BANK tech-trends News
 

March 2, 2009 - March 6, 2009

• 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

Panini has introduced the Panini I:Deal which is a new check scanning platform designed specifically for small business remote deposit capture (RDC). Capabilities of the Panini I:Deal include dual-sided image capture, document franking, and advanced reading technologies in the areas of MICR and OCR. Meanwhile, Digital Check, a provider of desktop check scanners for RDC, announced the addition of franking capabilities to its new CheXpress CX30 check scanner. The firm says that the CX30 reduces the risk of duplicate deposit with the addition of the franking feature, which adds a franking mark to checks that have been run through the scanner indicating that the item has been processed.

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ATMs/Kiosks

Tremont Capital Group estimates that 401,500 ATMs are currently deployed within the United States, approximately 202,500 (50%) of which are now operated by independent sales organizations. The ATM industry consultancy predicts that average ATM transaction volumes will stabilize and possibly increase a bit as consumer credit standards continue to tighten. They also believe that financial institutions will slightly consolidate their ATM networks, while continuing to implement check-imaging upgrades on an accelerated basis.

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Vietnamese researchers have been able to successfully trick facial recognition systems on laptops from vendors such as Lenovo, Asus and Toshiba. Some observers blame the low resolution (800x600) that standard webcams on laptops typically use. The researchers were able to enroll a user and then fool the system to permit them to login using a picture of the enrolled user printed on a piece of letter-size paper.

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Fiserv announced the results of recent market research that quantified the interest among financial institutions for mobile deposit capture. Mobile deposit capture is an extension of remote deposit capture (RDC) that enables checks to be deposited anywhere via a mobile phone equipped with a camera to create and send an image of the check. Fiserv's research revealed that: 1) one-third of respondents see a need to offer mobile deposit capture services to businesses; 2) 70% of respondents agree that businesses would benefit from having check deposits scanned in the field; and 3) nearly all respondents indicated businesses that sell products and services at the buyer's location would be willing to pay for mobile deposit capture services. In a related story, Mitek Systems and mFoundry recently demonstrated Mitek’s ImageNet Mobile Deposit capabilities integrated within the mFoundry mobile banking application on an iPhone.

CTIA-The Wireless Association has unveiled "Best Practices and Guidelines for Mobile Financial Services (MFS)," which were unanimously approved by America's leading wireless carrier companies. The non-profit group said that the purpose of the Best Practices and Guidelines for MFS is to establish an environment where MFS transactions are authorized, secure, and compliant with applicable laws and industry guidelines, and to protect user privacy and financial data. Areas covered by the guidelines include data security, consent, disclosure and account information access, which are critical areas to assure wireless users of safety, security, and privacy.

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Check Point' Software Technologies announced its new Software Blade architecture. The company says that this architecture allows their clients to select from a library of over 20 software blades and choose the exact security protections necessary for their environment and sites. These software blades include a firewall, virtual private network (VPN), intrusion prevention system (IPS), anti-virus, policy management or provisioning blades - all of which can be centrally managed.

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Security:

Protecting Customer Data at Rest and in Motion

CheckFree - http://www.checkfree.com Read Christopher Beier's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/CheckFree.pdf

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

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

Gladiator Technology - http://www.gladiatortechnology.com Read Danny Johnston's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Gladiator.pdf

Guardian Analytics - http://www.guardiananalytics.com Read Tom Miltonberger's comments:     http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Guardian.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 Keith Young's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/ICS.pdf

Intrepidus Group - http://www.intrepidusgroup.com   Read Rohyt Belani's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Intrepidus.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

Reclamere - http://www.reclamere.com   Read Kevin Doyle's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Reclamere.pdf

Simpler-Webb - http://www.swinc.com   Read Jeff Simpler's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/SimplerWebb.pdf

SkyRecon Systems - http://www.skyrecon.com   Read Sean Martin's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/SkyRecon.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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Surado Solutions announced the release of Surado CRM Online - Professional Edition which is an on-demand/hosted Customer Relationship Management product. The offering comes with the core Surado CRM suite including Contact & Account Management, Sales & Opportunity Management, Marketing and Customer Service. Plus the product has the ability to start in On Demand CRM mode and later move to an on-premise system.

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NCR introduced software called NCR Aptra Consumer Passport that enables banks to offer customer RDC through their online banking sites. banks can host the software themselves or get it through NCR on a software-as-a-service basis. The program enables customers using TWAIN-based flatbed scanners to create images of checks they receive and upload them to the bank for deposit.

Same-day, or expedited, payments are gaining popularity according to Metavante. Nearly two years after introducing a same-day bill-payment service, Metavante is reporting that its client financial institutions are seeing a 10% adoption rate among active online bill payers. The Milwaukee-based firm notes that adoption rates vary widely depending on pricing. The firm is advising institutions to charge between $4 and $5 for expedited electronic payments.

Discover Financial Services announced the launch of the Current by Discover Card, a debit card for teens. Discover says the Current Card model eliminates the risk of overdraft fees and helps protect teens from going into debt since they can't spend more than the amount on the card. Parents can deposit funds directly onto their teen's card, and track spending activity online at the Current Account Center and through e-mail and text message alerts.

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Internet Access

BT has introduced a comprehensive new family of consulting services for American organizations looking to make the move to unified communications and colloboration (UCC). BT's UCC Strategic Planning and Assessment umbrella provides four services. The first one is the UCC Strategic Planning where BT’s business consultants develop a UCC strategy and roadmap. In the second service, BT focuses on defining the business benefits of an organization’s UCC strategy. The third service involves BT developing a return on investment calculation for specific UCC decisions. The last service is UCC Infrastructure Gap Analysis where BT studies an organization’s existing technology environment.

LightEdge Solutions say that their Hosted Unified Communications product – part of their Connected Office suite – provides a single platform for voice, e-mail, instant messaging and calendaring, allowing a user to work anywhere and collaborate in real time. Based on hosted messaging and collaboration software from Microsoft, as well as VoIP application software provider BroadSoft’s platform, the solution is designed to help smaller organization obtain unified communications as a hosted service more easily and inexpensively.

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Call Centers

Contactual has updated their OnDemand Contact Center cloud/software-as-a-service multichannel contact center platform to Version 6. The firm says that the updated solution offers better security, a new reporting API and an improved IVR editor. It also has a redesigned agent toolbar, ability to broadcast notices to agent groups, enhanced chat functions and desktop sharing to make agents more productive. Plus it supports on-demand call reporting, monitoring, service level management, and historical reports.

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