Payment solutions provider Verifone is launching Payware PC, the newest version of its PCCharge payment processing solution.
The company made the announcement April 15 at the Electronic Transactions Association Meeting & Exposition in Las Vegas.
Marco Marbante, director of product management for Verifone, said Payware PC serves as a payment processing engine for retailers and an integration platform for POS (point-of-sale) developers.
“We take the payments piece away [from the developer)],” said Marbante. “We format payment into a message that goes to the various payment processors. Messages are complicated and changing all the time. We take that misery away.”
Marbante said Payware PC will perform all payment processing-related functions, including authorization, capture and settlement. He said Payware PC can also be used as a stand-alone device and has a simple user interface.
Robbie Lopez, vice president of software solutions for Verifone, said Verifone keeps the solution’s certification current for the 15 to 20 payment processors that accept payments from SMRs.
“It’s a lot of work,” he said. “We take care of that burden in the software.”
In the area of security, Marbante said Payware PC has been validated for Version 1.4 of the PABP (Payment Application Best Practices) security protocol from Visa by information security and compliance auditor Trustwave. Verifone only supports secure integration methods and shields POS developers from seeing any sensitive customer data, he added.
Payware PC is a flexible system and works with Microsoft XP, Vista and Embedded environments, he said.
“We worked closely with Microsoft to make certain this product wouldn’t develop into something that would be outdated quickly,” he said.
According to a 2007 white paper from the Bank for International Settlements, Payware PC meets several of the requirements for modern payment processing systems.
“As a rule, systems should be both open and standardized,” the paper states. “A decision process is also needed to guide the implementation of the new infrastructure, so that it promotes full use of the new technology and ensures adequate commitment among all parties. In addition, there are the technical requirements: a functional network, a transaction routing mechanism, security systems and an interbank settlement method for concrete transmission/transfer of payment transactions. As Internet technology changes many aspects of payment transmission, top priority should be given to improving the development process itself to ensure effective development over the long run.”
Dan Berthiaume covers the retail space for eWEEK. For more industry news, check out eWEEK.com’s Retail Site.