An electronic transaction processing solution, developed and distributed by TradeRoot, has brought about meaningful cost reductions and added benefits to all role players in the trading environment at Canal Walk Shopping Centre in the new Century City development on the outskirts of Cape Town.
TradeRoot is an international technology company specialising in building and deploying bank and payment gateways. The Century City payment gateway, or switch, integrates all aspects of the transactive framework including the Point of Sale (POS) infrastructure, the communication pipelines and the acquiring fraternity. Residing on an iCiti backbone of over 600km of fibre optic cable, TradeRoot`s switch is capable of controlling every aspect of electronic funds transfer (EFT) for the R1.5 billion development.
After successful completion of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with BoE Bank, the switch was ready, and processed actual transactions on the 26th of October 2000, the official opening of the complex. It is likely to service at least 40% of Century City`s merchants in the short term.
The advantages to the banking institutions are significant as a single transaction pipeline is able to cater to a large number of merchants. The speed of the switching is also significantly enhanced and there is no major reliance on 3rd party infrastructures or telecommunication networks. These benefits have been passed on the BoE Bank`s merchants in the centre who enjoy substantially reduced acquiring fees for their credit card transactions.
"The Century City switch has been a benchmark project," says Eugene de Villiers, General Manager of e-Business at BoE Bank, "and has proven the enormous benefit of secure trading networks. It is also important that the system is scalable and can cater for smart cards and pin-based credit cards without major hardware redundancy".
BoE Bank`s success at Century City has catalysed the introduction of other major banks into the system.
The integrated solution, however, offers more benefits than just the cost and speed, says Eugene von Engelhardt, TradeRoot Technologies` Cape Town based COO. "By controlling the transaction process from end-to-end," he says, "there are significant improvements in security and to the management of the transaction information."
The "Intelligent Citi" concept is at it`s very beginning, says Von Engelhardt, and coming months will see the addition of a sophisticated loyalty infrastructure and integration into Century City`s office and home environments.
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TradeRoot
TradeRoot is a transaction technology solutions provider, specializing in building & deploying bank & payment gateways. As developer and distributor of both proprietary and 3rd-Party payment solutions, the Company is entrenched in international processing and payment markets and operates in the following areas:
- Virtual and Internet-based payment products;
- Bank payment processing and aggregation;
- Point of Sale and networked / wireless terminal-based products; and
- Enterprise solution platforms
TradeRoot`s technology provides an end-to-end electronic commerce solution with integrated control over reach, transaction fulfillment and the communication pipelines. TradeRoot`s head office is in Bermuda, a world-leading electronic commerce territory, and the group has operations in San Diego, New York and Johannesburg and a development laboratory in Cape Town.
TradeRoot Technologies
TradeRoot Technologies is the development laboratory for the TradeRoot group. Based in Cape Town, the company has a strong foundation in networking, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and telecommunications. Development focuses on settlement and fulfillment technologies for business applications, operating in both physical and Internet environments. The products govern the entire transaction process and support multiple authorization, payment capture, reversals and ISO card transactions. The technology is interoperable with other certified applications including Point of Sale, bank, and switching and inventory gateways.
BoE Bank
BoE Bank, the commercial banking arm of BoE Bank Limited, specialises in providing banking solutions to the business market and the owners and decision-makers within this market.
While the Bank offers traditional banking products and services, it has differentiated itself by providing a unique pick up & delivery service, which significantly reduces risk for the businessman and provides unmatched convenience. This service, together with a leading Internet banking product (FMS) and commercial bankers that service their clients at their place of business, means that the client can focus on managing the business rather than spending too much time in the bank. For those who feel a need to visit the bank, BoE Bank have closely aligned themselves with business by offering the longest banking hours in South Africa.
This is complimented by the Bank`s dynamic e-Business division with at least two of it`s products aimed directly at the business market, the corporate and purchase cards, and PEPBank which ^2^2provides affordable savings and loan products for employees.