Prism, VIVOtech team up to make contactless payment a reality

Issued by Prism Holdings Limited
Johannesburg, 12 May 2006

Top international contactless payments company, VIVOtech, has appointed trusted transactions company, Prism Holdings, as a value-added reseller of its contactless readers in the Africa and Asia regions.

This appointment forms part of an initiative with Visa and MasterCard to drive the uptake of contactless payment as the primary method of paying for public transport, banking and retail. Up to now, there has been no alignment between VIVOtech and a terminal vendor in the African and Asian regions.

According to Gerhard Claassen, Director Transaction Security Business Unit at Prism, the company is well placed to assist VIVOtech in taking this technology to market.

Chip card giants, Visa and MasterCard, approved VIVOtech`s contactless products for use in the MasterCard PayPass and Visa Wave Contactless programmes in 2005. A project is under way with MasterCard in Taiwan, utilising MasterCard PayPass for debit and credit transactions in buses and taxis.

Claassen points out that cash has dominated the public transportation market, largely due the high cost of replacing or upgrading merchant point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

"VIVOtech readers, however, can be easily and cost-effectively fitted into any chip and PIN EMV payment terminal to facilitate contactless debit and credit transactions for both Visa and MasterCard," explains Claassen.

"The speed and convenience with which existing POS terminals can be upgraded to accept contactless payments using VIVOtech`s solution will help boost the uptake of this safe, fast and convenient payment method."

Claassen believes there are enormous opportunities for contactless payment in the Asian and South African banking, retail and transportation industries.

"We are delighted to be aligned with VIVOtech and look forward to working closely with them to make contactless payment in the local retail and transport industries a reality," he concludes.

Prism Holdings (www.prism.co.za)

JSE-listed Prism Holdings Limited is a trusted transactions company with expertise in the area of secure electronic transaction technologies and services. The group has a strong presence in South Africa and an established and expanding footprint across Africa and South-East Asia. Prism`s head office is located in Johannesburg, South Africa and has a regional office, Prism Transactive (M) Sdn. Bhd., in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Prism has a proven track record in the delivery of own IP transaction technologies and end-to-end solutions tailored for the retail, utilities, banking, cellular and petroleum industries. The group has developed and implemented innovative payment-centric products that bridge the following technologies:

* Chip and wireless products: including telecoms and financial software, GSM SIM cards, SAMs, and prepaid telephone cards.
* Encryption products: Incognito Transaction Security Modules (TSMs), security products ensuring transaction integrity; and third party products.
* OEM Transaction Modules including Secure Payment Modules, Encrypting PINpads, card readers and outdoor payment terminals (OPTs).
* Payment solutions incorporating secure integrated POS payment systems, VeriFone products, EMV upgrades, payment software and FlexiLANE/POS multi-lane chip payment solution.
* EasyPay services which manages the largest bank-independent financial switch in southern Africa.

VIVOtech (www.vivotech.com)

ViVOtech is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with offices in Europe and Asia. The company is partnering with MasterCard and other card companies in contactless payment trials.

ViVOtech`s breakthrough technology is driving next-generation electronic payments worldwide. With the company`s technology, customers can make contactless payments with radio frequency (RF) enabled credit cards, access cards and infrared cellphones at existing POS systems.

To date, contactless payments faced an insurmountable obstacle to growth - billions in cost to replace or upgrade the installed base of 30 million merchant POS terminals. ViVOtech solutions upgrade existing magnetic stripe POS terminals in minutes so they can accept contactless payments - payments that are faster than cash, safer than cheques.

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