News Briefs

COMPANIES

NCR spins off Teradata

US payments hardware and software vendor NCR has completed the
spin-off of its data warehousing business Teradata, which is now
listed as an autonomous company. NCR’s chairman and CEO, Bill Nuti,
said NCR would now focus on self-service products including ATMs,
retail-assisted POS and self-checkout systems, automated bill
payment systems and airline, hotel and hospital self-check-in/out
kiosks. POS kiosks, internet and mobile devices are rapidly
becoming “channels of choice for consumers”, Nuti added.

ATMs

Diebold launches bulk depository module for ATMs

US payments equipment manufacturer Diebold has unveiled its new
bulk document intelligent depository module (IDM) for incorporation
into its Opteva ATMs. The IDM is capable of magnetically reading up
to 30 cheques inserted through a slot irrespective of whether they
are placed upside down, crumpled, curled or creased. “Our findings
reveal about two-thirds of small-business customers prefer
bulk-cheque acceptance at imaging terminals, primarily for the
speed and convenience it delivers,” said Ken Justice, Diebold’s
vice-president of global product marketing and management.

MOBILE PAYMENTS

Amazon adds mobile payment service

Online merchant Amazon has added TextPayMe, a US mobile payments
service, to its Amazon Flexible Payments Service internet payments
processing platform, which was launched in June. TextPayMe, which
is still in a beta testing phase, is a mobile phone- and
internet-based service that enables Amazon Payments account holders
to make payments from a bank account and to receive payments from
other TextPayMe customers.

CHEQUES

Heartland to grow in remote deposits

Heartland Payment Systems (HPS), the sixth-largest merchant payment
processor in the US, has introduced Heartland Express Funds, a
bank-neutral remote cheque deposit capture system that HPS’s
chairman and CEO, Bob Carr, believes will enable the company to
become the largest non-bank provider of remote deposit services by
year-end. “Because Express Funds is bank-neutral, we expect it to
be well received by companies in i