EMV on fast track

Mobile payment technology provider CreditCall Ltd. and terminal manufacturer Ingenico S.A. both released of Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) solutions in the first week of November, providing a potential boost to the introduction of the standard to the U.S. market.

Card companies are promulgating retail adoption of the EMV standard and technology by 2015, at which time liability for card present fraud could shift to merchants whose systems are deemed unsecure in the event of a breach. EMV replaces the prevailing U.S. mag stripe card technology with a card equipped with a small micro processing chip that securely transmits customer information to payment terminals via radio transmission.

Both Ingenico and CreditCall are European companies with long experience in EMV products in Europe and around the world.

CreditCall moves to take the lead

CreditCall made three EMV announcements in conjunction with its participation in the Cartes 2012 Exhibition and Conference being held in Paris from Nov. 6 through 8, 2012. The company said it will begin licensing its EMV Level 1 software library and expects it will reduce the EMV terminal development cycle by 18 months; it introduced a new cloud-based EMV-certified mobile POS solution, CardEase Mobile, for smart phones and tablet devices; and CreditCall Chief Technology Officer Jeremy Gumbley will explain the advantages of EMV as a cloud service in a Cartes presentation on Nov. 8.

Speaking from the Cartes show, Gumbley said CreditCall is a payment solutions provider with offices in the United Kingdom and the United States. The business focuses on providing payment gateway services for "unattended payments" (such as parking meters), creating EMV-compliant mobile POS software solutions, and licensing access to its EMV software library.

"Until now, there has been no reliable industry fast track to EMV Level 1 compliance," Gumbley said. "With our new library, major reductions in terminal development time translate into substantial reductions in approval and test costs for customers." He called the software library a win for EMV migration in the United States.

Gumbley also believes EMV cloud technology will soon offer U.S. terminal makers, particularly in mid-level markets, a low cost EMV solution. He said he expects to see more midsize players, many from Asia, offering more EMV compliant terminal choices soon. "Major terminal manufacturers will have their solutions," he said. "The software library will offer the smaller, more competitive manufacturers an easier way to get to compliance."

Gumbley noted the first EMV compliance deadline is for processors and acquirers and is only 18 months away. Retailers have until 2015 to become EMV compliant. He believes the EMV software library will help providers to develop the solutions retailers will need.

Gumbley recalled when EMV was introduced in Europe solution providers fell into two categories: progressive companies that built solutions with an eye for the future and companies that could only see the next line of products. CreditCall was able help both, he said.

According to Gumbley, CreditCall's decision to offer EMV technology in the cloud is a sensible alternative to EMV solutions on terminals because it is less expensive, more forgiving solution. He noted that as terminals increase functionality, they also increase in cost due to the increasing complexity; a cloud-centric solution takes the cost and complexity away from the terminal. For instance, when software updates are required the company can make changes to all terminals at once in the cloud instead of relying on each individual terminal to find the update and implement it correctly.

"Also, it allows the opportunity to put other services in the cloud along with the EMV," Gumbley said. "There are lots of exciting opportunities for using terminals to interface with the cloud."

Ingenico releases EMV-ready terminal

Further proof EMV is beginning to take hold in the payments market came when terminal and payment solutions provider Ingenico reported Nov. 5, 2012, that it is partnering with one of the largest merchant services providers in the U.S., Elavon Inc., to introduce the new Telium 2 series countertop and wireless terminals in the United States.

The terminal offers payment and value-added services on a platform that supports EMV, contactless and near field communication technologies. Elavon is also offering remote terminal management and support capabilities for Telium installations in the United States.

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