capabilities accessible from one interface and from any device. Voice feature support includes VoIP, personal call control, conference server, unified messaging, and integrated fax server. Other services supported include Active Directory-based administration, ODBC-enabled service creation environment, and a presence-based operator console.

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Call Centers

Telephone application platform company Ifbyphone claims that they can enable any size organization to quickly establish a virtual call center with no upfront costs. They say that their Lead Distributor solution can flexibly distribute calls to any phone, anywhere, including home offices, in a highly cost-effective manner. Once a call is received, Lead Distributor evaluates the time of day, day of week, caller-ID and number of calls previously transferred to a particular location before determining where to send the call. This Web-based tool works in conjunction with Ifbyphone local and toll free numbers, and is a completely hosted computer-integrated telephony (CIT) solution.

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