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February 15, 2010 - February 19, 2010
General News
* Fiserv Signs Two CUs to Acumen
* Golden Gateway Partners with 3 CUs
* Symitar Signs Whitefish Credit Union
* ShiftHound Updates Staff Scheduling Solution
* Open Solutions Reports Record Performance in 2009
Fiserv announced that Caisse Horizon Credit Union of Peace River, Alberta and San Dimas, CA-based Christian Community Credit Union have chosen the advanced Acumen account processing platform. The Acumen solution was introduced to the U.S. market last fall after it was developed in Canada under the iSpectrum name and adopted by a dozen credit unions there.
Golden Gateway Financial, a financial resource for seniors and retirees, announced that they have been selected by three credit unions to provide its reverse mortgage solution to their members. The three credit unions are San Francisco-based Patelco Credit Union, and San Diego-based USA Federal and Grossmont Schools Federal Credit Union.
Symitar, a subsidiary of Jack Henry & Associates, announced that Whitefish Credit Union Association has decided to install Symitar's Episys core processing solution in-house. The Montana-based credit union said that they will utilize the new core system to expand its service offerings.
ShiftHound, a Web-based scheduling and open shift management solution provider, has just released version 1.5 of its online staff-scheduling tool. ShiftHound’s online solution provides visibility into a branch’s shifts and schedules, employees, risk areas, and budget/labor cost impacts. It can also send schedule changes and announcements in real-time by email and text messages.
Open Solutions, a leading provider of integrated enabling technologies for credit unions throughout the United States, Canada and other international markets, announced record performance in 2009. Successes included the successful conversion of all U.S. core clients running The Complete Credit Union Solution (TCCUS) to its enhanced relational core processing platform called DNA, the launch of several new products, new strategic partnerships, the expansion of its executive team, as well as being recognized for multiple industry awards.
Hardware News
Seagate launched a new 600GB enterprise drive that runs at 10,000 RPM in a 2.5-inch package. The drive is designed for data centers and is called the Savvio 10K.4. It doubles the capacity of previous drives and is designed to deliver 2 million hours Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) reliability. It also is a self encrypting drive that delivers power savings during idle time.
The Barracuda NG Firewall is a family of hardware and virtual appliances designed to protect network infrastructure, improve site-to-site connectivity and simplify administration of network operations. It is an application-aware firewall solution designed to mitigate threats, enforce policies and optimize traffic flow. At the low end is the Barracuda F100 that starts at $599, while their top of the line model F900 runs $49,000.
Unfortunately, one DVR (digital video recorder) cannot handle all situations. But there are a handful of key items to consider when determining what type of recorder and storage is needed for your next video surveillance application and we will cover them in the March issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.
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Hardware Section Sponsored by
Millennial Vision, Inc. (MVi)
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Software Updates
Often when you uninstall a program, it leaves behind settings, folders, and other items you no longer need. A free program called Absolute Uninstaller claims to go beyond Windows' normal uninstall features by giving you the option of deleting these items automatically or browsing the ghost folder's contents to review the leftovers before deleting them. You can use the program to batch-uninstall when you want to eliminate many programs at one time. It also lets you remove dead or outdated entries in the list of installed programs or search for items in the uninstall list.
Symantec has upgraded their Norton Ghost application to version 15 and it improves one of the most capable disk-imaging programs on the market. The new version features the ability to schedule conversion of images to VMware ESX 3.5i/4.0i and 3.5/4.0 virtual machine format and also offers support for Microsoft's Hyper-V virtual server format. One real drawback with Ghost relates to using the Windows Preinstallation Environment (PE)-based recovery CD. It is slow to boot, but more significantly it requires 1GB of RAM on the PC.
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Software Updates Sponsored by
Raddon Financial Group (RFG)
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ATMs/Kiosks
Tranax Technologies Inc. recently announced its new name and brand change: Hantle USA. They plan to display some of their new technologies at the ATMIA show in Miami:
- the Windows XP-based x6000 ATM/kiosk includes a customizable sidecar which offers self-service solutions such as card dispensing, bill payment, money transfer, movie ticketing, etc.
- a new line of check scanners, including the ‘all-in-one’ HAO-2000, which can be attached to the c4000 ATM.
- the GCDU which is a bundle-check deposit unit
Morphis, a provider of currency supply chain and payment management software, announced the availability of MorphisONLINE/ATMCash, its new browser-based ATM cash forecasting tool. It is designed to simplify and automate basic cash management tasks for smaller credit unions that may need to manage as few as one or two ATMs.
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Vendor Case Studies
Here is a chance to learn about real life credit union case studies from various technology vendors through the words of their clients. This week's vendor is:
Continuity Engine
and their client is:
First Service Credit Union
Credit Unions - if you have a vendor that you are happy with then please let us know!
Vendors - if you have a credit union that is happy with your solutions then please let us know and we will give you a $100 discount on your Case Study!
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Wireless World
According to the Mercatus Mobile RDC Adoption Research Study, strong consumer interest in Mobile Remote Deposit Capture (Mobile RDC) will dramatically alter the current deposit-taking activities of credit unions and provide a viable roadmap to credit unions pursuing 'thin branch' strategies. Likely adopters pointed to several key factors driving interest in mobile remote deposit capture, including:
• Convenience and accessibility of mobile phone-enabled deposits (52%)
• Faster accessibility to funds (45%)
• Lower time cost relative to other deposit options (39%).
"We expect consumers to significantly embrace mobile remote deposit capture and it will be the 'killer app,' said Bob Hedges, Mercatus managing partner. "Mobile RDC definitely levels the playing field across competitors."
Visa announced that starting this summer it will no longer require signatures for transactions of $25 or less at most U.S. merchants. Under Visa’s new policy about 98% of more than 800 U.S. merchant categories logged in Visa’s system will be eligible to accept Visa cards issued by American issuers without a signature for tickets at or under $25, up from about 3% currently. Some observers believe that this move will seriously impede the U.S. adoption of contactless payments. We will discuss this issue in the March issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe today.
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Security Section
Endace, a provider of security and IT solutions based on network high speed packet capture technology, announced it is offering free health checks for Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS). Their "Capture Replay Challenge" is a free test that helps organizations pinpoint the IT security vulnerabilities that are being missed by their current systems as a result of "dropped" or lost packets. The Capture Replay Challenge is named for the Capture Replay capability of Endace's Probes, which enables the capture and playback of network traffic at increased speeds.
According to Javelin Strategy and Research's annual Identity Fraud Survey Report, the number of U.S. ID theft victims rose 12 percent to 11 million people over the last year, while the total value of the fraud perpetrated against these individuals jumped to roughly $54 billion in losses. The Pleasanton, CA-based research and consulting firm’s seventh annual fraud study also found that the number of fraudulently opened credit card accounts increased to involve 39% of all ID-fraud victims last year, up from 33% in 2008.
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Security Section Sponsored by
William Rogers & Associates
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CU InfoSecurity Conference
The CU InfoSecurity Conference is the original and premier conference dedicated solely to credit union security. Here are just some of the topics that will be covered in this two and one half day security summit:
Social Networking
Phishing & Malware
Vendor Management
Virtualization Security
Security Best Practices
Controlling Admin Rights
Protecting Online Banking
Website Risk Management
Member Security Education
Controlling Employee Access
All paid attendees receive 2 complimentary room nights at a 5 star resort as part of the low conference price - the only conference in the credit union movement that makes this generous offer!
Plus multiple attendees from the same credit union attend at no charge!
More Info & Register Now ~ 800.808.2188
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Leaders Roundtable
Security:
Managing Risk and Security Efficiently and Affordably
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Technology and Marketing
Microsoft Surface enables people to share complex information using touch and simple gestures, rather than a keyboard or a mouse. Learn how one institution is using it in their lobbies in the March issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.
In an effort to help parents educate their children on the importance of saving, spending and sharing money wisely, Northwest Federal Credit Union has published a children’s book called "Westie’s Triple-Decker Decision." The paperback shows how Westie, the credit union’s West Highland White Terrier mascot, learns how to handle money wisely. The credit union is donating copies of the book to local libraries and elementary schools, plus copies will also be available for purchase for $5 at all branches with the proceeds going to charity.
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Technology & Marketing Section Sponsored by
MARQUIS Software Solutions
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Contact John Kassing @ johnk@gomarquis.com to learn more.
GoMarquis.com ~ 800.365.4274
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Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
American consumers continue to move away from credit cards in droves, as debit cards grow in popularity. Visa reported that the number of debit card transactions increased by 13.8 percent from 2008 to 2009, while MasterCard debit card transactions jumped 10 percent. At the same time, MasterCard credit card transactions in the U.S. fell almost 8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009. According to Visa, in the U.S., purchases with debit cards now make up 54 percent of the total payment volume.
TSYS has introduced a new patent-pending TSYS Hybrid product that combines credit and checking payment functionality on a single card. The consumer can pre-determine payment preferences by dollar amount, type of transaction or both. Card holders can set preferences for posting transactions to their various accounts using their Web browser - credit, checking and other deposit accounts may be used for payments.
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Online Banking Section Sponsored by
Code Green
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Credit Union tech-talk readers receive a 10% discount!
Sign up today: http://www.codegreen.org/cuwebhunt
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Internet Access
For credit unions that have VoIP systems in place, troubleshooting issues is more difficult than traditional with PBXs. A company called Prognosis offers a purpose-built VoIP management tool specifically designed for enhancing diagnostics and performance analysis for VoIP networks using equipment for single or multiple networks. They also offer a white paper, "Troubleshooting the Top VoIP Call Quality Issues" that gives a good description of many of the VoIP issues that organizations are facing – especially for diagnosing problems with mixed-vendor networks.
In a related story, Empirix OneSight Voice Quality Assurance is a powerful tool for actively monitoring bi-directional voice quality across multiple, geographically dispersed sites. It enables organizations to analyze voice quality trends and troubleshoot factors that would impair quality, before they occur; and allows users to correlate voice quality scores with key VoIP system and network component to pinpoint problems.
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Call Centers
Promero announced that it won Best Contact Center Solution award at the recent ITEXPO 2010 East conference. The product, Oracle Contact Center Anywhere call center software, won the award for Promero. Some features of the latest version of Contact Center Anywhere include Multi-Channel ACD Built-In Softswitch, or SIP IP PBX, and TDM Switching that provides skills-based routing and a universal queue for phone calls, e-mails, faxes, voicemails, voice-over-Web calls, callbacks to route callers in virtual queue, chat and Web-collaboration sessions.
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Call Centers Sponsored by
Telecom Recovery
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Inbound Telecom Disaster Recovery
Nothing is more important than serving your members. Telecom Recovery, which protects the communications for dozens of credit unions across the US, has a very powerful - and low cost - technology that protects your inbound calls during any kind of outage including:
• equipment failure
• carrier failure
• network congestion
• line-cuts
• disaster
• pandemic (employees forced to work remotely)
• complete evacuation
• and more…
During any of these events your members' calls would still ring to the right people - with just a few clicks on the mouse to re-route all incoming calls and faxes.
All we need is 5 minutes of your valuable time to discuss whether there’s enough of a fit to arrange a brief Web demonstration at a later date.
Sign up now for a 5 minute consultation.
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Conferences
Catch Tom and Bill Rogers, Associate Editor of Credit Union tech-talk at the following conferences in 2009:
February 21-25, Washington - CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference
March 8, Washington - MACUMA Seminar
May 19-21, Las Vegas - Credit Union InfoSecurity Conference
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