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Lantronix says that their SLC 8000 is the industry’s first modular console manager that provides secure, centralized out-of-band management to most IT equipment. The new SLC 8000 can be expanded from eight to 48 ports and enables "mix-and-match" with USB I/O modules. Administrators can access the SLC 8000 device ports via Telnet/SSH, or a web browser-based console client without any proprietary software. The SLC 8000 also includes firewall features to reject connection attempts or block ports and has NIST-certified AES encryption.
Smaller banks may want to take a look at the new APC Back-UPS Connect BGE90M 125VA battery back-up system. It comes with 3 surge-protected and battery-backup outlets and 2 USB charging ports. The internal sealed lead-acid battery delivers up to 4.5 hours of continuous run time at 10W for use during extended outages. It is designed to protect modems, routers, VoIP, cordless phones, security cameras, etc and costs around $65.
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Hardware Section Sponsored by
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Software Updates
VMware is offering a new product, Horizon Flex that lets IT departments run containerized and secured virtual desktops locally on a PC or laptop. Administrators can control the longevity of the virtualized software container by setting up a date when its use expires or by remotely killing it. Admins can also allow or deny the use of peripheral devices, and it can be configured using a USB stick or via the corporate network.
Social Money recently announced CoreSaver which is a backend, white labeled system that allows community banks to offer goals-based savings accounts that utilize social connections. The company says that the system can be setup in a few months and is designed to attract millennials.
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Software Section Sponsored by
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Diebold announced its new 5500 series of ATMS that include the ActivEdge card reader which helps prevent skimming. Additional available security features include biometric finger-vein readers, security camera provisioning, encryption technology, monitoring services and more. They say that their newly developed ActivDispense technology improves the ATM's uptime, while ActivPower intelligent power management controls power to individual modules during servicing — eliminating the need to shut down the entire unit. The technology also reduces energy consumption by as much as 60 percent. Other features include: a 15-inch high-definition touchscreen display, mobile-ready functionality, and optional two-way concierge video service capabilities.
ViewSonic is partnering with desktop software company Userful Corporation to offer VDI solutions for client devices and multiplatform software compatible with Chrome, Cloud, Linux and Microsoft Windows virtual desktops. The companies state that by integrating Userful’s software and ViewSonic’s hardware, a virtual environment can now be taken beyond the desktop to include touch screens, kiosks and digital signage.
The Nimbl app seeks to bypass the ATM with a cash delivery service of up to $200 for a flat fee of $5. When the delivery agent arrives at the door, Nimbl sends a payment request and the customer pays via Venmo, PayPal, Google Wallet or Square Cash. The service is currently only available in New York and San Francisco.
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ATMs/Kiosks Sponsored by
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According to a new eMarketer report, American consumers' outlook on the adoption of mobile payments is positive. The study found U.S. proximity payment transaction values doubled between 2012 and 2013 for a total of $1.59 billion as more consumers became comfortable with mobile payments. Meanwhile, EMarketer forecasts transaction values will double again in 2014 to reach $3.50 billion and ramp up through 2016 as more users make larger mobile purchases.
In a recent poll by GfK, only 35% of respondents across the five countries surveyed were interested in tapping their watch at the checkout to pay for goods and services. Fitness tracking, online ID and travel ticketing were viewed as more attractive features of smartwatches. The ability to transmit healthcare data via a smartwatch is also of particular interest to the majority of people.
McAfee, part of Intel Security, announced the latest release of McAfee Next Generation Firewall, which now integrates with several key McAfee security solutions and technologies. The company states that their Next Generation Firewall can:
- integrate with McAfee Enterprise Security Manager to improve security posture, reduce event response times, and enable continuous monitoring and alerting of compliance status
- provide real time protection against rapidly mutating malware and zero-day attacks
- use reputation intelligence from McAfee Global Threat Intelligence to provide protection against globally active advanced threats and malware
Intel has developed Data Protection Technology for Transactions, a hardware-software bundle designed to protect credit card and personal data from hackers when transactions are being authorized. The chip giant's security platform is adaptable to multiple payment systems and will be supported on the latest Atom and Core processors. NCR has plans to put Data Protection Technology for Transactions on its products.
Core Systems:
Using Core Systems to Enable Superior Financial Performance
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Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network -http://www.bpinetwork.org
Read Dave Murray's comments: http://www.banktt.com/BPI.pdf |
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VSoft Corporation - http://www.vsoftcorp.com
Read Dan Barnard's comments: http://www.banktt.com/VSoft.pdf |
Google remains the top Internet search engine, but surprisingly YouTube now ranks second. Some marketing experts contend that this reflects consumers strong desire to 'see and hear' about products and services before they make the decision to acquire them. Which in turn means that banks may want to ramp up their video production efforts and YouTube presence.
Russia-based Alfa-Bank has come up with an interesting approach to motivate consumers to stay fit: a high interest rate savings account that rewards customers for exercising. The technology connects fitness trackers to the accounts of Alfa-Bank customers who, depending upon how much they exercise, can transfer money from regular accounts to the special Savings Account Activity account.
Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
MasterCard and Zwipe have announced their partnership for the launch of what they are calling the world’s first contactless payment card featuring an integrated fingerprint sensor. It includes an integrated biometric sensor and the Zwipe secure biometric authentication technology that holds the cardholder’s biometric data. It contains an EMV certified secure element and MasterCard’s contactless application.
The World Wide Web standards organization, W3C, is bringing together FIs, retailers and tech firms in an effort to develop standards for payments on the open web. W3C has formed a Web Payments Interest Group that will work to improve the consumer experience by creating a standards platform. They want to address online and offline payments, remittances, retail and bill transactions, new cryptocurrencies, and the role of regulation on technology. The group notes that e-commerce sales are predicted to hit $1.47 trillion in value this year.
A new 'Facebook branch' has been setup by Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD). The platform enables customers to check their accounts and transfer funds from within the social network. Users can also pay off credit cards, as well as transfer money between their CBD accounts and apply for products. CBD said that "customers want convenience and be able to do banking as part of their everyday lives, when and where they want."
GFI Software announced GFI WebMonitor 2015, the latest version of the company’s Web filter, management and security solution. The software limits employee access to selected sites, enabling IT admins to control access without completely blocking users unless it becomes necessary. IT admins can create rules for these scenarios as GFI WebMonitor can also restrict access based on employee bandwidth usage or length of time spent on a site. It also applies techniques based on signature pattern matching, conversational semantics, deep protocol dissection, heuristical analysis, flow awareness and association engines as well as using three anti-virus engines.
BroadSoft announced several new capabilities to its UC-One unified communications application. New additions to BroadSoft’s UC-One portfolio include iBeacon integration to identify an individual’s location within a work environment more precisely and a new Personal Assistant feature that integrates a worker’s presence information with voice calling. The latest enhancements are accessible from BroadSoft’s software and BroadCloud services.
By some estimates, seven major American financial institutions are using "voice biometric blacklists." Verint and Nice Systems offer voice biometric solutions to FIs to help protect their call centers from fraudsters looking to commit identity theft. The voice blacklists are seen by proponents as an effective tool in combatting organized gangs that call FIs repetitively to try to break into accounts.
