ATM Solutions, the largest independent ATM provider in South Africa, has installed ConnectNet`s G-Pad GPRS modems in more than a third of its approximately 3 000 machines distributed nationally at retail outlets and garage convenience stores. The G-Pad units have provided ATM Solutions with a considerable advantage, allowing the company to more easily deploy its ATMs further afield, lower maintenance expenses and increase uptime.
ATM Solutions installs and operates ATMs mainly located in retail environments such as petroleum convenience stores, shopping centres, supermarkets and hospitals. 60% of these ATMs are in rural areas and townships. It processes ATM transactions through its own transaction switch and has developed relationships with seven different banks in South Africa, which allows the company access to Saswitch, the national inter-bank switch.
Says Gavin Reubenson, technical director at ATM Solutions: "Our ATMs make up over 40% of all off-premise ATMs in South Africa. Remaining competitive means ensuring our solutions offer the convenience of access to cash whenever the client demands. All transactions are online and therefore require reliable communication between the ATMs and our transaction switch. ConnectNet`s G-Pad offers us ease of deployment and greater connectivity at a better price, making it a preferred supplier."
Explains Jan Buitendag of ConnectNet: "The advanced network management capabilities enables better remote troubleshooting and management of the modems while the quality and reliability of the G-Pad ensures more uptime. This allows ATM Solutions to identify and resolve problems before customers are aware of them in addition to lowering maintenance costs."
ConnectNet is a value-added provider of wireless data communications and services for business-to-business and machine-to-machine applications. Its flagship GPRS modem, the G-Pad - which is ideally suited to transaction type applications requiring a fast, reliable and bi-directional communication medium -- is locally developed and continuously enhanced to meet the requirements of customers. The product and service has been certified by the major acquiring banks and is widely used to link point-of-sale terminals to banks for fast, cost-effective transmission of debit and credit card transactions.
Notes Buitendag: "G-Pads are engineered to tolerate poor GSM/GPRS conditions and to reliably transmit information. The LCD display on the G-Pad is unique and assists with installation, troubleshooting and monitoring. A monitoring tool was specifically developed for ATM Solutions` customer support desk, allowing the company to do its own first-line support, remotely assessing the status of the modems before sending out technicians. Among others, signal strength and connectivity status can be seen at a glance, and GSM network cell identification is displayed which is useful when problems are experienced in a particular cell."
Reliability and robustness were prime considerations in the design of the ConnectNet network and service. This, along with the company`s commitment to innovation, has garnered the company a number of loyal blue chip clients in the retail, financial, security, telemetry, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.
The latest development is a Multi-SIM G-Pad enabling access to two cellular networks for redundancy purposes. The switching from one network to the other is automatic and is transparent to the customer.
"The multi-SIM solution has been approved by ATM Solutions and is expected to further boost connectivity," notes Reubenson. "In this business every second of downtime means lost transactions as customers rarely return to ATMs when they are out of order. The robustness of the G-Pad and continued innovation by ConnectNet to ensure its product meets the demands of the market will ensure the company remains our preferred provider."
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