South African Retail Giant Implements Verifone SC 5000s

In an initial deal worth R12-million (US $1.7 million), secure e-payments company Prism Holdings together with First National Bank have implemented the sophisticated programmable POS technology into Edgars, CNA and United Retail (Jet, Sales House, Cuthberts and Smileys) stores throughout South Africa. Apart from supplying the initial 700 VeriFone SC 5000 PINpads, Prism has developed an integrated payment application for the terminals into Edcons existing POS system. The SC 5000s support global smart card solutions based on the EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) specifications as well as existing magnetic stripe debit and credit cards. In addition, the SC 5000 raises the level of fraud protection for PIN-based debit card transactions as it adheres to the Triple DES (3DES) encryption standards being adopted by the payment industry around the world. The terminal also features an integrated smart card reader with support for Security Access Module (SAM) slots to enable acceptance of a broad range of smart card-based loyalty and electronic purse schemes. EMV is a global standard for the design, security, and functionality of smart card terminals and applications. Whereas magnetic stripe cards are open to the skimming of account data off the card itself, smart cards securely store that data on the silicon chip providing increased levels of transaction security to the payments industry. The EMV standard paves the way for the eventual elimination of card skimming related fraud. Edcons integration of the SC5000 electronic payment model at each POS terminal creates a standard platform upon which the group is expanding its payment options to customers. Prism Holdings transaction switching entity, Prism TranSwitch Services (PTSS), provides the links to the banking sector and to other systems Point-Of-Sale infrastructure. With Edcon as a client, PTSS now switches card payment and other value-added service transactions to over 600 stores.