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January 18, 2010 - January 22, 2010
General News
* Continuity Engine Partners with ATTUS Technologies
* Bradford-Scott and Tee Pak CU Team Up
* DeposZip Surpasses $300 Million in Deposits
* River Works Credit Union Selects COCC
Continuity Engine, the creator of an on-demand platform that automates the regulatory compliance process for credit unions, announced that ATTUS Technologies has joined its ActionPack Alliance partnership program. Housed on Continuity Engine’s flagship platform, Control, ActionPacks are customizable plans that simplify the work of compliance by turning it into a set of simple steps, automating those steps and delivering all of the reporting to satisfy oversight needs. The companies will partner to enhance the current BSA ActionPack and to create new ActionPacks for GLBA, OFAC, identity verification, Reg CC and Reg E.
Bradford-Scott Data, currently supporting more than 160 credit unions in 15 states, announced that it has been selected by Tee Pak Credit Union to replace their current core solution. Tee Pak CU, located in Danville, IL, will move from a service bureau environment to an in-house system Sharetec system.
Eastern Corporate Federal Credit Union (EasCorp) announced that its remote deposit capture service for consumers and businesses, DeposZip, surpassed $315 million in deposits since the program’s inception in 2008. The total consisted of 291,098 deposits. DeposZip enables credit union members, including business accounts, to deposit checks from their homes or offices, relying on a simple desktop or multi-feed scanner.
River Works Credit Union of Lynn, Massachusetts has selected COCC for a long term technology partnership. River Works Credit Union, which was chartered as the General Electric River Works Employees Credit Union in 1936, plans on using numerous modules from COCC including online account opening, remote deposit capture, and e-signatures/e-receipts.
Hardware News
Via Technologies announced a compact server that will be powered by low-power processors, which are traditionally designed to run in laptops and netbooks. The company's Mserv S2100 device will run on the Nano processor in a desktop-size box that is 10.2 inches long and 4.7 inches high, and the processor will operate at speeds between 1.3GHz and 1.6GHz. Compared to traditional server chips, laptop chips require less energy and cooling. Via's Mserv S2100 server includes two Gigabit Ethernet ports and can store up to 4TB of data. The system includes hardware-based virtualization support, and a hardware-based engine that encrypts data on the fly.
Hewlett-Packard has become one of the first PC manufacturers to ship computers with USB 3.0 technology. Commonly referred to as SuperSpeed USB, USB 3.0 offers transfer speeds of up to ten times what we have come to expect from USB 2.0. The company is now shipping certain Envy 15 configurations with USB 3.0 ports.
No one thinks much about network cabling, but wiring is absolutely critical to a reliable network. Since wiring problems are some of the most insidious and difficult problems to find and fix, we will provide some cabling tips in the February issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe today.
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Hardware Section Sponsored by
Millennial Vision, Inc. (MVi)
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Software Updates
AdRem Software is offering existing and new customers a free network scanning and troubleshooting tool. MyNet Toolset is a free application that scans the local network and presents the discovered nodes in a graphical network map. Among the details included in the map are IP address, MAC address, DNS name, location, node name and type. The software also provides information such as what operating systems and network services are running on the nodes.
In a related story, ActionPacked Networks, a privately-held company based in Honolulu has been stealthily working on its LiveAction platform for the past several years. This week the company intends to offer, for a limited time, free permanent licenses of its LiveAction 1.8 software. The firm says that their software can help even veteran IT operators abandon command-line interface for new capabilities that let create and edit complex QoS policies on Cisco devices more quickly and with fewer errors.
The potential to squeeze several servers worth of performance out of just one physical server is driving virtualization in many credit union data centers and server rooms across the country. But like any technology implementation, virtualization requires careful planning. We will discuss some critical virtualization performance points to keep in mind when planning a virtualization project in the February issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.
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Software Updates Sponsored by
Raddon Financial Group (RFG)
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ATMs/Kiosks
Tidel announced the release of the newest member of their Sentinel Cash Management system: the Sentinel Bulk Coin Dispenser with Coin Recycler. The BCD-R has three components:
- A coin recycler that accepts, validates, counts, sorts and dispenses coins
- A note dispenser that dispenses flat notes, versus rolled
- A bulk-note accepter that accepts, validates and counts notes
AllSouth Federal Credit Union has licensed TEKchand's ATMLive Manager Platform for managing content and electronic journals on their ATMs. TEKchand’s platform combines a remote distribution system with a Web interface to enable ATM screen changes for marketing messages, as well as a complete solution for uploading, viewing and managing electronic journal data in a multivendor ATM network. The Columbia, SC-based credit union has an ATM fleet that includes both legacy Fujitsu and newer NCR 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:
Coinstar
and their client is:
Los Angeles Firemen's 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
Swagg is a new brand from Qualcomm's Firethorn unit, which supplies credit unions with mobile banking applications. Swagg is a software application that lets the bar code on a gift card be displayed on a cell phone screen so it can be scanned by merchants. Qualcomm envisions gift cards as another move toward a mobile wallet that is run by chips incorporated into the handset. Firethorn says the Swagg platform's mobile gift card portion should become available before the 2010 holiday season.
Korean IT giant Samsung has unveiled a contactless ID card with an OLED display that shows a rotating digital image of the owner's face when placed by a RFID reader. The screen requires no additional battery power, instead drawing power from a nearby RF-powered source that is AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) adapted. Samsung says the technology could be used to provide a "dynamic security feature" for online banking and e-commerce transactions as well as government identity cards.
Bayport Credit Union and First Technology Credit Union have posted notices warning members about a mobile banking application that had appeared on the Android Marketplace. The Android mobile phone platform which is developed by Google has since removed the applications, which were characterized as malware possibly capable of fraudulently acquiring members' financial information.
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Security Section
Antivirus and security firm Thirtyseven4 announced the availability of its' flagship product line, Thirtyseven4 Antivirus, a five-in-one protection suite that includes antivirus, antispyware, antimalware, antirootkit and data theft protection. Thirtyseven4 offers a 30 day evaluation license and a free online malware scanning tool on their website.
CUNA Mutual Group has released a new online tool that should help credit unions better measure their risk of credit and debit card fraud. The tool is dubbed the The Plastic Card Risk Assessment and is designed to help a credit union assess whether their card program is in a good, fair, or “cautionary” state of security. After completing 24 multiple-choice questions in less than 20 minutes, the credit union receives recommendations based upon their specific responses.
In a related story, a new report says that card fraud costs the U.S. card payments industry an estimated $8.6 billion per year. Some good news though: the fraud rate which comprises 0.4% of $2.1 trillion in charge volume in 2008, has been stable for several years. Can end-to-end encryption thwart all card fraud as some encryption proponents contend? We will cover various card fraud prevention solutions in the February issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.
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Leaders Roundtable
Security:
Managing Risk and Security Efficiently and Affordably
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Technology and Marketing
The KIVA Group is targeting mid-sized and larger credit unions with their Respect 7 software suite. Built upon a common Microsoft .Net infrastructure, KIVA’s Respect 7 helps credit unions more strategically manage member interactions at all touch points – branch/teller, Internet, call center, IVR, email and mobile devices. The company’s CRM package can be implemented as point solutions or as the foundation of a credit union-wide, unified member relationship management strategy.
Double 11 Credit Union has rolled out a new rewards program called Kasasa. It offers members charitable donations, free iTunes downloads and other incentives for their free checking and savings accounts. It also offers high interest checking and savings accounts, and refunds on ATM fees that are automatically deposited into the accounts. To be eligible for the Kasasa account benefits, members need to meet monthly qualifications, including receiving an eStatement, accessing online banking, using a debit card and making an electronic transaction.
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Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
Misys has rolled out a new Personal Finance Portal. According Misys, the software enables credit unions to let their members check balances, pay bills, transfer funds, and view online statements, as well as stop payments, check payment status, review transaction histories, manage lists of payment recipients, schedule recurring payments such as direct debits and standing orders, set up SMS and email alerts, report lost cards and change passwords. Misys Personal Finance Portal integrates with the other Misys core-banking and portal applications, including Misys Trade Portal, Misys Cash Portal and Misys Mobile.
Star, which is second only to Visa’s Interlink network in transaction volume, will implement on March 1 changes in its interchange pricing for point-of-sale transactions that in some cases will include dramatic increases and an elimination of fee maximums. The network is also introducing on April 1 a new fee category that will offer even higher interchange income for issuers that commit all of their volume to Star. The move follows a decision by the rival NYCE EFT network to add 1.1 cents in interchange for issuers in a "Premier Issuer" category. To enjoy the high “All-Star” rate, all of the credit union’s BINs must participate in Star, be included in the All-Star BIN table, and the credit union would need to route all PIN-based transactions through the Star Network.
PayChoice announced that Desert Schools Federal Credit Union has signed with them to offer their full-service payroll and employee management solutions for small business owners in Arizona. PayChoice also will provide the Phoenix-based credit union's business members with free direct deposit. The company has offered a six-month, money back satisfaction guarantee on its services.
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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
As more organizations understand the benefits that Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP, services provide, adoption of the technology is on the rise. A recent report from Infonetics Research found that SIP trunking will likely become the second most commonly deployed telephony service this year. SIP proponents say that the ability to combine voice and data on one line and have it integrated gives organizations more flexibility and lower costs. Additionally, other features can be offered with SIP services than were traditionally only available under some more advance networks carriers offered.
Wainhouse Research predicts that the unified communications or “UC” industry will grow to $30 billion worth of annual revenue by 2013. They expect to see declining revenues for traditional PBXs and audio bridges, while revenues will grow for presence and instant messaging servers, Web conferencing servers, team workspaces, video endpoints and infrastructure. The research firm says that they expect managed and hosted UC services to grow tremendously, while team workspaces and on-premises Web conferencing servers are expected to see double digit growth.
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Call Centers
Call center hiring solutions provider FurstPerson has released a new white paper entitled “Five Things You Should Know About Contact Center Recruitment and Compensation.” It reveals that referrals continue to produce the largest percentage of new hires, followed by national job boards, the organization’s website, and print ads. About 25 percent of respondents said they get 20 to 49 percent of their new hires through referrals. The least productive strategies were radio/TV, community recruiting, college or other school recruiting, career services, and job fairs. Hourly pay for all call center roles in North America averaged $12.05.
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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
May 19-21, Las Vegas - Credit Union InfoSecurity Conference
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