Press Release

Paragon Application Systems' Dana Blegen and Deborah Spidle Earn Certified Smart Card Industry Professional/Payments Certification

July 5, 2012

(Holly Springs,NC- June 27, 2012) Dana Blegen, Master Engineer, and Deborah Spidle, Director of EMV Solutions for Paragon Application Systems, have earned the Certified Smart Card Industry Professional/Payments Certification (CSCIP/P) from the Smart Card Alliance, a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology. Mr. Blegen and Ms. Spidle had previously earned the general CSCIP certification, and are among the first to achieve the new, Payments-specific certification.

Dana Blegen, Master Engineer, has over a decade of experience at Paragon working in the payments industry. Dana has accumulated extensive technical knowledge of integrated chip cards and how chip cards are used in the payments industry. He has spent hundreds of hours working directly with partners in implementing, developing and testing their EMV architecture including terminal testing, acquirer testing and development, processor testing and development, and issuer testing and development.

"EMV has provided more secure transactions for consumers all over the world. It has reduced fraud and brought about new technology that has revolutionized payment transaction processing. When I first learned about EMV in 2003, I knew it was just a matter of time before everyone migrated to this payment standard. The one aspect of EMV that sticks out more than anything is that this is going to revolutionize how people perform a transaction. For years payments have been made with cash, check or charge and the charge has almost always been with a card. EMV paves the way for new and innovative payment methods such as mobile phones or wrist watches. If you were to ask someone 10 years ago what they thought about this, they would say it was something out of a Star Trek or a James Bond movie. I am continuously excited and honored at being involved in bringing science fiction to real life and I look forward to the next new and innovative way our lives will evolve,"said Mr. Blegen.

Deborah Spidle, Director of EMV Solutions for Paragon Application Systems, has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, focusing on banking and financial applications. Over the past seven years, Deborah has provided business and technical guidance for multiple banks, credit unions, and a national switch in Canada through their EMV migrations.

"EMV brings new technology, terminology, as well as business and technical decisions, which can initially be overwhelming to issuers, acquirers, and processors," notes Ms. Spidle. "Organizations may not realize how the choices they make now will impact them in the future. Training and consulting services provided by Paragon's EMV Solutions team can educate your staff, guide you through the challenges you will face during your EMV migration project, and present options that make sense for your business."

"Migrating from magnetic stripe cards to EMV smart cards is a complex, challenging process for our customers," says Gary Kirk, President of Paragon. "Customers rely on Paragon's EMV expertise to aid them in planning and implementing EMV. That's why we are continually upgrading our knowledge of EMV, Smart Cards and ePayments. Dana and Deborah's CSCIP/P certifications further enhance the quality of the services that we can offer customers."

About Paragon Application Systems

Paragon Application Systems is a leading global provider of automated ePayment testing solutions. In business since 1994, more than 590 customers in 85 countries are benefiting from Paragon's end-to-end ePayment testing solutions. Paragon has helped customers around the globe with their EMV implementations. We start with training to help customers understand what EMV is and all of the acronyms associated with it (ARQC, ARPC, CDOL, IAD and more). Then we work to develop the right plan for EMV implementation including providing the right set of test tools to validate EMV migration. Visit Paragon Application Systems at www.paragonedge.com or email info@paragonedge.com.