NORWALK, Conn. - Ventus Networks has signed a five-year contract with Union Square Federal Credit Union to provide a new cellular transport service designed for ATMs and other transactional devices.
The arrangement includes wireless connectivity, network monitoring and maintenance for a network of Texas ATMs. Union Square Federal Credit Union is the first financial institution in North America to convert its ATM network to cellular.
"The cellular solution gives us much more bandwidth than the analog solution we've been using, and allows us to experiment with placement or move an ATM to another location without disrupting communications," said Susan Starr, ATM administrator for the USFCU. "It's easy to add ATMs to our network, and going wireless means that our installation and operating costs are much lower."
Ventus Networks' high-speed cellular transport solution works in conjunction with TCP/IP and legacy protocols, enabling any remote device to communicate through a single network scheme. Cellular transport operates over a private cellular (800 MHz) and PCS (1900 MHz) infrastructure.
Ventus utilizes its own proprietary VFN wireless series routers, enabling operation in all GSM and CDMA2000 environments. The VFN routers operate as part of a virtual private network, and data transport is protected by firewalls. Monitored at Ventus' Operations Center, the network allows for seamless transaction routing between device and host processor.
"This is exactly the kind of solution we think deployers of off-premise ATMs need," said Ron Riva, vice president of Ventus Networks. "The technology is available, and reliable, so we're glad that institutions like Union Square Federal Credit Union are beginning to recognize the benefits."
