New Orleans, October 16, 2000 — Shift4 Corporation, a leading electronic payment solution developer, will unveil their new VirtualLeasedLine™ service at this year’s DMA Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans, LA. Company representatives will be demonstrating the VirtualLeasedLine, as well as the entire line of Shift4 payment processing solutions, in exhibition booth #2405.
Shift4’s VirtualLeasedLine service utilizes the Internet and a propriety encryption and communication module to securely transmit payment data to and from merchants’ sites. This software module, called NetAPI™, connects eCRM, web shopping cart and/or physical POS applications to the Shift4 data-communications center, where shared leased lines provide a high-speed link to various bank-processing networks. The result is a sub-5-second authorization response securely delivered to the merchant’s order processing system(s). This unique solution eliminates the need for expensive, on-site leased line connectivity.
Shift4’s economical pay-per-use fee structure requires no significant up front installation expense, no minimum volume requirements and no equipment maintenance fees, making it a viable solution for merchants of any size. The VirtualLeasedLine service is currently certified with First Data Corporation, Visanet(Vital) Chase, Paymentech, NDC, and First Horizon/First Tennessee, with Nova in the works. As an added service, Shift4 enables merchants to process transactions directly with American Express, drastically reducing fees for this card type.
The VirtualLeasedLine is powered by Shift4’s core technology $$$ IN THE BANK™. Implemented in various configurations (PC/Server-based, ASP/gateway, etc) $$$ IN THE BANK provides powerful batch auditing, reporting, anti-fraud, address verification, charge back retrieval and archiving functionality.
“We chose to introduce the VirtualLeasedLine service at the DMA conference due to the prevalence of expensive and unnecessary leased lines within the direct sales industry,” explains J. David Oder, President and CEO of Shift4. “The substantial volume of credit card transactions produced by direct marketers represents a significant source of revenue for banks and processing companies. Once persuaded into investing time and money into the development and installation of direct leased line interfaces, merchants are hesitant to switch banks or processors. This has been an effective and lucrative method by which banks and processing companies lock merchants into exclusive relationships. This arrangement clearly is in the best interest of the bank or processing company, but not the merchant-the VirtualLeasedLine removes this barrier and puts the power back into the hands of the merchant.”