Follow-Up VeriFone Comments
The Green Sheet published interviews with Owners/Operators of nine Independent Sales Organizations in the April 15, 1996 issue, in a story entitled, "A View from the Street." Within the interviews, one ISO commented on "A significant opportunity," as he saw it, concerning the Zon Jr. XL point-of-sale terminal.
Since these interviews went to press, we have received the following comments from the street, and from the parties involved:
Bob Miller
The following letter was sent to The Green Sheet by Bob Miller, of California Bancard Systems: "I received the enclosed letter from VeriFone today and I'm not sure what I should do about it. Note that the letter goes to great detail to point out that the year 2000 problem is generic to the entire computer industry. Note also that they specifically describe what they have done in performing their due diligence to correct the problem in the Tranz 330 & OMINI family of terminals. They do not state that there has been a resolution to this problem in the Zon Jr. XL.
"I sincerely regret any concern or discomfort I may have caused you or The Green Sheet. My intention was never to discredit VeriFone but only to inform your readers that a problem existed that would greatly effect the marketplace in the years to come."
In addition to receiving a letter from VeriFone which read much like the letter sent to Bob Miller, The Green Sheet was asked by VeriFone to publish The following statement from VeriFone:
VeriFone:
"VeriFone, Inc., (NYSE: VFI) today confirmed that the company has been working for several years on ensuring that its terminal products will appropriately deal with dates in the year 2000 and beyond. The highly publicized year 2000 problem has been reported to affect every computer device that requires a date for operation that is provided in a two-digit format, since these devices have been coded to assume that all years begin with 19--, resulting in the year 2000 being interpreted as 1900.
"In VeriFone's terminals, software that deals with dates resides in two locations, the operating system and the application programs. Some early VeriFone operating systems did not support dates beyond the year 1999, and these early operating systems have been revised over the past few years to support dates in the year 2000 and beyond. For example, the operating system for the VeriFone TRANZ 330 (for years one of VeriFone's largest selling products) has included year 2000 compatible firmware since January 1994. More recent VeriFone designs, notably the VeriFone OMNI family of products, have always had year 2000 compatible firmware.
"In addition, for almost two years, VeriFone has proactively cooperated with its customers and service providers to ensure that new application software that resolves the year 2000 problem is available for downloading by merchants. For example, all VISA applications that had been developed by VeriFone have been modified so as to properly deal with the year 2000 problem.
"VeriFone is the world's leading manufacturer of transaction automation systems and related local and wide area networking systems and software. VeriFone stands behind its products with a full range of customer support services including application programming and consulting, training and field maintenance."
Another View From The Street:
The Green Sheet contacted Ray Assar, the owner of ITE Equipment Repair Services, a company specializing in the repair of VeriFone equipment, about the Zon Jr. XL year 2000 question. Mr. Assar noted in his opinion, there is no way to correct the year 2000 problem in the ZON Jr. XL other than by installing a new chip.
Finally, The Horizon Group, Inc., has just announced on May 31, 1996, "Horizon is the first POS Equipment distributor to offer the New Zon Jr. XL 'Year 2000 EPROM' that will let your small merchants use their XLs into the next century."
Horizon will upgrade any Zon Jr. XL with the new Chip for $19.95 if the terminal is sent to them. Horizon told The Green Sheet that the Chip (EPROM) is only sold on an installed basis. Horizon may be reached at (314) 991-6040.
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