News

Wincor Nixdorf commits to EPAS

April 13, 2010

Wincor Nixdorf is an active member of various standardization committees, in part to meet the goal of ensuring that cashless payment solutions can be integrated in POS software solutions more easily in the future. As a founding member of the non-profit Belgian standardization organization EPASOrg A.I.S.B.L., Wincor Nixdorf contributed significantly to the EPAS Retailer Protocol which, after four years of specification work, was published in February for public consultation on the organization's official Web site. Jürgen Manske, solution manager at Wincor Nixdorf, has been chairman of the board of the organization for the past six months. The Electronic Protocols Application Software (EPAS) project is part of the SEPA activities that were launched to standardize cashless payment transactions in Europe.

According to a press release, The Retailer Protocol joins the Acquirer and the Terminal Management Protocol in the trio of EPAS protocols aimed at standardizing EFT solutions. Wincor Nixdorf was instrumental in the specification of the EPAS Retailer Protocol.

The EPAS Retailer Protocol has been designed to be used internationally and across all sectors, making it the first European standard for payment solutions that is especially suitable for multinational chain store companies.

Due to the strict separation of POS and payment applications, the Retailer Protocol provides flexibility and investment security for all the companies involved, whether retailers, service station operators, POS and EFT solution providers, service providers or banks.

This not only simplifies the integration of existing card-based payment solutions in the POS system, but also of innovative payment methods such as contactless, biometric or mobile solutions. In addition, the high level of security that banks and credit card companies require of their EFT solutions is much easier and faster to achieve with integrated POS solutions.

Wincor Nixdorf has many years of experience in specifying these standards and implementing them in its solutions for international retail companies and service station operators. One example is the O.P.I. interface, which was specified in agreement with the IFSF (International Forecourt Standards Forum) and is an integral part of all POS and store solutions for retailers and service stations.

Wincor Nixdorf sees EPAS as an opportunity for access to an official standard platform for the first time in Europe. "We'll be implementing the EPAS standard in our solutions as quickly as possible, so that our customers will be able to integrate cashless payment solutions and customer loyalty applications far more easily in the future," said Leyla Feghhi, who heads up retail marketing at Wincor Nixdorf.