By Rachel Ramsey, TMCnet Web Editor
The proliferation of mobile devices has led to improved app development, features and capabilities. Think about how many different things you can accomplish from your smartphone or tablet alone – using GPS, sharing via social media, checking e-mail and making banking transactions or purchasing something online are not impossible feats. In fact, a recent U.S. Federal Reserve study found nearly 21 percent of mobile phone users have used mobile banking in the past year, and a Juniper Research (News -Alert) report predicts mobile commerce transactions to exceed $3.2 trillion by 2017. The rise in payment transactions means mobile device and network providers need to be prepared to offer high levels of security, safety and data confidentiality.
NewNet (News - Alert) Communications, a provider of solutions for next-generation mobile, fixed line networks, messaging and transaction processing, offers Traxcomsecure transaction processing solutions to provide a high degree of security to ensure data confidentiality and safety, and improve the efficiency of operations.
TMC (News - Alert) recently caught up with NewNet’s T.K. Cheung, SVP and GM of Secure Transaction Processing Division, to discuss the solutions, how they help set NewNet apart in the industry from competitors, what prompted NewNet to offerPCI (News - Alert) compliance with Traxcom and what’s in store for NewNet in the future.
The Traxcom solutions have facilitated secure, high-speed payments transaction aggregation from millions of POS/ATM/payment terminals and switching and routing of these transactions with high security to backend Financial Authorization Servers for more than 24 years. They target a variety of customers, including transaction acquirers, payment processors, banks, retailers, financial institutions, payment service providers, payment aggregators, transaction network service providers, fixed and mobile telecommunication network providers, Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs).
“We deliver secure payment transaction routing services for the legacy Dial POS terminals, now popular broadband and mobile payment terminals and fast emerging mobile smart POS and NFC Mobile Wallet transactions,” Cheung explained.
The Traxcom product portfolio includes the Total Control Secure Transaction Gateway (STG) Dial Payment processing system, which delivers a specialized suite that enables fast transaction processing of credit card authorizations, debit card fund transfers and health benefit authorizations, and AccessGuard 1000 Mobile and Broadband IP Payment Processing gateways, which are designed to process high volumes of IP-based authorization and payment queries generated from a “smart card” terminal device, and internet based payment terminal devices.
“Speed, security, stability and system availability are the key requirements of payment transaction systems and these hold the key parameters of NewNet Traxcom products as proven in the industry with our deployments with Tier 1 Acquirers, Processors, Wireline Carriers, MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) etc.,” said Cheung. “Security is the most critical aspect of payment transactions and having been in this business and working with some of the largest Tier 1 Acquirers, processor and carriers globally, we have remained in the forefront of offering most advance security for payment routing solutions with latest cryptographic methodologies.”
“NewNet’s Secure Transactions Business Unit provides mission-critical solutions to allow carriers and financial institutions to securely process electronic payment Transactions globally. As new point of sale (POS) payment platforms arise, there will be increased opportunities for NewNet’s Secure Transactions products and services. We are seeing traction domestically as these new digital payment platforms proliferate and as acquirers and ISOs seek innovative, customer-focused suppliers. We also see enormous growth in demand in emerging markets, which are experiencing rapid increases in credit card penetration and volumes,” said Matt Thompson, SVP corporate development, NewNet Communication Technologies
NewNet has integrated transaction processing, security handling, load balancing and network routing into a single system, thereby enabling customers to avoid the need for separate systems for each of the different functions.
“Our systems enable the customers to offer new payment solutions on emerging client/terminal devices by still connecting to existing authorization servers, thus bridging the future with present day systems,” said Cheung.
Traxcom and PCI Compliance
The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard represents a common set of industry standards to ensure the safe handling of sensitive payment card data information. These standards are founded by global payment brands – American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard (News - Alert)Worldwide and Visa Inc. – and have industry-wide participation from the payment industry ecosystem players comprising of banks, acquirers, processors, merchants, system providers, application developers and more. The PCI Security Standard council is responsible for the development, management, education and awareness of the PCI Security Standards, which cover the security requirements associated with multiple aspects of the payment industry.
NewNet serves a major role in the payment ecosystem. NewNet delivers market payment solutions that offer a true understanding of core payment functionalities, technology edge and far sighted vision which attempts to meet the following:
Enables the masses to make seamless payment transactions from mobile devices for card and non-card alternative payments
Offer integrated solutions for tokenization, data encryption, certificate management solutions for enhanced security of transactions
Advance commerce solutions for content streaming to POS devices which are touch points to consumers while in the middle of transaction authorization process
Provide innovative payment routing solution that avoids the need to store credit/debit card data or customer information on mobile devices for payment purposes
Work with financial institutions to offer payment processing systems that prevents the transfer of sensitive card data across public networks benefiting acquirers, processors, carrier and banks
Offer multicurrency and dynamic currency conversion solutions coupled with payment switching and routing
Ensure increased revenues for all entities in payment ecosystem by enabling faster, secure and reliable means of payment handling for e-commerce and m-commerce transactions
Putting Traxcom to Use
Point-of-sale (POS) acquirers and processors deploy NewNet’s Traxcom solutions for aggregating dial, broadband/mobile IP POS transaction from the merchant locations, utilize the multiple protocols supported on TC STG and AG1000 systems to handle a variety of transaction types, routes the transactions to the specific hosts depending on the transactions with high speed and security. They also collect transaction session data records for statistics, traffic reporting etc. to enhance their transaction management capabilities
The solutions empower MNOs or wireline/broadband telcos to derive new sources of revenue and have a major role in the payment ecosystem, including one or more of the several possible services of mobile/broadband/dial transaction acquiring, mobile/broadband/dial POS transaction transport as a VAS and mobile NFC wallet payment transaction routing.
“We have a clear vision for the payment industry for today and tomorrow as we stay ahead of the technology curve and move along the path breaking changes in the areas for new payment options, new devices with advanced service capabilities and security enhancements and strive to bring those benefits in our products to the market as quick as the market can adopt,” Cheung said.