News
A tale of two shows
Sick of the road -- but not of ATMs -- our weary editor shares the highlights of her back-to-back trips to the Triton Distributor's Conference and the NYCE Electronic Delivery Conference.
April 29, 2002
My idea of a high-stakes wager is putting $5 instead of the usual $2 on a horse at Churchill Downs in my hometown of Louisville, Ky. So the excitement of a trip with back-to-back casinos - Mississippi's Grand Casino Gulfport, site of the Triton Distributor's Conference, and Foxwoods Resort/Casino, site of the NYCE Electronic Delivery Conference - was lost on me.
The biggest gamble I made was whether I could sprint from one end of Detroit's Wayne County Airport to the other in under an hour. The only cards I held were those that could be inserted into an ATM.
Even though I never had to decide whether to let it ride or take another card, I had plenty to think about all the same.
The most interesting discussion I had was not with anyone in the ATM business but with my seatmate on the flight between the Gulf Coast and the East Coast. When I told him what I did for a living, his eyes lit up rather than glazing over (the usual reaction).
Wouldn't it be great, he said, if someone designed an ATM so that you could insert bills rather than just taking them out? Someone already has, I explained, telling him about 7-Eleven's Vcom and other ATMs with cash acceptors.
He also wanted to be able to make a call and send emergency cash to a friend or family member who could pick it up at an ATM. We're working on it, I said, telling him that both Western Union and MoneyGram had forged deals with ATM manufacturers, transaction processors and others in an effort to make those kinds of automated money transfers possible.
Here are some other highlights from the road:
After the dust settles: Brian Kett, Triton's executive vice president of sales and marketing, called 2001 a "good repositioning year, but not an easy year" for Triton, which underwent one of the largest restructurings in its history, laying off nearly a third of its staff in October. When the latest shipment numbers are released next month, Kett said that Triton believes its United States market share will have grown from 16 percent to 20 percent and its worldwide market share will have increased from 8 percent to 9 percent.
Too sexy for its ownership: "Triton is probably the sexiest company we've ever bought, in terms of technology," said Lew Burns, the chief executive officer of Triton parent Dover Industries. Some other products manufactured by Dover companies include garbage trucks (Heil Environmental) and commercial freezers (Randell Manufacturing).
You don't have mail: A demonstration of My.TritonATM.com, a new Web-based system that will allow distributors to track their orders from invoice to delivery, was briefly delayed when an AOL connection timed out. Ultimately, Triton plans to use the system to allow its distributors to order ATMs online.
Compliance sells: Doug Sholes, Triton's senior product manager, in a regulatory update which covered issues relating to ADA, Triple DES and EMV, told the 120 or so in attendance that ultimately it was their responsibility to understand and communicate those issues to their retail customers. "In a competitive sales cycle, (being informed) could put you over the edge," he said.
But can you dance to it?: Bill Jackson, Triton's chief technical officer, said that the racket generated by multiple TDM 100s, the company's self-manufactured cash dispensers, as they ran in test labs was "music to our ears." Triton is currently monitoring 200 of the dispensers in the field and is pleased with initial feedback, Jackson said. The dispenser will be available in Triton's 9700 and 9800 models.
Thanks, dad: A film clip featuring a father named "Ben" sending daughter "Melissa" funds via an ATM earned groans with its style reminiscent of Army training films. But Triton's deal with Western Union earned raves from distributors, many of whom seemed eager to offer new ATM services to their customers. Triton plans to support Western Union money transfers on its 9600 (with a "relatively painless" firmware upgrade, Jackson said), 9700 and 9800. The application is currently being certified with Genpass Technologies, Core Data Resources and Global Cash Access.
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No dull colors for Diebold. In addition to the bright blue 1062ix at the Phoenix Interactive booth, this green machine made an impression on attendees of the NYCE Electronic Delivery Conference. |
Whatta deal: For a limited time, Jackson said that Triton planned to provide one free 9705 (with the new TDM 100 dispenser) with every 15 of any other 9700 models ordered, shipping not included. "Of course, the shipping will cost $4,000," he cracked.
International ads: Fifty of Triton's full-motion-video high toppers are currently in advertising pilots in the UK and Hong Kong. The pilots, similar to the tests that were conducted last year in the United States, should wrap by the end of May.
High rollers: In a nod to the casino location, the portfolio provided by EFT Source to attendees of the NYCE conference had a zippered compartment on the front, "for the quarters," quipped NYCE Network Vice President and Executive Director Susan Zawodniak. NYCE also handed out bright red, dice-shaped squeezies.
Death, taxes and EFT: NYCE Corporation Chief Executive Officer Dennis Lynch, in his opening address, questioned some of NYCE's own statistics predicting future EFT activity. "The one thing that's clear is that this marketplace is not at all clear," he said. "What happens next year will not necessarily be dictated by what happens this year."
Cloudy crystal ball: Lynch predicts the industry will remain unpredictable. "I think we'll see a nonlinear evolution," he said, noting that "seismic events" tend to keep the marketplace on its toes. "The one constant is the inability to predict very accurately who the winners and losers will be."
Ringing in a new transaction: At the Phoenix Interactive booth, one could walk through a transaction showing how customers of Phoenix client National Australia Group can add prepaid time to their cell phones via the ATM - in this case, a bright blue Diebold 1062ix. A text message is even sent to users' phones notifying them of the transaction.
On the bus: Fujitsu demonstrated an application in which its Series 8000 ATM could dispense the MetroCards used by subway and bus riders in New York City. Working with the New York City Transit Authority, the manufacturer designed a special insert for its cash cassette to hold the cards. According to Fujitsu sales executive Marc Moskowitz, two New York-area community banks are interested in offering the application.
One born every minute: In his presentation "Fraud Busting: Tactics for Safeguarding PIN Security," Trusted Security Solutions President Dennis Abraham described how some scammers obtain PINs in a low-tech yet effective way: by setting up a table with a sign reading "Have PIN checked here" at county fairs and other such events. Hapless cardholders hand over their cards to be "checked," thus allowing the scammer to use a skimming device to steal their PINs.
At the movies: Secret Service agent Gregg James entertained attendees with clips from the Clint Eastwood flick "In the Line of Fire" as they waited for his presentation to begin. Less entertaining but certainly informative were his slides of various skimming devices used to steal PINs. One unusually creative scammer had attached a skimmer to a Palm Pilot, so that stolen PINs could be downloaded and sent to an accomplice via email. Skimmers can be purchased on the Internet for $300 to $900, James said.
Show will go on: Cocktail chatter has it that Thomson Financial, host of the annual Advanced ATM conference, will combine that event with another of its trade shows, perhaps one geared to debit cards, in 2002. The ATM show suffered from poor attendance in 2001.
Top processors: Honored with NYCE's Network Processing Excellence Awards were People's Bank and the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P). The awards were based on the direct connect processors' abilities to provide the highest levels of approved transactions and lowest levels of transaction exceptions during 2001. Connecticut-based People's Bank, a NYCE participant since 1993, got the award for outstanding cardholder processing, while Montvale, N.J.-based A&P was tapped for outstanding terminal processing.
Included In This Story
Triton Systems
Triton FI based products • NO Windows 10™ Upgrade • Secured locked down system that is virus/malware resistant • Flexible configurations - Drive-up and Walk-up • Triton's high security standards • NFC, anti-skim card reader, IP camera and level 1 vaults are all options • Triton Connect monitoring • Lower cost
Diebold Nixdorf
As a global technology leader and innovative services provider, Diebold Nixdorf delivers the solutions that enable financial institutions to improve efficiencies, protect assets and better serve consumers.
