BANK tech-trends News
 

May 4, 2009 - May 8, 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

Monitor maker Eizo Nanao has announced the inclusion of an "EcoView Sense" feature into their FlexScan monitors: the 20-inch EV2023W and the 23-inch EV2303W. The EcoView feature allows the monitors - using motion detectors - to detect if a person is sitting in front of it. If it senses for 40 seconds that no one is there, it puts the monitor into sleep mode. It then resumes normal operation when the user returns. Other energy-saving features include an ambient light sensor that adjusts the display's brightness according to the amount of light in the room plus each monitor includes a power switch that allows them to turn off completely and not draw any power whatsoever.

The PatchSee system from Mitsubishi International Corp. aims to clean up the tangle of Ethernet cables in your server room or data center. PatchSee cables feature optical fiber that runs inside the cable — you shine light into one end of the cable using a special tool, and the other end lights up. Mitsubishi offers a variety of PatchSee cables, including phone, Category 5e, and Category 6a cables. The lights identifying the cables are small but clearly visible in most viewing conditions.

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ATMs/Kiosks

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) has unveiled the first functioning prototype of its new Instant Issuance Kiosk for payment cards. G&D says that their new Instant Issuance Kiosk will enable financial institutions to offer payment-card issuance services independently of their branches' working hours. The entire issuance process for payment cards can now be carried out without the need for any staff. Consumers will be able to acquire a ready-to-use prepaid, debit, credit or contactless card any time, any place, and use it to shop in retail stores and online.

According to independent market analyst Datamonitor, banks should carefully analyze the current and future total cost of ownership of their ATMs, and evaluate their outsourcing alternatives. With a widespread lack of capital for costly upfront investments, renting ATM hardware and associated services becomes an attractive, and in some cases the only feasible, option says Datamonitor. Overall ATM management goes well beyond the simple purchase/renting of hardware and the maintenance involved. It also includes management of hardware installations, cash handling, communication, occupancy, and processing. They conclude that banks need to carefully analyze the total cost of ownership that is associated with their ATMs, and benchmark it against vendors' rates for outsourcing services, and if possible against peers

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Dell's Studio One 19 features a 19-inch LCD display with 1366 x 768 resolution and optional multi-touch capabilities. The all-in-one Studio also comes with a stylish aluminum, glass and fabric design and is available in an array of colors, including white, red, blue, pink and charcoal. Optional features include integrated 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a 1.3-megapixel web camera, a microphone and facial recognition security.

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NCR is allowing consumers to deposit checks from wherever they can get reception on their data-enabled mobile phones, such as an iPhone or Blackberry. The company announced an agreement with Mitek Systems to integrate Mitek's ImageNet Mobile Deposit software into NCR's APTRA Passport family of remote deposit capture solutions. This software allows banks to deposit checks by using their mobile phone's camera as a scanner, capturing an image of both sides of the check and transmitting those images to their bank for deposit. The new NCR APTRA Mobile Passport solution complements the APTRA Commercial Passport which is remote deposit capture software that allows banks to make deposits using check scanners from their businesses directly to the bank via online banking.

ExSafe announced the launch of its new mobile application for BlackBerry smartphones. ExSafe says that their system reduces the cost of managing Microsoft Office content (Word documents, Excel spreadsheets) and PDFs, while providing a full audit trail and versioning of user activity. ExSafe enables users to find, access, and sync edited documents that are saved on a hosted network.

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Alpine Consulting announced Alpine IdentityInsight which is a new fraud and collusion detection service. IdentityInsight is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that analyzes a client's existing data sources to uncover the inappropriate relationships and obscured identities that indicate fraudulent activity. The firm says that the service allows investigators to define their fraud search criteria and compile a qualified list of actionable investigative leads. IdentityInsight is available as a one-time "ad-hoc" service, and can also be purchased under a number of subscription programs.

nCircle announced that its Configuration Compliance Manager (CCM) configuration auditing solution now audits the full VMware virtual infrastructure, from virtual machines to the hypervisor. nCircle CCM discovers virtual machines and hypervisors through agentless discovery technology and is then able to continuously audit the configurations of the virtual infrastructure through agentless configuration auditing.

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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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Despite the difficult economic conditions, many marketing experts are convinced that now is not the time to cut back on you marketing campaigns and advertising efforts. They believe that unless your bank is in a perilous financial situation, you must continue to spread the positive news about your bank. The marketing proponents like to quote from a recent Harvard Business School research article: "It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times."

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Debit card usage is soaring past credit card usage as U.S. consumers spend more conservatively due to the economic recession. Visa says its debit card transaction volume surpassed credit cards for the first time during the last three months of 2008. Debit accounted for slightly more than half of Visa's total transaction volume in the period, up from about 40 percent in 2003. Also underpinning the trend toward debit is lenders' reduction of credit limits on credit card users and a spike in credit card purchase fees.

SeerGate, a developer of e-debit systems for real-time online bank payments, announced that the company is introducing the first payment solution for banks to offer their banks a direct peer-to-peer (P2P) payment service in social networking environments, including Facebook. The company says that their Secured Lock e-Debit System enables buyers and sellers to securely and conveniently complete P2P payment transactions in social networking environments. Using a free application provided by SeerGate, the seller generates a personal invoice, which is immediately verified by the seller’s financial institution and sent within the social network to the buyer. After approving the invoice, the buyer is then authenticated by their financial institution and the payment transaction is completed in real-time directly between the accounts of the buyer and seller. The payment transaction is completed without any sensitive financial information being exchanged or transmitted over the Internet.

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Internet Access

FreedomVOICE, the creators of the FreedomIQ Hosted VoIP PBX system, is now offering some free resources for any organization looking for a hosted VoIP phone system. These resources include: a VoIP speed test; VoIP E911 information; VoIP phone comparison chart; hosted VoIP PBX features; and a frequently asked questions section. The FAQ covers the basics of hosted VoIP and making the transition to a hosted VoIP PBX.

WatchGuard, a Seattle-based security vendor, has come out with a list of emerging threats to VoIP services. They include:

- VoIP DoS (denial of service) attacks
- Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT)
- VoIP service theft
- SIP (session initiation protocol) registration hijacking
- eavesdropping
- VoIP directory harvesting
- Voice phishing, or vishing

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Call Centers

NICE has come out with its new NICE Perform 3.2 solution that includes SIP-based recording and enhanced virtualization. SIP-based recording supports teleworkers and is less costly than TDM for archiving and storage, plus it can more easily support value-add solutions such as workforce optimization. NICE Perform 3.2 can also analyze many aspects of contact center interactions via functions such as flagging interactions from irate callers, helping in analyzing campaigns effectiveness, and identifying operational inefficiencies.

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