STRATEGIC PARTNERS
November 4, 2002
LONDON -- Level Four Software, a provider of ATM test and development software, says that Lloyds TSB Bank plc has deployed its EMV FastTrack tool to assist in migrating its ATM network to support the new EMV (Europay Mastercard, Visa) smart card protocol.
According to a news release, Level Four's software helps Lloyds TSB shorten the time it takes to deploy new EMV applications and infrastructure by automating the testing process.
Earlier this year, Level Four announced that Abbey National used the EMV FastTrack tool to migrate its ATMs to EMV. Also earlier this year, Level Four signed a co-marketing agreement with ACI Worldwide (ACI), a provider of transaction processing software to financial institutions, to promote its ATM tools to ACI's client base in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
EMV FastTrack is part of a set of test tools that enable the creation of EMV compatible ATM downloads and full end-to-end transaction testing directly from the chip card, through the ATM and up to the Lloyds TSB's BASE24 host system, according to the release.
EMV FastTrack works in conjunction with Level Four's ATM Simulator product enabling Lloyds to automate the regression testing of their ATM transactions. This significantly reduces the time spent manually testing individual ATMs and removes the risks associated with human error in the introduction of this technology.
Martin Macmillan, Level Four's chief executive, said in the release, "Introducing the new EMV chip card adds complexity to the dialogue between the card, the ATM and the rest of the network, so much so that it is almost impossible to test on a purely manual basis. Taking into account the time and staff resources required for manual testing, it has been demonstrated that investments in automated testing for ATM networks can easily show a return on investment in less than a year."
Level Four's primary software technology is the ATM Channel Development Suite, a toolkit that allows financial institutions to develop, test and deploy new content and applications within their ATM delivery channels. It includes ATM Simulator, ATM Developer and EMV FastTrack plug-ins, allowing the rapid introduction of EMV compliance.
According to the release, the suite also enables financial institutions to offer personalized content and interactive functionality to customers through their existing ATMs.
