What's down time to one ATM deployer isn't necessarily so to another.

With no industry standard, deployers must establish their own criteria for ATM availability. Some consider an ATM down when a depository is out of service, while others do not. Unbelievably, not all define an ATM as down when it's out of cash.

Multiple definitions of down time surfaced at the recent annual Gasper Corporation user's conference in San Diego. Not surprisingly, the lack of common standards makes it difficult for deployers to compare their network's performance to others.

"When we started talking about down time among the different processors, financial institutions and ISOs, it was like comparing apples to oranges," said Gasper Corporation President and CEO Dave Gasper.

"Everybody measures ATM availability uniquely," agreed Phil Spofford, president of the Gasper users' group and a vice president at Fleet Financial. "There's no barometer to determine where you stand."

Gasper users have asked the Dayton, Ohio-based maker of ATM monitoring and management software to help them create a common methodology for ATM availability. The idea, Gasper said, is for his company to collect data based on the monthly reports of participating users, then create a common report based on the data so that users can compare the performance of their ATM networks with others.

Spofford believes a standard would be valuable on several fronts, including setting internal goals and providing leverage with vendors. "If you had an industry average for large banks and small banks, at least as it relates to Gasper users, you could build that into your service agreements," he said.

Gasper's reports will track some of the most common reasons for down time, including hardware problems, cash or supply outages and host or switch failures. Each participant will see its ranking as it compares to the group, although identities of users will be concealed.

Names of vendors and makes and models of machines won't be revealed either, at least at first.

"There's some concern that the deeper we go with the data, the easier it might become to identify financial institutions," Gasper said. "We're going to go slow. We want our users to be comfortable that the data will be protected and confidential."

Spofford, for one, hopes to eventually see more data. "It would be desirable to make comparisons between an NCR Personas 75 and a like Diebold machine, for example," he said.

A "best in class" category – again, with company identities concealed -- will give users something to shoot for, Gasper said. "What customers have told us that they want is to know what is average and what is possible. Many of our customers want to be best in class and at least prove to their management that they are near best in class."

Gasper plans to make these reports available to all users of Gasper Manager software, about 100 at last count. They will pay a small fee to cover the administrative costs of producing and distributing the additional reports.

Spofford said that a template has been developed and will be reviewed by the 12-member Gasper users' board of directors next month. Gasper hopes to launch the program this summer.

Ultimately, Spofford said, end users of ATMs will benefit from enhanced availability.

"As financial institutions continue to reduce the teller line and move their customers out of the brick-and-mortar facility and to ATMs, it will be more important than ever to keep them up and running," he said. "We need to do whatever we can to make that happen."