Just in case you did not get all your questions answered in the last GSQ, the following will provide some more information on the advancements that Hypercom is making on its ICE family of products. Hypercom has released a new product, the ICE-PAC™ Customization System, a graphics printer and display screen customization system enhancement to the Hypercom® Interactive Customer Environment (ICE) family of products.
The ICE-PAC is designed for merchants, processors, and merchant acquirers that want to create custom promotions on their ICE 5000 systems. ICE-PAC system options include:
According to George Wallner, chairman and chief technologist. "For example, while a financial transaction is being sent, a screen displaying information about a sale in the store could be presented. By advertising company logos and other targeted messages, merchants can use what would be idle time on the terminal to communicate with their customers."
The ICE-PAC system can be used by processors to build screens for their merchants, or processors may give their merchants this capability. For example, users can deploy the same advertising screens across some or all stores in an enterprise.
The mail feature can also be used to send internal messages, such as informing some or all stores of upcoming training or sales programs, to usersí remote staff. When the ICE-PAC system is coupled with Hypercomís Ascendent™ transaction software, the screen can also be used as a signature capture pad or to support loyalty programs.
The ICE 5000 POS terminal incorporates a high-speed thermal printer and paper cutter, and Hypercomís FastPOS 9600 bits per second (bps) modem. Payments are processed by the user, who selects the transaction type on the graphic touch screen, swipes the card, enters the amount, then enters a PIN number or signs on the screen graphic using a plastic stylus. Both the ICE 5000 and ICE-PAC systems are available now.
You may or may not be aware of Hypercomís Tejas software kit for developing point-of-sale applications. The Tejas software allows programmers to modify Hypercomís base applications easier and faster because it provides value-added resellers and third-party developers with a C-based gateway to create custom applications to run on the Hypercom® terminal platform.
George Devitt, senior vice president, global marketing, said, "By making our software architecture accessible on the popular C platform, financial institutions can expand the functionality of their electronic transaction processing networks and fine-tune them to meet the demands of their own unique environment."
"By opening up our proprietary platform to third party development, we hope to increase the overall breadth and depth of features and applications running on our T7 and ICE terminals," Devitt continued.
Hypercomís Tejas includes the C Software Development Kit (SDK), a C utility library, and a basic retail and restaurant POS application. Tejas is compatible with Hypercomís ICE family, T7 series, S7 and S8 PINpads, as well as Hypercom printers.
For more information on Hypercom access www.hypercom.com or look back at the May issue of GSQ: The Payment Systems Quarterly.
