Credit Union tech-talk News

July 14 - July 18, 2008

• General News
• Hardware News
• Software Updates
• ATMs/Kiosks
• Biometric Digest Highlights
• Wireless World
• Security Section
• Leaders Roundtable
• Technology and Marketing
• Online Banking/E-Commerce/
  Website Design
• Internet Access
• Call Centers
• Conferences

* NCR Receives NAFCU Services Corp. Award
* Open Solutions Partners with Superior Press
* Synergent’s Branch Item Capture Partners Reach 200 
* Hyland Software Acquires Liberty Information Management Systems

NAFCU Services Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, has recognized NCR with a 2008 NAFCU Services Preferred Partner Innovation Award. NCR Branch Assist 10 teller cash recycler was selected for its unique design and attributes which improve the productivity, accuracy and security of teller and branch operations.

Open Solutions and Superior Press announced a strategic marketing alliance under which both organizations will work together to provide Open Solutions’ Imaged Payment Technologies Group (IPTG) clients with a state-of-the-art hardware deployment solution for distributed check capture. Superior Press, a fulfillment services provider in Santa Fe Springs, CA, has made its inventory management and online order entry systems available to IPTG clients who are in need of a scanner solution. 

Synergent Check Processing & Support Services recently implemented its 200th Branch Item Capture branch. One of the earliest adopters and leaders nationwide in this product since it went live in 2005, Synergent Check Processing now has 76 credit unions on its Branch Item Capture and more than 200 locations. Synergent is the largest provider of the Symitar Episys platform in a service bureau environment.

Hyland Software, the developer of the OnBase enterprise content management (ECM) software suite, announced the company has acquired Liberty Information Management Systems. The transaction was private, and terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Since 1987, Liberty IMS has secured more than 1,000 implementations of its LibertyNET and LibertyNET Office products.

Hardware News

Seagate announced first 1.5TB desktop hard drive: the Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB. It utilizes four platters to achieve the 1.5TB or storage and can deliver a sustained data transfer rate of up to 120MB/s. According to Seagate this drive represents the largest increase in storage capacity in the last 50 years, a feat made possible by improvements in perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology.

Sun Microsystems introduced a line of storage arrays called the Sun Storage J4000 series designed for customers ranging from small businesses to large enterprises. The arrays, available now, can cost just $1 per gigabyte for bulk storage, with significant savings resulting from free software, according to Sun. The lineup starts at $3,000 and includes systems with maximum capacities ranging from 46TBs to 480TBs. 

Smaller credit unions that don't have tens of thousands of dollars to have a professional video security system installed can now install a small office system for about $250 per camera. We will cover one powerful but affordable system in the August issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.

In a recent conversation with a system administrator at a local credit union we heard that very statement; “Keeping up with security events and threats is becoming a full time job for me.” So how do you keep up? Automate your server monitoring and event log management today with ELM Log Manager.

This centralized system monitoring and event log management solution provides the automation busy system administrators need for event log consolidation and flexible reporting tools to satisfy compliance audits. Real-time alerts and notifications keep you aware of issues which require your immediate attention. 

Be proactive - get started today! Download a full-featured 30-day trial and experience for yourself the ease and efficiency of automated system monitoring with ELM Log Manager.

www.tntsoftware.com/tt4

TNT Software, Inc.
800-546-0878
info@tntsoftware.com 

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ATMs/Kiosks

Level Four Americas, a provider of open standards-based ATM software, has released a recent consumer survey conducted by Harris Interactive, which found that 45 percent of U.S. consumers would be likely to switch financial institutions if their FI’s network of ATMs was often unreliable. Additionally, 28 percent of U.S. consumers said they would be “very likely” to switch financial institutions if they experienced recurrent instances of ATM unavailability.

Chandler, AZ-based First Credit Union ($503M assets and 59,549 members) recently added the BranchMap service to its website in order to better communicate to members the convenience that comes from having more than 60,000 surcharge-free locations nationwide. As a result, First Credit Union’s members can easily locate a surcharge-free ATM, branch, or service center in their area from the credit union’s website. BranchMap allows members to search nationwide, zoom in and out, see satellite photos, and obtain turn-by-turn driving directions, hours, and other details for each location.

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There is a plan afoot in the United Kingdom for a National ID Card that will also be used to help financial institutions confirm identity when individuals open new accounts or undertake certain higher risk transactions. The plan is for financial institutions to have fingerprint scanners in their branches and to compare new fingerprints with templates held on or with the ID cards of consumers.

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Alternative payment startup Mpayy is ready to actively promote its combined e-commerce, mobile technology, and automated clearing house offerings. Mpayy is promoting itself as a low-cost alternative to credit cards for online retailers, using the ACH system to avoid payment card interchange fees. The company, which is partially funded by U.S. Bancorp, says that their mobile payment service employs a simple Web interface that "turns your cell phone into a mobile point of sale."

Visa announced significant milestones in the adoption of their contactless technology feature, Visa payWave, which allows cardholders to "wave and go" at payWave merchants. Visa said that it is currently migrating to an enhanced global specification, Visa Contactless 2.0, to further support the growth of Visa payWave. The new global contactless specification is based on the international EMV chip standards, enabling Visa to take advantage of sophisticated cryptographic techniques for Visa payWave transactions, regardless of where the card was issued or where the transaction takes place. In the greater Washington DC region, National Capital Federal Credit Union announced that it is adding the Visa payWave feature to its current portfolio of Visa credit cards.

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It seems that the more secure a password appears to be to an IT security professional, the more likely that users will be tempted to write it down. Some research has shown around 40% of workstations apparently have passwords written down somewhere. A company called Tricerion has come up with a solution to the password problem called SafeLogin for Windows Enterprise. The firm uses picture passwords and believes that people are more inclined to remember pictures than text. The user is issued a password that comprises a set of images. The number and type of images can be set by the administrator, and Tricerion's picture bank includes 160,000 images. Organizations can decide to use these pictures or provide their own "house style" of images. When presented with a login screen the user selects their pictures on the screen the same way in which they would select numbers or letters in a conventional password login screen. 

Check Point Software Technologies announced the expansion of its UTM-1 Total Security appliance line. The appliances combine firewall, virtual private network (VPN), intrusion prevention, SSL VPN, antivirus, anti-spyware, Web filtering, Web security, and anti-spam into one, centrally managed solution. The new models are: 

- UTM-1 Total Security 1070 featuring 1800 Mbps firewall throughput, three managed sites and six ports 
- UTM-1 Total Security 2070 featuring 2800 Mbps firewall throughput, five managed sites and eight ports 

The wide variety of NAC (network access control) products on the market shows a wide range of thinking about policy-based security controls and the management of the network in general, including the end-point devices that connect to the network. We will review one NAC solution in the August issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe today.

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Online Banking:

Online Banking…. Catering to Your Most Desirable Members

Digital Resolve - http://www.digital-resolve.net Read Dennis Maicon's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/DigitalResolve.pdf

Exstream - http://www.exstream.com   Read Jerry Driscoll's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Exstream.pdf

Fiserv - http://www.cu7.fiserv.com Read Dave Selina's comments:     http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Fiserv.pdf

Fiserv - http://www.cu7.fiserv.com Read Jay Slavin's comments:     http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Galaxy.pdf

Gartner - http://www.gartner.com   Read David Schehr's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Gartner.pdf

Harland Financial Solutions - http://www.harlandfinancialsolutions.com   Read Peter McKellar's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/HFS.pdf

Microsoft - http://www.microsoft.com   Read Marley Gray's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Microsoft.pdf

Open Solutions - http://www.opensolutions.com Read Michael Nicastro's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/OSI.pdf

uMonitor - http://www.umonitor.com   Read Dinesh Sheth's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/uMonitor.pdf

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According to AMR Research, the customer relationship management (CRM) market is experiencing a renaissance of growth "that hasn't been seen since the dotcom boom." Vendors' 2007 CRM revenue totaled more than $14 billion, which was an "impressive" 12 percent growth rate over 2006, according to the research firm. These software vendors own the top 10 spots in CRM market.

1. SAP 
2. Oracle
3. Salesforce.com
4. Cegidim Dendrite 
5. Amdocs 
6. Aspect 
7. Verint Witness Actionable Solutions 
8. Microsoft
9. SAS 
10. Avaya

Houston-based People’s Trust Federal Credit Union’s new branch at the Shops at Houston Center does not dispense coins. Instead of receiving loose change back when cashing checks, members can have it deposited directly into their account or donate it to the credit union's charitable foundation.

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Canada ranks number one worldwide in online banking adoption, according to ComScore’s survey of 37 countries. In April 2008, 67 percent of Canadian Internet users banked online, compared to 49 percent in the UK, 44 percent in the U.S. and 41 percent in Australia. ComScore says it sees the greatest potential for growth among light users of online banking services. “These users represent an opportune target for banks seeking new customers,” the Internet usage measurement firm says. 

A company by the name of Torotech has introduced a new “digital DNA mapping” technology designed to protect online banking systems. The firm says that they restrict online access by registering a “fingerprint” of the member’s home computer, and later when a member attempts to log on to the system it will compare this digital DNA profile of the computer that is trying to connect against the stored profile of the member's registered computer. The technology adds digital recognition of one hardware component to the user authentication process, and this can be not only a user’s PC, but also any wired or wireless peripheral such as a USB stick, mobile phone or PDA. 

According to the Post Office, the share of bills consumers pay the old-fashioned way via the regular mail continues to decline - the share of bills paid by mail dropped from 25.3% of total mail transactions in 2005 to 23.6% in 2007. Yet, over 90% of households still use the mail to pay at least some bills. Why do so many people still use snail mail over electronic bill payment? We will provide some insights in the August issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.

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Microsoft said that it has selected Junction Networks as a preferred SIP trunking and gateway service provider for its Microsoft Response Point small business phone system. According to Microsoft, the SIP-based voice service from Junction Networks is pre-configured in the Response Point Administrator software. Response Point is sold with IP phones from Aastra, D-Link, and Quanta Computer. It features speech recognition, which allows users to perform basic and advanced phone functionality with spoken commands. Junction Networks said that it is offering Response Point customers access to a special promotion that waives the $9.95 monthly service charge, as well as supplies two free phone numbers, one of which is toll-free, for the first 30 days. 

Fonality has come out with a new offering dubbed PSTN-Fallback. They claim that this system offers the best of both worlds: a blend of a low-cost VoIP system coupled with the ultra-reliable PSTN (public switched telephone network). If the VoIP line becomes unreliable, Fonality's PBXtra system defaults back to the client’s regular analog telephone line (PSTN) automatically to ensure that users can always make a call. PBXtra also allows the client to set up the phone system to use VoIP selectively for designated calls, such as those that are intra-office, branch office or international. 

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Every call center should do some form of QA (quality assurance). But the question is what is the best quality monitoring form to use and how do you score the calls? We will provided some examples in the August issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.

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Catch Tom and Bill Rogers, Associate Editor of Credit Union tech-talk at the following conferences in 2008:

October 15-18, Las Vegas - Firefighters' National Credit Union Summit

November 13-15, New Orleans - Credit Union InfoTech Conference

June 4-5, Lake Las Vegas - Credit Union InfoSecurity Conference

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