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APPLICATIONS
Small
Banks are On-line with Help from Integrators
One of the
tenets of financial success is to be where money changes hands, and be
one of the hands. A software integration firm in the Midwest is deeply
involved in moving money electronically. They specialize in
communication software for Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), remote bank
teller systems, and point-of-sale authorization routing.
Their
largest customer supplies community banks all over the country with a
full line of banking software. "It's used by banks with anywhere
from twenty million dollars in assets to several billion,"
according to their president. "Half of them don't even have a data
processing department, they rely on my client."
 When
those banks need to step into the world of data communications, the
integrator is ready. "They might want to hook up ATMs from various
vendors, or open a remote branch. There's a lot of pressure for them to
connect to a network switch provider for transaction
authorization." Authorizing credit card advances is critical to
protect a bank's assets, and allowing debit cards to be used at gas
stations and grocery stores also requires switch membership. "A
small community bank can give the electronic green light to stores and
catalog order takers just like the multi-nationals."
The company
has also provided the communications software for the switch itself.
"An intercept processor acts like a credit card authorization
router. When you use your card, it goes to one of our systems to
determine which bank is responsible for the authorization. Then it
passes the go / no-go back to the store making the request."
Their
expertise is in making sure the proper bits reach the right place in the
proper sequence. "With dozens of protocols, operating systems,
frame sizes and access controls, it becomes a very exacting science.
Fortunately, we found ARTIC adapter cards and programming tools from
Quadron."
Quadron
Corporation has been writing and marketing communications cards and
software for them since 1986. Quadron's customers are Fortune 500
leaders in telecommunications, finance, medicine, and transportation.
The firm's
president says he would recommend Quadron to others, "in a
heartbeat. With their boards and software I can get more communications
ports on a single PC, and I can take the same application and run it,
untouched, on a board for DOS, OS/2 or Unix. In fact, when we ran into
some trouble with a Unix server, we just shipped it to Quadron and they
made it work for us. It's tough to find customer service like that these
days."
They
appreciate the way Quadron software shields them from the lowest level
bit wrangling. The Developer's Toolkit provides a high level C-language
API. "I don't have to be bothered with port initialization,
baby-sitting the transmission or handling the interrupts. I can
concentrate on the device drivers. Hooking up a different vendor's ATM
is hard enough without having to watch every bit."
"I
rate Quadron's technical acumen as Excellent," their president
continues. "Without them, I'd spend more time than I have resolving
protocol problems. We now have a mobile ATM in the field that can be
driven anywhere and connects to the bank over cellular phone or
satellite. A bank can now service a sporting event or a disaster area in
a matter of hours. I don't want to think about how long that application
would have taken without support from Quadron's cards, software tools,
and customer support." |