BANK tech-trends News
 

March 9, 2009 - March 13, 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

Intel's enterprise-class SSD (solid state drive) looks like its predecessor, the X25-M, and but is quite different. That is because the X25-E is based on fast SLC flash memory chips, while the X25-M incorporates cheaper MLC flash. There are two different types of flash memory on the market: multi-level cell (MLC) and single-level cell (SLC). MLC stores multiple bits of data in each flash memory cell, making it less expensive. SLC costs much more, but allows direct access to each bit of data, which enables better performance for random access and write operations. Drives that use SLC memory are starting to make their way into data centers due to their higher performance levels, as well as their lower energy costs.

Western Digital announced an 8 terabyte (TB) version of its ShareSpace network storage appliance. The ShareSpace is a four-bay storage system equipped with Gigabit Ethernet. It can be configured in RAID Level 0, 1 and 5 arrays and inside the device are four 2TB WD Caviar Green hard disk drive mechanisms. "Green"-branded hard drives from WD consume less power - up to 33 percent less power, according to the manufacturer.

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ATMs/Kiosks

Chinese ATM manufacturer GRG Banking was displaying their next-generation H38N ATM at the recent ATM Industry Association U.S. conference. The H38N comes with a 15-inch color touchscreen and a full line of plug-and-play peripherals, such as a check scanner. It is also available as a drive-up unit. The firm claims that in 2008, they were the No. 1 manufacturer of all ATMs in China.

In Illinois, Senate Bill 1355 is pending in the Financial Institutions committee. This legislation calls for ATM deployers to install reverse-PIN software that automatically notifies police in a robbery situation. A similar bill was proposed a few years ago in Illinois, but was modified to make the mandatory provision voluntary and never passed.

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Privaris, a biometrics applications company, announced that it has teamed with RSA to achieve interoperability between RSA SecurID two-factor authentication technology and its plusID family of personal, wireless biometric identity verification devices. The plusID token generates the RSA SecurID one-time password only after successful verification of the authorized user's fingerprint on a personal device. The one-time password is then automatically transmitted to the host computer via USB or a Bluetooth wireless connection. The companies say that employees can now carry a single token that verifies their identity via biometrics for secure access at multiple doorways and vehicle gates, as well as to computers, networks, websites, software, VPNs, encrypted files, and online applications.

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According to Javelin Strategy and Research, nearly one-fifth of Gen Y consumers (19%) say they have not signed up for mobile banking for the simple reason that their financial institution does not offer it yet. That indication of desire is nearly double that from baby boomers (10%) and is significantly higher than for consumers in general (13%).

Twenty six operators worldwide are committed to the long-term evolution (LTE) 4G standard, according to research by the Global Mobile Suppliers Association. The LTE standard promises download data rates of at least 100Mbps. In the U.S., three network operators have committed: Verizon, MetroPCS, and CenturyTel. But consumers probably won't experience the full impact of 4G until 2012 or 2013, when Strategy Analytics forecasts that the global LTE handset market will increase from 70 million sales units to 150 million.

Almost one-fifth of US Internet households claim to have used their mobile phones to initiate payment transactions, according to research conducted by Synergistics. Eighteen percent of the 1003 consumers surveyed reported that they have performed some type of mobile payment, including online bill payment, transfers or payments to individuals, online loan payments, and online purchases. Usage is widest in the $35K to $49K bracket, says Synergistics, reaching one-quarter of this group before declining somewhat as income increases.

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Aladdin Knowledge Systems claims that their Aladdin eSafe package is the industry's first-ever Web security solution that offers advanced Web 2.0 application controls for popular social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Aladdin eSafe users now have the capability to not just block or allow access to social networking sites, but can control specific functions within the sites. The latest release of Aladdin eSafe AppliFilter now allows eSafe customers to restrict specific functionality on popular social networks.

In a Gartner survey of nearly 5,000 consumers, 70% said they had never been a victim of identity theft fraud. Meanwhile 14% said they had had their credit card information used to charge purchases or get money, 7% said their debit card was used, 6% said a new account had been opened in their name, 5% had money transferred out of their account, and 4% had had checks forged. Unfortunately, the study said that "the chances of a criminal getting arrested and convicted for identity theft-related fraud are much less than a half of 1 percent."

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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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DML Communications, a public relations and marketing firm for the financial services industry, is offering social media tools to assist banks and bank vendors in spreading their messages via viral marketing. Consulting services will cover online social media tools such as blogging, video logging, podcasting, and more. The firm says that one popular social media tool, blogs, can improve an organization’s search engine placement, promote qualified individuals within organizations as experts in their field, and gain instant feedback from clients/customers through the “comment” feature.

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The Accel/Exchange electronic funds transfer network, a unit of Fiserv, has signed a few issuers for an Internet-based PIN debit pilot that just processed its first transaction. Meanwhile, Acculynk, the processor whose technology is supporting Accel/Exchange’s pilot, says two other networks (NYCE and one unnamed) have agreed to implement its PIN debit system, called PaySecure. Interchange pricing hasn’t yet been firmly established during this pilot, but some observers believe that it will fall somewhere between brick-and-mortar PIN debit and signature debit.

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Internet Access

Officials at Ixia, an IP test systems supplier, say their IxLoad Voice solution is “the next generation in residential and business VoIP testing.” They say that their IxLoad tests VoIP network components, including IP-PBXs, softswitches, call managers, session border controllers and media gateways with realistic scenarios involving multiple voice protocol, complex calling sequences, and triple-play mixes of voice, video and data traffic.

Alteva does not run their VoIP service over whatever network you happen to use, such as broadband DSL and cable networks designed for simple data transfer rather than live, real-time voice, but instead has built a network specifically for high-quality business VoIP phone service. They provide an IP PBX replacement service for organizations that average 50 employees to thousands of employees. Their hosted platform is in place in 48 states and nine countries.

Baton Rouge-based Transformyx is positioning their RallyPoint platform as the first end-to-end crisis recovery and communications system. The service is designed to handle a wide range of data: text, voice, video, and even communications from government agencies. All employees are given a card they can carry around that provides instructions on how to use the system which provides them with a way to check in, notify managers of their whereabouts, and similarly, gives those managers the information they need to know about the group of people they are responsible for. Employees and managers alike can upload messages to the system. Plus, any two customers using the system can communicate with each other once they've signed in. Managers using the system can use up to 1GB of storage for documents or video.

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Call Centers

According to Datamonitor, sales of the "IP convergence" voice portal technology surpassed those of traditional IVR systems some time in 2007. A voice portal replaces the once-proprietary vendor IVR box in a legacy contact center system with software developed in Java, PHP, or .Net that sits on a standards-based application server and accepts commands from a special server-based voice browser, which in turn receives pages back from the application server in a standard called VoiceXML. Some experts say that a typical voice portal call resolved without an agent runs between 25 and 50 cents, depending on whether speech recognition is used. IT Departments also enjoy lower support costs, especially when you consider that voice portals should not require any major changes to your existing phone systems, be they TDM- or IP-based.

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