apidly evolving technology is increasingly making this a wireless world. We're seeing new advancements in wireless technology, which is progressively becoming a sensible choice for many merchants.

Wireless terminals enable merchants to accept payments anywhere, securely and at a lower cost. Currently, there are tens of thousands of merchants using wireless point-of-sale solutions in the United States, and spotty network coverage is no longer a major hindrance for wireless transactions.

Today, processing transactions over wireless networks is faster than processing transactions using landlines; portability is also becoming more attractive to many service related industries.

The benefits of wireless processing include transaction times of around three to five seconds combined with speedy thermal printers that generate customer receipts in an instant.

Wireless technology can help save your merchants money on processing by allowing them to pay the swiped retail rate while out in the field, which will help eliminate chargebacks resulting from bad cards and hand-keyed transactions.

This article highlights some of the industry's best wireless options currently available for ISOs and merchant level salespeople (MLSs) to sell.

Lipman NURIT

The Lipman NURIT 3010 has long been one of the industry's most reliable and cost-effective wireless credit card processing equipment. In fact, for many years it was the only wireless unit that we at Electronic Exchange Systems (EXS) would recommend to our ISO/MLS sales channel.

The NURIT 3010 is a terminal designed to handle transaction processing in mobile locations such as in stadiums, concession stands and outdoor events. It's compact and easy to operate.

The product supports credit, debit, check and draft capture; it also accepts all magnetic stripe and smart cards including loyalty and gift cards. The terminal includes a built-in thermal printer; an internal PIN pad can also be added.

Because this is a Lipman product, the NURIT 3010 also supports your merchants' need to stay organized, keep track of transactions and generate a multitude of reports that can be customized to help manage merchants' individual business needs.

The NURIT 8000 is Lipman's wireless handheld or "palmtop" solution. With a backlit keyboard and large graphical backlit display, it's easy to read in the dark, and comes with optional touch-screen interface and signature-capture ability.

The NURIT 8000 is ideal for restaurants, limousine and taxi services and practically any type of mobile vendor that needs a lightweight, terminal that fits in the palm of a hand.

Like the 3010, it handles multiple payment types; however, the 8000 supports additional third-party applications such as address book and notepad, plus messaging capabilities.

These Lipman wireless terminals go beyond simply processing payment transactions by integrating business features and powerful reconciliation reporting capabilities.

Comstar Interactive Corp.

Comstar Interactive's wireless credit card solution, CHARGE ANYwhere, is one of the smallest and most cost-effective wireless credit card terminals available.

CHARGE ANYwhere combines a compact handheld wireless magnetic card reader (built on the Blackberry pager device) with Comstar's Transaction Manager service, a Web-based database and reporting system, and e-mail capabilities.

Some of the biggest benefits that Comstar offers are the industry-specific software packages that can be customized to merchants' individual business needs. Currently the company offers solutions for the taxi, limousine, towing, retail and restaurant industries.

These industry specific solutions allow you to target potential customers and sell them on the value of the solution rather than on price alone. Comstar will even create a customized solution for your merchant, if the opportunity is large enough.

You can add the recommended AMS Pocket Printer to the CHARGE ANYwhere solution, and you'll have a complete transaction system that allows you to accept credit cards wirelessly and print high quality thermal receipts on the spot.

The CHARGE ANYwhere wireless solution runs on nationwide Cingular Wireless Mobitex and Motient networks.

WAY Systems

WAY Systems' mobile phone POS solution targets the untapped market of millions of potential merchants looking for a compact mobile credit card processing solution.

These merchants seek a low-cost solution that will enable them to process transactions quickly and securely from practically anywhere in the world.

WAY Systems' Mobile Transaction Terminal (MTT) package comes complete with POS terminal hardware, a compact infrared thermal printer, secure wireless transaction processing gateway and general packet radio service (GPRS) wireless network data service.

The GPRS network leverages the low cost infrastructure of the mobile telephone and will help MTT merchants gain better wireless access and process in areas where previously wireless services were not available.

WAY Systems is currently deploying its end-to-end solution in the United States and China and distributes its mobile POS solution to select payment service providers and processors all around the world. The company strives to become one of the first global providers of mobile transaction products and services.

With all of the wireless products and services now available to payment processing sales agents, you can select the products that best meet the needs of individual merchants.

As wireless terminals become smaller and more powerful, this means new sales opportunities for you, MLSs. Work with your processor to find out what solutions are available and ask for training and support from the vendors.

You'll often find that they are more than willing to get you the training and sales support that you need to close the deal.

Peter Scharnell is Vice President Product Development for Electronic Exchange Systems (EXS), a national provider of merchant processing solutions and a registered ISO/MSP for HSBC Bank USA, National Association. Founded in 1991, EXS offers ISO partner programs, innovative pricing, a complete product line, monthly phone/Web training, quarterly seminars and, most of all, credibility. For more information, visit www.exsprocessing.com or e-mail Peter at peter.scharnell@exsprocessing.com.