BANK tech-trends News
 

 September 29 - October 3, 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

GreenBytes introduced its Cypress storage system, a network-attached storage (NAS) system that uses Sun's ZFS+ file system. Cypress can archive persistent unstructured data, such as files, images, etc., and incorporates de-duplication, block-level compression and power management. Cypress also features remote replication capability, which automates the replication of user’s file system data to network-attached Cypress filers, as well as snapshotting and shadow copy capabilities. GreenBytes Cypress is priced at $1 per effective gigabyte.

Foundry is rolling out eight versions of 24- and 48-port FastIron Workgroup Switches (FWS). FWS features switches, with either 10/100Mbps or 10/100/1000Mbps interfaces, that include four gigabit uplink ports. Four of the models support Power over Ethernet (PoE) for VoIP and unified communications applications. Embedded security features include DHCP snooping and dynamic ARP inspection to thwart DoS attacks; user-based policy deployment via IEEE 802.1x; and Foundry’s IronShield 360 multilayer security architecture for monitoring, intrusion detection and prevention, sFlow-based behavior analysis and NAC. They run from $1,200 to $3,700.

Back to Top

Back to Top

ATMs/Kiosks

Research firm Gartner expect ATM skimming – which consists of installing a device on a machine to read and store all personal data which are then transferred onto cloned debit cards – to increase in the coming years. The firm recommends that ATM deployers step up ATM safety measures, which may mean deploying new measures such as replacing ATM PIN keypads with dialing devices or programming ATMs to react when they are being tampered with and automatically shut down. 

Visa announced an enhancement to its prepaid reload network, Visa ReadyLink, that will enable consumers to add funds to eligible Visa prepaid cards at participating ATMs that accept envelope-free deposits across the United States. According to Visa, the new service is expected to rollout later this fall. More than 7,000 merchant locations across the U.S. have implemented Visa ReadyLink since it first launched in 2006. 

Level Four, a supplier of open standards-based ATM software, has published a paper offering strategic guidance for U.S. based ATM deployers looking to migrate to the Windows operating system. The company says that their guide enables banks to learn from early adopters in the US and European markets, and highlights many of the pitfalls, as well as offering best practice migration tips.

Back to Top

Growing concerns about identity theft and fraud have led to increasing interest in speaker verification solutions. Since many organizations already use speech recognition technology in their contact centers, voice verification is becoming a more attractive addition. Contact centers looking to roll out a voice verification system have two basic choices for handling voiceprints: text dependent which uses a specific passphrase and gives better results in a shorter time, and text-independent which measures the caller’s voiceprint during normal conversation and therefore involves a lower burden on the caller.

Back to Top

According to a report from Mercatus, nearly half of adults under 35 could be making payments with handheld devices within 10 years. Currently, only 1.5% of U.S. consumers have ever used their mobile phones to make a payment, but almost 50% are aware that they can do so, according to the Mercatus survey. The percentage of people who have made payments with their mobile phones is likely to grow to 15% among those 18 to 30 by 2013 and close to 50% among those under 35 by 2018, the firm found.

Visa and Nokia have announced plans to deliver Visa payment and payment-related services – including contactless payments, remote payments, money transfer, alerts and notifications – for Nokia’s next generation handsets beginning with the Nokia 6212 Classic. The Visa applications will first be made available for trial use by interested banks and will allow consumers with the Nokia 6212 classic and a relationship with a participating Visa issuing institution to use their Visa account to pay for goods and services; initiate mobile money transfers to other individuals with Visa accounts; receive near real-time notifications of activity on their Visa account; and “opt in” to receive offers and discounts from merchants.

Back to Top

The newest release of IBM’s Proventia Network Multi-Function Security, a Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution geared to small and medium sized businesses, provides six security modules, and now includes a Secure Sockets Layer Virtual Private Network (SSL VPN) to provide remote users with easy remote access and tighter security controls. The system comes complete with firewall, intrusion protection, anti-virus, anti-spam, URL filtering, IPSec VPN, and introduces an SSL VPN.

A new study by security firm Webroot found that 85% of malware is being distributed through Web applications, which is creating a growing threat for organizations as employees increasingly do online social networking, video watching, and personal e-mail at work.

The survey found that:

• Web-borne malware increased more than 500% in 2007

• One-quarter of companies report that data has been compromised by a Web-based threat

• Nearly one-third say their Web security was compromised as a result of employees using computers at work to access social networks, Web-based e-mail, and video sites.

SecureLogix has introduced a set of custom voice over IP (VoIP) security assessment tools. These tools can be used to assess susceptibility to an extensive range of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) threats, including denial-of-service (DoS) and man-in-the-middle attacks, eavesdropping, and audio insertion and deletion. These new VoIP security assessment tools complement the company’s voice network security scanner that identifies modem vulnerabilities in traditional circuit-switched networks, and are available for free download from the SecureLogix website. 

Back to Top

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

Back to Top

Allegiance, a vendor of Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) products, has written a new white paper entitled "Do You Know Why Customers Really Buy?" In it, they charge that marketers "often ignore a critical measurement - customer attitudes and emotions - when examining customer behavior." They go on to explain "how new feedback technology can provide essential attitudinal data to help determine how to present the right message to the right customer at the right time." While most organizations focus on geographic, demographic or psychographic data to analyze consumer behavior, the study finds adding that "many use systems such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to track customer transactions. However, an attitudinal approach to modeling behavior uncovers the reasons why people do what they do." They strongly recommend asking attitudinal questions in the feedback process to help uncover the "spark" of the relationship and what role emotion plays in consumer decision making.

Back to Top

According to research firm Celent, alternative payments could become serious competitors to payment cards if they can differentiate themselves by inducing purchases at an earlier point in the buyer's decision-making process. They describe Bill Me Later as a truly disruptive alternative payment service, in that it uniquely integrates transactional lines of credit with financing terms and discounts that can be tailored at the merchant, product, or even shopper level, while also offering features touted as "safer, faster, and cheaper" than card services. 

Visa announced that it will begin supporting the issuance of “unembossed” cards in the U.S. for Visa consumer debit, business debit and consumer credit cards. Unembossed payment cards feature printed personalized information, such as the account number and cardholder name, rather than embossed with raised lettering currently found on most U.S credit and debit products. Visa has permitted unembossed prepaid cards in the U.S. since 2005. The new regulations give issuers the ability to also issue a consumer debit or credit card as well as a business debit card immediately to customers, giving them greater flexibility to manage their Visa card distribution methods to best fit their business needs.

Back to Top

Internet Access

Quintum Technologies announced an agreement with Microsoft to develop a VoIP T-1/E-1/Primary Rate Interface gateway and an FXS (Foreign eXchange Subscriber) gateway that use Microsoft Response Point software. Features include SIP trunking, click-to-call functionality for contacts using the assistant software, call detail records, and the ability to select music for parked calls and hold time. The Response Point systems include voice recognition that responds to voice commands. 

Cisco unveiled the latest version of its unified communications (UC) solution as part of its collaboration portfolio roll-out. The new releases are in three complementary areas: unified communications, a telepresence videoconferencing system, and the WebEx collaboration platform. The enhancements to UC offer integration with Microsoft's OCS and with Sametime from IBM, along with supporting devices from various mobile providers. The Telepresence Expert on Demand module is aimed at organizations such as banks who have branches in rural areas where there isn't enough demand for a mortgage broker or a financial advisor to be permanently stationed on the premises. Using Telepresence, customers would be able to talk to such an expert remotely. Finally, WebEx Connect is a new SaaS platform that combines instant messaging and Web meetings with Web 2.0 business applications.

Back to Top

Call Centers

Bankinter, a commercial bank in Spain, has a contact center that offers a unique video contact option to customers who need additional assistance while completing transactions online. The system is powered by an IP-based video communication and multimedia sharing tool by Dialcom called Spontania. Customers initiate a video call by clicking on a clearly marked link at certain places on their Web pages; within seconds, a live agent appears in a small video window that pops up on the customer’s screen (the customer sees the agent, but not vice versa), and the interaction commences. Provided the customer is equipped with a headset and microphone, they communicate with the agent via voice; those that do not have such equipment converse via text chat (but still listen to the agent speak). The latter customers can request a free headset/microphone from Bankinter in order to take advantage of the voice-to-voice capabilities of video calling. Their center receives up to 1,000 video calls per day.

Back to Top