Cayan hosts third annual Hackathon

Cayan, a technology company headquartered in Boston, launched its third annual Hackathon March 22, 2016. Company insiders expect the three-day event to unleash an array of engineering creativity as teams compete for awards and recognition.

"In years past, the Hackathon has led to important advances in our technology," said Henry Helgeson, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Cayan. "Hackathons put the power back into the hands of our talented technology team."

Dominic Lachowicz, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Cayan, added, "This three-day adventure for our developers gives them a chance to get together, think creatively and throw some wacky ideas at the wall. Part of our core belief is that code is our currency; it's embedded in everything we do and directly impacts our success."

Hacking: It's 'Genius'

Throughout the event, Cayan's engineers will code, build and "hack," developing prototypical solutions at an accelerated pace. Contestants will present their solutions in a showcase held at the end of the Hackathon, at which time company representatives will cast their votes for the most innovative project.

Cayan pointed out that previous Hackathons have brought significant contributions to Cayan, particularly for its signature Genius platform, a scalable, configurable processing solution designed to adapt to the ever-changing payments environment. "We've taken numerous projects from idea to proof of concept, including developing a universal API that supports any type of card reader, which has been a boon to our partners and vendors," Lachowicz said. "Enhancements to our Genius platform, such as the Store and Forward feature, were initially developed at the Hackathon."

Lachowicz further noted a Genius product that runs video on top of Verifone POS was created in a span of two days as developers created screen savers and pull displays that can show up on idle screens and at various intervals throughout a payment transaction. "Genius allows us to deploy leading edge solutions across the entire merchant spectrum, from leading retailers to mom-and-pops, and bring polish and high-end features at a price point that makes sense."

A culture of innovation

Helgeson called the Hackathon an example of Cayan's culture of creativity, innovation and talent. Up to 40 teams in company offices from Boston and Belfast will compete on the company's stage for new ways to move Cayan and industry forward.

"It will be exciting to see what the teams will bring to bear," Lachowicz added.

Editorial Note:

Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.

Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact information, links and other details may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.