Brentford, Middlesex-based Nokia Data Ltd, part of Finland’s Nokia Group, has announced the ITU 5498, a new integrated transaction terminal unit – and has promptly received an order worth UKP1.8m for 2,000 of them from Lloyds Bank Card Services, part of Lloyds Bank’s UK retail banking arm, which helped with the design of the terminal and is planning to resell it to retailers. The news is not too thrilling for IBM UK, which for many years was pretty much Lloyds Bank’s sole source of computer equipment (we don’t buy everything from IBM – we do have some Memorex disk packs, the bank once said), and helped with the design of IBM’s original 2984 on-line cash dispenser. The new Nokia product was designed to enable retailers to support two separate Electric Funds Transfer at Point of Sale – EFTPoS standard parameter sets concurrently, so supporting multiple card schemes over whatever network has been chosen. The ITU 5498, measuring 9 by 9 by 2.4, is designed to be installed under the counter at the point of sale and connects to the existing ECR/EPoS kit. It is activated by a card transaction, checks the type of card used and then begins to formulate on-line communications messages for the card scheme host, directing them along the proper network path and selecting the correct parameter, which varies according to the EFTPoS standard used. Both signature and Personal Identification Number-based transactions are supported, and control is returned to the existing terminal on completion of the transaction. Large blacklists of stolen cards and transaction files can be stored in the memory, and the system is compatible with both the DES and RSA data encryption security systems. It uses a V23 modem, with external ports for 1,200bps to 9,600bps synchronous or asynchronous communications; it offers up to 512Kb of mixed PROM and RAM memory and data memory of 64Kb. Lloyds sees the ITU 5498 as enabling retailers to link their point of sale equipment to the bank’s payment authorisation system and to accept all major card schemes on the same terminal. Calls will also be able to go over the computer networks of British Telecom, Cardway and Etan. Lloyds chose the ITU 5498 as the terminal most suited to enable banks and retailers to provide innovative and practical solutions for the future.
