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NCR discusses loss of Tidel name at conference

Tidel distributors met in Dallas last week to talk shop with NCR's financial division heads. At the top of the conference's priorities: explaining what NCR plans to do with its newest subsidiary and how it will proceed without the Tidel name.

May 31, 2006 by Tracy Kitten — Editor, AMC

It's a family tree with more entangled branches than the House of Windsor. With ATM products that bear the names of two companies, the NCR-Tidel lineage can quickly become confusing.

It was within this context that Dayton, Ohio-based NCR Corp. began unfolding its future plans for Tidel Engineering at a distributors' conference last week in Dallas.

Tidel Engineering, which NCR acquired Dec. 28, is now NCR EasyPoint LLC. The Carrollton, Texas-based subsidiary manufactures NCR's existing entry-level retail ATM line - the NCR EasyPoint ATM - and Tidel's 3000 series, which includes the 3100, 3400, 3600 and 3800. Over the course of the next six months, the two lines will be integrated. NCR's EasyPoint 53, 55 and 57 will be phased out and replaced with ATMs branded Tidel EasyPoint. (Read also, Converging product lines: NCR meets Tidel.)

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That announcement isn't new. NCR said early on that it expected to merge the two companies' entry-level retail lines. And NCR planned to use the Tidel brand for an undetermined amount of time. Last week, NCR said its use of the Tidel brand will come to an end in 2007.

"Our name is EasyPoint ATM, but our product is Tidel EasyPoint ATM," Mike Hudson, the former Tidel Engineering exec who's now leading NCR EasyPoint as general manager, said. "We want to maintain brand-name recognition, but we won't use the Tidel name forever."

After 2007, only Houston-based Tidel Technologies Inc., which manufactures the Timed Access Cash Controller, will have rights to the brand. The NCR EasyPoint ATM line will be branded EasyPoint ATM, a solution of NCR.

Losing the Tidel name

Tidel's brand-name recognition was a factor in NCR's acquisition. Tidel was attractive, industry experts said, because it has a following in the retail sector. By buying the Tidel line, NCR could strengthen its presence and acceptance in the entry-level retail market - a niche dominated by independent sales organizations.

NCR EasyPoint ATM LLC allowed attendees to tour its manufacturing facility, which NCR acquired as part of its $10.2 million purchase of Tidel Engineering from Tidel Technologies in December 2005.

But industry experts contacted by ATMmarketplace agree losing the Tidel name won't have much impact. It may even work in NCR EasyPoint ATM's favor.

"The Tidel brand name has been a bit of a mixed blessing for the company in recent years, as it brought out both strong positive and strong negative memories of the company's past," said Sam M. Ditzion, president and chief executive of Boston-based Tremont Capital Group, an ATM industry advisory firm. "Three or four years ago, losing the brand name would have been devastating, but I don't think that's an issue now because the brand isn't as recognized."

Others, like Vincent Sarff of Columbia Falls, Mont.-based Bancard Systems, shared Ditzion's perspective.

"I don't think it will have much impact," Sarff said. "Tidel used to put out a lot of machines, but in the last couple of years, Tidel has had very little in the marketplace. No one is that connected to the name anymore."

Treading lightly

Making announcements about NCR EasyPoint ATM LLC's future, such as the new brand name, has been touchy for NCR, admitted Brad Lozier, NCR's financial solutions division vice president for ATM product management, at the conference.

"We haven't given you a good idea about our business direction, and that's been my fault," Lozier told the 60 or so distributors present at the conference. "We know we need to talk about where we want to take Tidel."

Lozier said he was closed-lipped in part because he didn't want to control Tidel's vision, allowing the subsidiary to operate autonomously. But Lozier said NCR now plans to be more open, based on recommendations from NCR EasyPoint ATM's advisory council, which comprises a handful of Tidel's largest distributors.

That news seemed to be well received, with only a few of the conference's 100 or so attendees expressing concerns about NCR EasyPoint ATM's future. The main concern heard around the showroom floor: NCR EasyPoint ATM has a lot of catching up to do in the market. The years of financial uncertainty that plagued Tidel Engineering only widened an ever-spreading fissure that allowed Tranax and Triton to gain distributors and market share.

"They're really going to have to hustle if they want to compete, and I don't see them taking that seriously," one attendee said. "They just seem to be out of touch."

The morphing product line

Of NCR's six manufacturing facilities, only its Beijing plant manufacturers an EasyPoint ATM product - the EP 62. Hudson said his plant may begin building the 62, too.

Distributors were eager to check out NCR's Hawk dispenser, which is shown above, left, in the Tidel 3400. Each of the Hawk's cassettes can hold 33 percent more notes than the TCDM's cassettes.

The conference focused on Tidel's products and evolutions.

Decisions about the 62 and its ability in the future to perform advanced functions like check cashing haven't been made. Tidel's 3800 offers check cashing, and the company could at some point merge the EP 62 and 3800, Lozier said. As for the rest of the EasyPoint line - it's all being replaced with Tidel products.

Other changes:

• Enter the Tidel EP 3050: NCR's answer to the non-Triple-DES-compliant Triton 9500, the Tidel TD and the Tidel SC. The 3050, introduced during the conference and expected to hit the market at the end of June, offers ISOs a less-expensive way to replace the 9500, TD and SC. The 3050 - a 3100 without a dispenser - is designed specifically for the De La Rue 1700 single deonomination dispenser. The dispenser can be pulled from the 9500, TD and SC and placed in the 3050.
• NCR EasyPoint is replacing the Intel 386 processor with the Windows CE operating system and Intel XScale processor. The XScale, which makes TCP/IP connectivity possible without a converter, is replacing the proprietary 386 chip in the 3100. The 3100 will become the Tidel EP 3300. Production of the 3300, which also includes the EMV kernel, should begin in mid-August. The 3100 is expected to be completely phased out by mid-November.
• Also on its way out: the Tidel 3400, slated for shelving by end-October. The 3400, which also uses the 386 chip, is being replaced by the Tidel EP 3600. The 3600 will run on Windows CE, come equipped with a 10.4-inch color LCD and include NCR's Hawk dispenser. The Hawk replaces Tidel's cash dispensing mechanism. The Hawk can hold up to 1,950 notes per cassette - 450 more than the TCDM. The Hawk will come standard on the 3600.
• NCR EasyPoint will continue supporting the 386 and all of its dispensers.

Room for growth

Product improvements aren't expected to slow production. Hudson said the plant has plenty of room for more.

The Carrollton facility is producing between 25 and 30 machines a day. With "some minor modifications," Hudson said, production could double by mid-summer.

"As we make changes to the facility, which is planned, we can increase that productivity even more," he said.

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