Mobile POS with integrated online Chip and PIN
Article from Retail Technology Magazine - July 2006
Kilrush Consultancy has announced a new mobile EPOS solution with Full Chip and PIN capability. It is a combined hand-held EPoS unit and a fully approved chip and PIN terminal. It has been developed by Bristol Office Machines [BOM] and has just completed accreditation.
Mobile systems are gaining a very high profile for use by both customers and staff in retail and hospitality environments.
Hand-held devices in store for stock and price are usually heavy, had limited battery life and operated in batch mode only. Today, all that has changed with wireless networks in stores commonplace and clever little "hand-helds" familiar to all from the ubiquitous Blackberry and ever more clever mobile phones.
Today's mobile devices can be used by staff for providing product information, assisted selling, queue busting, mobile PoS locating stock in nearby branches or distribution centres, price checking communications - and that is just for staff. Shoppers are using them for self-scanning, gift registry, product location, payment... and the list goes on.
BOM approached Kilrush consultancy in November 2004, to ask for help bringing their unique mobile Point of Sale device with EPOS and Chip and PIN capability to the market. The solution has integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional GPRS and an optional barcode reader.
We evaluated the opportunity and found that this was indeed a unique solution and so set about finding a card payment solution with full Chip and PIN capability.
The unit incorporates the Dione Secura, with full EMV approval, so the requirement was to find a payment solution that would run in a Windows mobile environment.
Kilrush approached STS limited who supply the award winning kernel that provides EMV processing and who said the kernel would run in a mobile environment.
IBM agreed to modify its approved IBM EFT software with STS kernel to run in a standalone mobile environment. They evaluated the task and with the assurance from STS that the solution would run in a mobile environment, set about modifying their software to run in that environment.
One of the most important considerations in a mobile environment is the security of the data, from compromise, theft and damage. The unit is small so can easily be dropped, stolen or damaged, so the important consideration was to remove the card data from the device while the transaction was being processed. Datacash the Internet Payments services provider, agreed to act as the switch and processor for the data.
This trio of suppliers gave BOM the necessary infrastructure to add a full payment solution to their unique hardware.
"BOM engaged with Connie Penn of Kilrush Consultancy 18 months ago. She has provided expert market knowledge and has project managed the solution from conception to fruition. BOM Can now offer a fully certified online solution which comprises a unique mobile point-of-sale device - PINPOS (full details at www.pinpos.co.uk) and IBM StorePay EFT software, connecting via GPRS to the Datacash managed service for payment settlement.
"This is the first fully certified mobile point-of-sale solution with integrated online Chip and PIN capability, in the world. Market demand for this concept is very strong and it is predicted over the next 18 months that most retail, hospitality and service-based organisations will deploy an integrated mobile point-of-sale and Chip and PIN payment solution."
Having completed the development and full acquirer testing with Streamline, IBM, are using PINPOS in a concept called "Anyplace Trading". This is being used for sales at the changing room, which is a fantastic service for customers as it prevents people from having to queue at a busy checkout once they have made a decision about their purchase. John Riccio, retail industry leader with IBM's global business services is also interested in the fact the BOM PINPOS runs under GPRS as, 'this extends the reach of the system as it can be used outside the store for a range of events, including promotional events - such as fashion shows - and seasonal product displays, all of which enable the retailer to get more out of the product.'
The PINPOS solution, which includes hardware, EFT and Chip and PIN software is available to any EPOS supplier who has a mobile EPOS solution. The work completed by IBM, BOM and Kilrush, means that we can supply a solution that is ready for integration with any mobile EPOS software solution and we can provide the necessary support to do the integration and take the final solution through acquirer testing. We have shrink wrapped the payment solution to make the integration easier and the approval process smooth and cost effective.
Article from the Retail Technology website: www.retailtechnology.co.uk
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