Product: STAR Systems service
Company: First Data Corp.'s STAR Systems

ATM owners and deployers in the United States now have a way to customize and manage their machines-remotely. First Data Corp. subsidiary STAR Systems has introduced its remote content management service, making it the first and only ATM processor to offer remote ATM capabilities in the country.

The STAR service allows owners and deployers to customize content and graphics displays on demand in real time; install software upgrades and patches; distribute audio files and reboot or shut down terminals from a single-server location. Operators can make much better use of their ATMs as communications tools.

Other features of STAR's on-demand management service include the ability to pull reports directly from the ATM to provide information on installed versions of hardware and software, marketing campaigns and content delivery. ATMs will continue conducting transactions while new content is delivered.

The new STAR service interfaces with its management portal, STAR STATION, so that ATM operators can securely alter screen content on schedule or on-the-fly.

The advantages the service offers include optimizing consumer convenience and reducing expenses by eliminating the need to dispatch technicians semi-monthly to load graphics and security patches, which costs an average of $6500 annually per ATM.

The service builds on the on-demand solutions from Computer Associates International, Inc. and is compatible with Windows-based machines from any ATM manufacturer. The STAR service is currently running on 200 PNC ATMs deployed at Wawa stores in the Mid-Atlantic region and Thorntons Inc. stores in New England and the Midwest.

STAR Systems
www.STAR.com