STRATEGIC PARTNERS
July 28, 1999
NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- Diebold, the nation's second largest ATM manufacturer, has acquired Pioneer Systems, a company that specializes in developing campus ID card related interfaces to financial institutions. Pioneer Systems developed and operates the first "open banking" system, which enables students, faculty and staff to link to an existing account at a participating financial institution through their university identification card. First implemented in 1998 at Penn State University, Pioneer's open banking offers services to more than 100,000 cardholders on 23 campuses. Pioneer's open-face interface allows colleges to establish relationships with more than one financial institution, said Wendy Buterbaugh, general manager of Pioneer Systems. "Besides the convenience of using a single card both on and off campus at any MAC or PLUS automated teller machine, users can add stored value to the smart chip on their cards from their checking accounts within seconds." To gain multiple links, Pioneer Systems utilizes a magnetic stripe card with an embedded computer chip combined with Diebold's iq Transaction Processing Software (iqTPS) System. The iqTPS system provides the network functionality that processes the transactions for ATMs and point-of-sale terminals on campus. This system gives financial institutions the necessary link to the network and also gives retailers the capability to take debit payments from a student's regular bank account using only the student's campus ID card. Bartholomew J. Frazzitta, vice president, physical security and card systems for Diebold, said that the acquisition gives Diebold's Card System customers the opportunity to take advantage of multi-banking "while reaping the benefits of Diebold's entire suite of CS Gold applications and products."
