By the time I got to Phoenix, I was wiped out.

After three days of absorbing ATM intelligence at the ATM Industry Association's Conference West in San Diego, Calif., I scarcely had enough energy to switch planes in Phoenix, the city where I had a layover on my way back to Louisville, Ky.

While a few of my friends are envious of my business trips, the novelty has largely worn off for me. As I told one pal recently: "If you've seen the inside of one Hyatt (Marriott, Westin, et al.), you've seen 'em all."

The digs at this particular conference were especially nice, however, with spectacular views of the bay outside the hotel and free-flowing Starbucks coffee throughout the event.

The major themes of the conference remained the same. A number of speakers addressed the possibilities and challenges of offering advanced transactions at ATMs. Many discussions, public and private, centered on helping ISOs comply with stricter security regulations. And a stream of ISOs interested in selling their portfolios met with potential buyers.

On the second day of the event, TRM Corporation announced it had purchased eFunds' 17,000 ATMs for $150 million. Though the price tag was too high in the opinion of many conference attendees, Royal Bank of Scotland recently paid a reported 80 million for the former Hanco ATM Systems portfolio, just 4,500 machines, in the United Kingdom. The news of that transaction, which had slipped under this editor's radar, left many pining for the days of fewer ATMs per capita in the United States.

Keynote speaker Sam Ditzion of Tremont Capital Corporation believes that much of the future growth of the ATM industry in the United States will come from acquisition. Several potentially hot trends,

Dan Palczynski of NCR spoke with attendees at ATMIA West.

including participation in surcharge-free networks and offering deposit services at the ATM in the wake of Check 21, will favor deployers with large networks, he said.

Ditzion also thinks that the pending Triple DES upgrade may eliminate "at least a few thousand ATMs out there today" because low transaction volumes will make it difficult to justify upgrading or replacing those machines.

Although I agree with him, some may be replaced by new lower-priced ATMs. There appears to be a thriving market for these machines - as evidenced by the strong sales of models like WRG's Genesis. WRG has sold more than 2,000 of the machines since its November introduction and may reach 3,000 by year's end, according to WRG President Mike Stevenson.

Other interesting items from the event

The first Waves: Anita Nobles Arguelles, Triton's marketing director, noted that just 25 percent of all ATM cardholders support retail ATMs, with the majority of them between the ages of 15 and 35. Another 25 percent of the population is "unbanked." Both demographics are a key target for deployers trying to offer new transactions - the youth because of their apparent love of self-service technology and the unbanked because of their willingness to pay a premium for financial services such as money orders and check cashing.

Of the 60,000 or so Triton ATMs currently in the field, about 1,000 have the capability of offering Triton's Waves, a program of value-added transactions that currently includes Cashworks check cashing, Western Union money transfers and PaySpot prepaid phone top-ups. Triton expects to ship another 13,000 ATMs with the capability this year, Arguelles said. Anecdotally, few of the Triton distributors I spoke with at the conference now offer Waves.

Arguelles said that Triton expects quicker uptake of some transactions, such as prepaid top-ups, in markets like the UK and Canada. Perhaps not coincidentally, Triton has its own transaction processor, Calypso, in both of those countries.

Though she didn't share specific transaction numbers, Arguelles said that money transfer has shown early strength, perhaps because of Western Union's strong brand recognition with consumers.

FI, phone home: James Anderson, vice president of Payment Services for bcgi, said his company will roll out prepaid phone top-ups with its first financial institution client in either fourth quarter 2004 or first quarter 2005.

After 18 months of offering top-ups at ATMs managed by E*Trade Access and other ISOs, Anderson said ISOs' relative lack of branding and high-profile locations makes it difficult to mass market the service. That may change when it becomes possible to say "Top up your phone at any Bank X ATM." The company earlier this year established partnerships with both ACI Worldwide and Mosaic Software to help it win bank business.

Time for a change: Mike Bengtson, vice president of Channel Management for Mosaic Software, said there is a churn in the base of installed ATMs underway, with top-tier and mid-tier FIs replacing ATMs at a fairly rapid clip and smaller FIs beginning to follow suit.

"You can only retrofit for so long," he said, noting that IBM is expected to discontinue support for OS/2 in 2006. Few if any device drivers continue to run on OS2. In addition, vendors have introduced software designed only for use with Microsoft Windows-based ATMs.

Not so fast: Peter Kulik, EFT product manager at Fifth Third Bank, said that roughly 10 percent of Fifth Third's ATMs will likely be operating on Windows by the end of 2004. The FI's replacement ATMs will run Windows, but upgraded ATMs will remain on OS/2.

Lock, stock and PDA: La Gard showcased its Navigator, a Web-based security management system that centralizes control of ATMs, kiosks and similar containers. A smart phone or a PDA with Wi-Fi capability loaded with Navigator software eliminates the need for keys to access the box.

It's one solution for a common problem. "Local managers are notorious for disabling time delay and time-lock functions because they don't want to wait for the delay," Orlando Consalvi, La Gard's national product manager, told ATMmarketplace.

Put 'er there, partner: Bob Colabrese, vice president of Nationwide Money Services, said that 55 FIs, ranging in size from $20 million start-ups to $52 billion M&T Bank, now participate in Nationwide's branding program. Unlike similar programs offered by some other ISOs, Nationwide limits branding to a single FI per machine. Another twist: If the FI is willing to provide vault cash and pay for cash replenishment, it receives a cut of the ATM's surcharge revenue.

Colabrese said that FIs want high-profile ATM locations, such as the 1,200 Food Lion and 150 Kash n' Karry supermarket sites under contract with Nationwide. Earlier this year, Nationwide extended its exclusive agreement with Food Lion through 2011. Nationwide currently has ATMs at more than 700 Food Lion stores and is rolling out more, Colabrese said.

Price sensitivity: Scott Holt, product manager of Self-Service Terminal Products for Tranax Technologies, said that during beta tests of Tranax's new self-service terminal, Tranax discovered that retailers and other potential owners of self-service terminals didn't want to pay much more for a multi-functional terminal than they would for a standard ATM. They also wanted an all-inclusive price package, rather than paying more for software license fees and other add-ons.

Tranax hopes to introduce the new terminal, equipped for such functions as ticketing and check cashing, by year's end.

TTW is HOT: The through-the-wall category of ATMs continues to look lively. Tranax just began shipping the new 2100T, a through-the-wall unit designed for retail locations. The rear-loading machine features an optional rear diagnostics panel and sunlight-viewable monitor.

Bill Dunn, Tranax's sales director, expects sales of the new machine to rapidly overtake the smaller NanoCash in popularity. "The NanoCash isn't going to go away, but this model may replace as much as 80 percent of the Nano's sales," he said.

The screening room: Hamed Shahbazi, the wunderkind CEO of kiosk software developer Info Touch Technologies, said his company does not rely solely on the screens of its kiosks at Circle K stores and other retail locations to attract users. Info Touch positions a second screen near the till to promote kiosk usage. Info Touch has 175 kiosks in Circle K, and some 70 kiosks in Exxon Mobil and Mac's C-store/gas stations.

Signage company Graphics Systems in its booth showcased a line of six "dynamic messengers," screens in sizes ranging from 7.5 inches to 17.5 inches that could be positioned atop ATMs or elsewhere. Several presenters floated the idea of using such toppers to boost customer awareness of transactions not typically offered at ATMs. The screens were priced from $650 to $1,000, with the higher-end models featuring networking and remote management capabilities.

Look Ma, no wires: Wireless telecommunications, specifically the emerging Code Division Multiple Access technology, is getting lots of buzz. John Willmon, vice president of business development at transaction processor Columbus Data Services, said early adopter CDS has about 200 machines currently running on wireless.

During the conference, Genpass Technologies announced it had certified Lipman USA's Nurit 6000 ATM on wireless, working with partner Ventus Networks. Diebold has also partnered with Ventus to offer wireless telecommunications to deployers.

Wireless provides an affordable way of achieving an IP connection - a key to the higher bandwidth needed for some new transactions - and is faster and less expensive than dial-up. The lack of a landline means faster installations and simple relocations.

Triton's Arguelles said her company plans to negotiate with Verizon and other carriers for favorable rates based on volume. Triton distributors can then sell telecom to merchants for a rate somewhere in between the actual wireless cost and the higher dial-up charges for an added revenue stream.

Triton representatives exhibit their wares at ATMIA West.

A Canadian company called Boomerang Tracking Corporation, with a newly established U.S. office in California, sells a tracking device that uses wireless GSM telecommunications to recover stolen ATMs.

Company representative Al Thomsen said Boomerang has used the technology to recover 3,500 stolen vehicles since 1996. A key advantage of Boomerang's device over similar products, Thomsen said, is that it works in containers and underground.

The device, which is about the size of a small brick, sends a signal to Boomerang's 24-hour operations center in Montreal when it senses movement. A team is dispatched to locate and monitor the ATM; the ATM owner and local authorities are notified as well. Thomsen said the device costs about $450.

Wireless was one of five factors mentioned by ATMIA CEO Mike Lee as a sign that the ATM industry is entering a new era. The others were: Microsoft Windows-based ATMs, more alignment between Visa and MasterCard on their operating policies and procedures, more personalized ATM transactions and re-energized deposit taking.

Speaking of increased alignment: Representatives from Visa International and MasterCard International discussed the companies' plans to establish a single set of requirements and a single evaluation process for ATM PIN entry device testing.

The companies earlier this year successfully aligned their requirements for point-of-sale devices and plan to make a similar program for ATMs available in 2005. Though no decision has been made on compliance dates, the deadline will likely be in late 2005 or early 2006.

The aim is to make it easier on ATM vendors and Visa and MasterCard members to comply with security regulations. "It does no good to have requirements if people have difficulty meeting them," said Leon Fell, director of PIN security for Visa.

Bill Poletti, a senior technical consultant with MasterCard International, said the companies will likely explore future opportunities for alignment and cross-recognition. "We realize it may be frustrating for members to undergo a review by MasterCard on May 1, and then have Visa coming in the door on May 15."

Mark your calendars: "ATMs in the Americas," ATMIA's annual Conference East, is scheduled for Feb. 14-16 at Miami's Fontainebleau Hilton Resort. Based on the dates, I wonder if ATMIA will offer some kind of a special "romance package" for those attending with their mates? Most of us are probably too "in love with ATMs."

Of special interest: According to Lana Harmelink, ATMIA's director of operations, Visa plans to offer a PIN security workshop for Conference East attendees. Bill Poletti, a senior technical consultant with MasterCard International, indicated that MasterCard is interested in a similar opportunity at 2005's Conference West.

Information for this story was also gathered by James McGill.