I was wiped by the time I got to Palm Springs, Calif. Nine hours of flying and layovers left me yearning for a mocha latte. After rounding the corner toward baggage claim, my quest for the nearest Starbucks quickly took priority.

But the urge soon passed.

Palm Springs and its surrounding areas are known for their scenery. (Photograph by Tracy Kitten.)

Once I hit the connecting corridor, an open-air atrium, I realized where I was - an oasis nestled in the mountains at the foot of Mount San Jacinto. I'd been invited to visit this so-called "playground of the stars" to hit Palm Desert National Bank's annual partner conference - a who's who gathering of the ATM industry.

For four days, PDNB wined and dined its guests, even treating them to the bank's suite at Indian Wells for the Pacific Life Open.

But beyond the fun and flair, PDNB's venue offered the 50 or so partner companies it invited a chance to talk shop - namely new ways to market products and services in an ever-competitive marketplace. PDNB itself provides cash services, including its Trakker Cash Management software, for the ATM and kiosk industry.

"This conference has evolved over the years," Sandra Hartfield, president and chief executive of PDNB Electronic Banking Solutions, candidly told me. "It's more diverse this year, as far as the companies, because we are working with so many different products."

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Cards take center stage

One program to which PDNB pays special attention is debit. Often a behind-the-scenes player, PDNB is taking a lead role in spear-heading the prepaid debit-card effort.

"We see ourselves as being a sponsor for the card programs, and this is going to be a bigger part of our business," Hartfield said during a break at the tennis tourney. "Cash and cash management will always be our core business, but we are looking to explore new opportunities."

PDNB's Jim Tingey and Liz Nutting are heading the card effort. With $300 million in assets and $30.4 million in sales, the bank has sponsored prepaid programs through Atlanta-based RBS Lynk Inc. since 1999. But over the last two years, PDNB's focus has shifted.

Nutting told me Friday, over lunch and a smoothie, that PDNB wants "to reach out to the ISO community to issue prepaid cards, in an effort to branch out to that market."

Why prepaid?

Similar to efforts launched with Portland, Ore.-based financial solutions provider Vero Inc., the outside-the-box financial institution is working to identify and capture a market stronghold in diversified products that cater not only to underbanked segments but fill a void in the financial services space.

In fact, Tingey expects the overall debit and prepaid market to grow between 100 percent and 150 percent over the next 12 to18 months.

"I think the industry as a whole is just scratching the surface with prepaid products," Nutting said, in between bites at the corner cafe. "By focusing only on the underbanked, you miss a lot of opportunity for some prepaid products that cater to the already banked. The banks are the ones that already understand these cards and how to use them, and to ignore them is one-sighted."

Tony Brigmon, "Ambassador of Fun," kicked off Thursday's sessions at Indian Wells. (Photograph by Tracy Kitten.)

"We're working with about a dozen ISOs at this point, but we get calls every week from people who are interested in learning more," she added.

Payroll and healthcare comprise one prepaid avenue. Gift cards make up another, as do dispensing and loading cards at a kiosk or multifunction ATM.

PDNB is working with MasterCard on a prepaid program now and is in discussions with both Visa and Discover for a similar offering.

"We see our expertise in ATMs and vault cash as a way to help with kiosk deployments … and the cards we have out there are more than just ATM cards," Nutting said.

The industry is changing.

"I really do think that a multifunctional ATM is going to be the future," Hartfield enthusiastically told attendees Thursday morning during a presentation at Indian Wells - the country club catering the tennis crowd. "We want to trade our ATMs in the branch to multifunctional ATMs, and we plan to do that in the next year. We want to offer everything from check-imaging to check-cashing, wire transfer and money order to bill-pay."

On the self-service check-cashing side, PDNB expects to expand the program it launched with Vero at one of its branches last year. On the multifunction side, PDNB is working with a variety of companies.

PDNB's Liz Nutting and Fiserv's Mike Williams at PDNB's suite at Indian Wells during the Pacific Life Open tennis tourney. (Photograph by Tracy Kitten.)

Enter Hamed Shahbazi, the chairman and chief executive of Burnaby, British Columbia-based Info Touch Technologies Corp., another PDNB collaborator.

I caught up with Shahbazi at one of PDNB's evening receptions. His company recently announced a deal with Houston-based Cardtronics Inc. to launch a hybrid ATM this spring. As Shahbazi sat down to take a break from the frenzy of networking, he echoed Hartfield's sentiment about diversification. (Read also, Cardtronics, Info Touch announce hybrid ATM.)

The deal with Cardtronics includes 40 Tidel (now Tidel EasyPoint) hybrids that Cardtronics should place with U.S. retailers, Shahbazi said. On those terminals, Info Touch is providing services like bill-payment and cash dispense, to name a couple. (Read also, A marriage made in heaven? )

But as the program between Info Touch and Cardtronics grows, Shahbazi said Tranax Technologies' multifunctional MB c4000 is expected to be the machine of choice.

"The Tranax hybrid is going to be a key new vehicle for us," he said, reaching for another slice of Brie and a cracker. "It's less than $10,000 for the multifunction terminal, which makes it attractive." (Read also, Tranax makes strategic move, strikes out on its own.)

"When you get into cash-dispense, Tranax has a lot of experience, because they know ATMs," Shahbazi said.

With companies like Circle K Stores Inc., Info Touch is branding kiosks built by Kiosk Information Systems and Tranax. The multifunction Zaplink kiosk, Circle K's brand, has been in the market since 2001.

Sitting across from Shahbazi and me in PDNB's Indian Wells suite at the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament, Circle K financial services manager Dan Stiel said Zaplink has been a huge success. With 301 units installed throughout the United States, Stiel expects Zaplink's reach to touch a significant number of the chain's 2,200 over the next several months.

PDNB's Sandra Hartfield speaks with Capt. Denny Fitch, the conference's closing speaker. Fitch, a pilot, was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 232 - the July 1989 commercial flight that crash-landed in Sioux City, Iowa. Fitch, who assisted Flight 232's crew to land the plane, delivered a motivational speech about his trials and triumphs during and after that flight. (Photograph by Tracy Kitten.)

"We continue to expand our footprint to build on our core financial service strategies," Stiel said, as he pulled a red card from his wallet. I soon learned that card will be tied to an April 3 announcement.

As part of that expanse, Circle K expects to launch PrivaCash - a prepaid MasterCard -next month. The card, which also is branded Mercado, is expected to be dispensed and reloaded at Zaplink.

From cards to kiosks, ISOs and FIs are looking beyond basic cash-dispense. That evolution has been in the making for some time. And though growth in North America on the hybrid and multifunction side is expected, international growth is garnering attention.

During a MasterCard-centric presentation Thursday, Kevin Carroll spoke about MasterCard International's interest in building its cross-border business, while still expanding its domestic offerings.

Hartfield said the rest of the industry should be exploring the same possibilities.

"We plan to expand our program internationally," on the debit and kiosk side, she told the group. "I'm going out to find out what's been done around the world to see how we can play a role, especially on the financial kiosk side."