Product category:
Networking Hardware
News Release from: Alpha Micro Components | Subject: NetPort
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 21 July 2005
Plug-and-play adapter aids credit card
conversion
The NetPort "plug-and-play" serial-to-Ethernet cable adapter enables any device or machine with a serial port to become network and Internet-enabled in an instant.
January 2005 saw the implementation of Europay, MasterCard and Visa's (EMV) standards for all credit card transactions As a result chip and PIN technology is now required as a means to authorise payment card transactions, rather than using a card's magnetic strip along with the card holder's signature to verify the sale
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 24 Nov 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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With credit card fraud on the increase, this change is helping to make credit card transactions more secure, reducing fraud whilst also considerably speeding up transaction times for the retailer.
Moving from the traditional magnetic stripped swipe card to chip and PIN seems a small step for the consumer, but for banks, credit card companies, merchants and retailers, this is a huge operation requiring a major upgrade of the existing electronic payment infrastructure.
Irish card payment processing solutions provider euroConex, required a solution which would enable it to seamlessly integrate Ingenico 3300 PIN pads to process transactions with existing POS equipment and its back-office infrastructure.
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As a specialist in this field, euroConex's expertise lies in its ability to create back-office software solutions to facilitate the effective running of any retail outlet.
Consequently, the company needed to work with a partner who could provide the hardware expertise required to add connectivity for the PIN pads.
The main aim of the project was to integrate, manage and utilise the new Ingenico chip and PIN keypads with existing technology.
This meant making the data collected by the PIN pads accessible to the POS terminal via a wide area network, using Ethernet as the medium.
Due to the nature of the chip and PIN pads used by euroConex's existing systems, any solution needed to be self powered and connect to the pads through an RS232 port.
With a background in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, Alpha Micro has a number of years of experience in producing turnkey solutions to meet the needs of their customers.
With teams based in Ireland and the UK, Alpha Micro was ideally placed to take on the project and offer technical support throughout.
A leading force in the field of M2M applications, Alpha Micro has implemented solutions for companies in a number of industries, from automotive to telemetry.
In recent years, with the falling cost of connectivity, the POS market has been quick to see the potential applications for these new technologies and the benefits that they bring.
Having previously worked with some of the leaders in the POS field, Alpha Micro has a strong understanding on the needs of this particular industry, making the euroConex and Alpha Micro partnership a great strategic fit.
Due to the impending EMV deadline, implementing an Ethernet solution at board level would not have been suitable due to the time needed to have the PIN pads redesigned and re-approved.
The solution therefore needed to connect to the device externally through its existing serial port to avoid the need for this requalification process.
Attention turned to Alpha Micro's existing product NetPort, a "plug-and-play" serial-to-Ethernet cable adapter that enables any device or machine with a serial port to become network and Internet-enabled in an instant.
NetPort, which uses XPort from Lantronix, is targeted primarily at system builders and OEMs who want to integrate Ethernet connectivity into their product designs without adding to the cost or time to market, as well as organisations who want to upgrade their legacy systems without replacing the entire IT infrastructure.
As Ethernet is commonly used within retail operations, the device was the perfect solution to connect the PIN pads to the back-office electronic payment infrastructure.
Christos Papakyriacou, Managing Director, Alpha Micro Components, comments: "Alpha Micro's skill is in taking key components from our range of franchised distributors and turning them into workable products".
"With the market for M2M applications growing at an exponential rate, many organisations who wish to experiment with the benefits that emerging technology can bring, find that they cannot, as they lack the technical expertise to integrate the technology into their IT infrastructure".
"We take all the hard work out of designing solutions and can supply a fully functional piece of kit which can easy easily be incorporated to any existing system rather than simply handing over a bag of components".
However, the solution required more ingenuity of behalf of Alpha Micro than simply using a plug-and-play device.
As the PIN pads had to be self powering, Alpha Micro needed to design a bespoke cable adapter to power both the NetPort device and the PIN pad, allowing both pieces of equipment to communicate with each other.
To accelerate the installation time for euroConex's customers, Alpha Micro preprogrammed euroConex's bespoke configuration into NetPort at its UK factory, creating a kit that could be relied on to run "straight out of the box".
Once again, NetPort proved that it really is "plug and play" technology.
Since completing the project, Alpha Micro's NetPort has enabled nearly 2000 of euroConex's customers to integrate chip and PIN technology into their existing point of sale systems.
NetPort is bringing even greater efficiencies to retail businesses as chip and PIN is incorporated into centrally managed services.
Vivian Galligan, Sales Manager for Integrated Solutions, euroConex Technologies, concludes: "Once our internal trials had taken place we worked with the Alpha Micro technical team to refine the configuration for optimum performance".
"This created a true turnkey product that we could deliver to customers to get them connected with minimal on-site training".
"The project was managed commercially by Alpha Micro's Irish team and with the support of the engineering group in Hampshire we got exactly what we needed, allowing euroConex to focus on our back-office integration expertise".
"Following the success of this project we look forward to working with Alpha Micro in future projects to help bring even greater back-office functionality to our customers".
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