Stanchion Payment Solutions has won three major African deals to implement Futurex transaction encryption solutions in the past two months.

 

Stanchion, now representing Futurex in southern Africa, has won contracts with ATM Solutions, Direct Transact and Tanzania’s Umoja Switch.

 

Max Gysi, Stanchion’s Director for New Business, confirms that Futurex is positioned for strong local growth since its arrival in South Africa late last year. The solution brings to southern Africa a world class, cost effective transaction encryption alternative for the first time, Gysi says, and the local market is quickly moving to benefit from it.

 

ATM Solutions, the largest independent service organisation for ATM deployment and management in South Africa, concluded its Futurex deal with Stanchion in December. ATM Solutions is currently testing the Futurex system with a view to rolling it out in the second quarter of the year.

 

The company has deployed and operates over 4500 retail ATMs across South Africa and runs one of the largest third-party transaction switches in Africa.

 

Gysi says ATM Solutions upgraded to Futurex in order to become PCI HSM (Payment Card Industry Hardware Security Module) compliant, and to benefit from its enriched features and the ability to manage their security modules remotely.

 

Direct Transact, the first recognised and certified third party processor in Africa, also selected Stanchion to implement Futurex in December.

 

Direct Transact delivers electronic transaction processing, back office administration and retail banking solutions, working with several local banks. Gysi says the company purchased Futurex for its enhanced features which include Pin Printing and Remote Key Loading support, FIPS and PCI HSM compliance and because it is a leading international solution.

 

Stanchion also completed its first Futurex implementation outside South Africa’s borders late last year, when Umoja Switch in Tanzania required a new encryption solution on very short notice. Umoja Switch, which provides electronic payment services across the country, had reached end of life on its existing security devices and required a rapid roll out. Stanchion achieved a ten-day turn-around from the placing of the order to delivery of the appliances in November, followed by a fast-tracked training and installation phase. The system went live in January.

 

All three will see significant benefits from Futurex, says Gysi. “Futurex is a world-leading, yet cost-effective solution – a huge advantage in the price-sensitive African market. It delivers improved compliance, ease of management and a high level of scalability. And because it’s focused only on secure transactions, and its international heads participate in international security and standards bodies, Futurex ensures that its solutions automatically meet all new and future international requirements.”

 

Retailers, ISPs and any organisation managing transactions can effectively reduce the cost of meeting PCI standards with Futurex’s end-to-end security module.

 

The Hardware Security Module (HSM) is a device that generates keys and manages them between two parties in an industry standard secure manner. Because the module itself is tamper-proof, the encrypted data stored on the device is completely secure from physical breach.

 

The Futurex HSMs are universally compatible, compliant-ready solutions that are customisable, robust and lower the cost of transactions.

 

Futurex’s End to End Encryption (E2EE) solutions have key management and injection capabilities, allowing for the remote management of the devices and decreasing the total cost of ownership. Its E2EE secures sensitive cardholder data from the point of capture, combining existing EFT standards with innovative algorithms to allow the PAN and track data to be encrypted without requiring any changes to message protocols or transports. This means that true PCI-DSS compliant data protection is possible with minimum disruption to the bulk of the acquiring infrastructure, making process intensive SSL cryptography redundant.