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Give the Gift That Keeps on Giving

P roving the old adage that it is always better to give than receive, two powerhouses in the payment processing industry have come together to offer an integrated gift card solution.

Paymentech, a provider of electronic payment solutions, and MICROS Systems Inc., a provider of POS technology for the hospitality industry, recently announced their collaboration. Paymentech has developed drivers for the MICROS 3700 Point-of-Sale and 8700 Hospitality Management Systems, allowing merchants to accept and process Paymentech Gift Cards.

Through this alliance, Paymentech will provide credit card and gift card consultants to MICROS clients to help identify solutions and add value by analyzing merchant statements, provide credit card and gift card pricing, and answer industry-related questions.

Paymentech's gift card program includes card design and production, POS transaction processing and merchant reporting. This program expands the market for proprietary stored-value cards by enabling restaurants to brand and launch their own gift cards. Paymentech Gift Card services encompass customized plastic, transaction processing, specialized reporting, help desk support and database maintenance.

"This solution will allow our customers to implement a full-function gift card program by leveraging their existing investment in the MICROS product," says Greg Schaub, Group Manager, Business Development for Paymentech.

According to Schaub, Paymentech is always searching for ways to deliver new products to merchants without forcing them into expensive investments in additional equipment. Paymentech's goal is to enable merchants to eliminate costly stand-beside systems and extra equipment used with other gift card programs, thus simplifying implementation and reducing merchants' initial investment.

"As customers seek to further their customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives, solutions such as integrated gift cards provide an inexpensive mechanism for restaurateurs to enhance their dining relationship with their guests," said Ed Rothenberg, Vice President, MICROS Restaurant Business Development.

"Additionally, integrated gift cards provide a cost-saving replacement for traditional paper gift certificates. By integrating our POS Systems with the Paymentech Gift Card Solution, MICROS further enhances its restaurant product offering and enables its customers to be more competitive in their target markets."

How do Paymentech gift cards work? Paymentech clients select a card design, customizing the card with their name, logo and artwork. Restaurants can choose from different strategies on how to run their programs.

Gift cards can be pre-denominated with a specific amount on the card's face. They can also be non-denominated to enable merchants, from the POS terminal, to add value to an account when it is sold to a customer. Value can be added to and deducted from a gift card at each use.

To integrate card issuance and acceptance through its POS network, Paymentech has partnered with leading gift and loyalty card providers. Merchants also will have the ability in the future to add loyalty programs and electronic coupons to their POS payment systems.

As with credit card authorizations, gift card transactions are handled online, providing greater data integrity. The addition of gift card programs to existing POS terminals or systems delivers greater convenience and speed and reduces training.

Administration of the electronic Paymentech Gift Card program requires few resources. Gift card accounts and transactions are stored in a central database. Internet reporting is available to the merchant for tracking transaction activity and outstanding liabilities. Store level reports are available from the POS device to assist in daily reconciliation and monitoring of transactions.

MICROS Systems provides enterprise applications for the hospitality industry worldwide. More than 120,000 MICROS systems have been installed in table- and quick-service restaurants, hotels, motels, casinos and leisure and entertainment operations in more than 130 countries.

MICROS Systems provides property-management systems and central-reservation and customer-information solutions under the brand MICROS-Fidelio for more than 10,000 hotels worldwide. MICROS's stock is traded through NASDAQ under the symbol MCRS.

Dallas-based Paymentech delivers electronic payment services in merchant acquiring and point-of-sale transaction processing with a wide array of product functionality and support. Paymentech processed approximately 3.4 billion transactions and $109 billion in bankcard sales volume in 2000.

For more information, visit www.paymentech.com or go to www.micros.com.