MultiPort Kit

THALES e-TRANSACTIONS

Merchants and their customers are increasingly concerned about the security of credit and debit transactions at the point-of-sale. As incidents of identity theft - including card skimming - become more prevalent, equipment manufacturers and service providers are coming up with new and better solutions to combat this serious problem.

Thales e-Transactions, Inc. has introduced the MultiPort Kit, a multiterminal point-of-sale solution for merchants with only one phone line. The kit provides merchants with the ability to give customers a safer way to pay by processing multiple transactions through one line.

The MultiPort Kit offers merchants a complete package of point-of-sale equipment. The kit includes up to four Artema Portable handsets, a base for the handsets that also works as a battery charger and a license for the MultiPort software, which allows multiple Artema Portables to access a single phone line at once.

The Artema Portable, introduced by Thales in 2001, is a handheld payment device that works like a 900 MHz cordless phone. The device fits in the palm of your hand, and the base, with a 32-bit RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) processor, works to transfer the actual connection through the phone line. The base uses an electrical outlet and a phone's landline.

Thales' solution is especially beneficial to restaurants, where customers give up possession of their credit cards when it's time to pay for the meal.

"Although many different kinds of merchants will derive benefit from a properly sized Artema MultiPort Kit, we see restaurants as gaining special benefits," said Fred Silverman, CEO of Thales' North American POS operations. He said the numbers of trips waiters make to the payment terminal are reduced, and customers never lose sight of their cards.

Some of the features of the Artema Portable device include a scrolling menu, a secure integrated PIN pad, a thermal printer with the ability to print high-resolution custom logos on the receipt, an optional standard smart card reader and a backlit screen.

Thales' offers MultiPort Kits for processing credit cards and for PIN-based debit cards.

Thales e-Transactions, Inc. 53 Perimeter Center East Suite 175 Atlanta, Georgia 30346 Phone: 770-393-2311 Fax: 770-393-2177 www.thales-e-trans.com