Credit Union tech-talk News

September 15 - September 19, 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

* Open Solutions Partners with ContentFast 
* Xpress Data & Akcelerant Partner to Introduce CONNECT.XDI
* Passageways Ranks in Inc. Magazine’s Annual Inc. 500 List for 2008
* DCS Signs Glass City FCU

Open Solutions and ContentFast announced a partnership that gives Open Solutions' credit union clients access to e-mail archiving and surveillance in a hosted environment via ContentFast's MessageWatcher e-mail compliance solution. Open Solutions is a leading provider of integrated enabling technologies for credit unions in the United States, Canada and other international markets. ContentFast is a top provider of turn-key, packaged archiving and surveillance solutions to businesses across the United States.

Akcelerant Software and Xpress Data, Inc. (XDI), a leading provider of printing and mailing services, have signed a business partner agreement to offer CONNECT.XDI, a tool for streamlining member correspondence through the Akcelerant Framework. CONNECT.XDI allows member letters and notices to be generated in the Framework and sent directly to Xpress Data to be produced and delivered. Outsourcing this business function creates less work, lowers costs, and increases the quality of member communications. 

Passageways, a West Lafayette, Ind.-based portal solutions provider for credit unions, has claimed high rankings – No. 453 overall, and an impressive No. 27 in the top 100 software companies in the list of America’s fastest growing private companies. Passageways is also the second fastest growing software company in Indiana, as per these rankings. 

Dynamic Card Solutions (DCS), developer of CardWizard which is an instant issue and PIN selection software application for credit unions, announced that it is continuing to expand instant issuance by signing its first customer in Ohio – Glass City Federal Credit Union. DCS will be installing its CardWizard software and Datacard 150i embossers in Glass City FCU's four branch locations throughout Northwest Ohio. 

Hardware News

SEH announced the availability of two new device servers that manage users’ access to USB devices running on Windows networks. myUTN USB device servers provide direct, secure point-to-point connections over the network, protecting connected USB devices from any unauthorized access. SEH devices come with a comprehensive security package that includes password protection, access control, encryption, port access control, and the support of secure protocols like HTTPS and SNMPv3. myUTN devices connect disk drives, card readers, scanners, printers, etc, and require no special drivers - they appear to users as if they were locally connected. 

DIGITUS offers two IP models of cameras tuned to different security requirements. A simple model (DN-16050) for image surveillance during the day, or a higher end model with an additional built in microphone, external microphone output and an external audio output together with a day and night mode model (DN-16051). The cameras include a free Central Management System that can control up to 16 cameras at the same time, and permits the display, recording and playback of video in Internet Explorer. The IP Camera DN-16050 runs $155 and the DN-16051 is $233.

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ATMs/Kiosks

POSPaper.com offers a full line of POS Paper Rolls, Printer Ribbons, point-of-sale printers, thermal paper rolls, laser labels, barcode scanners, credit card sales slips, cash register ribbons, ATM paper and kiosk paper. The firm is starting to offer recycled and environmentally friendly paper rolls - they currently offer recycled bond and recycled 2-ply paper rolls as well as recycled inkjet printer rolls to its clientele, with an eye toward expanding its green line moving forward. 

Wincor Nixdorf appointed a new president for their America division: former JP Morgan Chase banker Patrick Wright. Wincor Nixdorf, recently recognized as now the world's second-biggest ATM supplier, plans to focus on marketing in order to increase their current 8 percent market share in the US.

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Fujitsu Computer Products of America announced the availability of the PalmSecure LOGONDIRECTOR, a new addition to identity management solutions that combines Fujitsu’s PalmSecure biometric authentication technology embedded into a PC mouse, and software that integrates with any vendor’s single sign-on (SSO) solution. By combining highly accurate, non-intrusive identification technology with SSO connectivity, Fujitsu says that the LOGONDIRECTOR eliminates the need to remember passwords, providing organizations with a strong user authentication solution.  

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Around three quarters of US customers would now consider using mobile banking services if offered, up from 49% in 2006, according to research released by Fiserv. For those who have not yet adopted mobile banking, security continues to be a major concern, with 72% of survey respondents saying they worry about the security of accessing financial data using wireless devices. However 82% of consumers say they would sign up with their financial institution for mobile security text messages that would alert them of password changes and other access changes, while 79% would sign up for account balance alerts. Cost was the second-most cited concern (48%) about mobile banking services. Fiserv also announced the release of Mobile Money, a mobile banking and payments solution that supports consumers on all three mobile access modes - short messaging service, (SMS), wireless application protocol, (WAP), and downloaded mobile applications. Mobile Money is powered by technology from New Zealand-based Mobile Commerce Limited (M-Com).

Gift cards and loyalty cards are now going mobile thanks to a partnership between Mocapay and Smart Transaction Systems. The companies say that the technology will work with cards from gas stations, coffee shops, clothing retailers and other businesses, allowing people to leave cards out of their wallets and pay with their cell phones. They also claim that "this is the very first mobile gift card payment system in the U.S. - possibly in the world." 

The corporate credit union-owned Corporate Network eCom is partnering with Metavante to offer mobile banking and payments solutions. Corporate Network eCom will resell Metavante Mobile Financial Services which is powered by Monitise Americas. 

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With a startling success rate, security researchers disguised as fire inspectors, exterminators or government safety monitors were able to slip past tellers in nearly 1,000 branches and pilfer confidential consumer data, laptops, backup tapes, and even servers, according to a TraceSecurity study. Between 2003 and 2008 TraceSecurity says it also accessed data by hacking financial institution networks through the Internet, phishing, pharming and pre-text calling. The security firm said the easiest disguise to pull off was the fire inspector, because with just a uniform and a badge, researchers were often given deep access to a facility even without an appointment beforehand. 

The nonprofit Center for Internet Security (CIS) has released a set of free metrics for measuring an organization’s security posture. CIS hopes the metrics will serve as a standard method for assessing security readiness. The first set of metrics that the CIS released for download were: mean time between security incidents; mean time to recover from security incidents; percentage of systems configured to approved standards; percentage of systems patched to policy; percentage of systems with anti-virus; percentage of business applications that had a risk assessment; percentage of business applications that had a penetration or vulnerability assessment; and percentage of application code that had a security assessment, threat model analysis, or code review prior to production deployment. 

Data leak prevention (DLP) technology is getting a lot of attention, but is it right for your credit union? We will tell you the pros and cons of DLP in the October issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.

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Core Systems:

Core Systems – Collaborating to Better Serve Members

COCC - http://www.cocc.com Read Joe Trafton's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/COCC.pdf

CU*Answers - http://www.cuanswers.com Read Randy Karnes' comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/CUAnswers.pdf

Enhanced Software Products - http://www.espsolution.net Read Matt Lefler's comments:    http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/ESP.pdf

Fidelity Information Services - http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com Read John Schooler's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/FIS.pdf

Fiserv - http://www.cu7.fiserv.com Read John Edwards' comments:     http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Fiserv_XP.pdf

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

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

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

ShareOne - http://www.shareone.com Read Daryl Tanner's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/ShareOne.pdf

Software and Management Associates - http://www.smausa.com Read Michael W. Taylor's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/SMA.pdf

Symitar - http://www.symitar.com Read Kathy Hooker Burress' comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Symitar.pdf

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Micro-businesses as those with one to four employees, and they comprise two-thirds of the 27 million small businesses in the U.S. Experian notes that the average micro-business owner is 50 years of age and has an average income of $71,690. This makes this a valuable demographic to target, but Experian cautions that micro-businesses act more like consumers than businesses in terms of their behaviors and patterns. 

Pennsylvania-based United Community Federal Credit Union is rewarding their employees with company cars while simultaneously getting great publicity. That is because the 17 cars are wrapped bumper-to-bumper in a credit union advertisement that includes phone numbers and information that people can use to send a text message to the credit union. 

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Kobil Systems and IdenTrust are collaborating on an approach to identity authentication that they say thwarts man-in-the-browser and other fraudulent attacks. They claim that the joint solution allows financial institutions to improve and expand online bankers' trust with online banking applications. The zero footprint portable identity is stored within a secure USB token that not only represents a credential wallet, but also contains the entire application suite, including the web browser.

A generation of consumers is coming onto the market that not only thinks of online as the natural way to do its banking, but also expects it to be as customizable and interactive as the Web 2.0 sites on which it spends its surfing hours, according to one research firm. Web 2.0 technology holds both promises and threats for online banking and we will explore both in the October issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.

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Level 3 Communications announced that it has rebuilt its Enterprise data network architecture, re-launching an MPLS-based (multiprotocol label switching) wide area network platform that offers converged services. The new architecture enables delivery of Ethernet virtual private line (EVPL), virtual private LAN service (VPLS) and Internet protocol virtual private network (IPVPN) services across a single platform. Level 3 has upgraded features like increased interoperability, a streamlined operating environment and a unified portfolio that includes not only the integrated VPN services, but Enterprise Voice, Dedicated Internet Access, Ethernet Access capabilities and Managed Services. Level 3 has also improved online customer portal. Customers can now enter trouble tickets, check order status and view network reporting online.

A large networking vendor has just come out with a system that combines a variety of existing products with management software that hides the complexity of a VPN (virtual private network) and other technologies. Remote employees with no technology training can use the system to make their remote setups work just like a regular office. We will tell you exactly how this system works in the October issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.

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Monterey, CA-based Language Line wants to help financial institutions reach out to non-English speaking immigrants. The company has more than 2,600 specialized interpreters who speak more than 150 languages. Call center representatives can contact interpreters for members who want to communicate in a language the representative does not understand. The sessions are conducted as three-way conference calls.

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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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