Interface Vendors Certified

Las Vegas, January 21, 2000 — Fourth quarter 1999 saw Shift4 Corporation adding to their impressive list of hospitality property management and point-of-sale system partners, by certifying seven new system interfaces to their popular $$$ IN THE BANK credit card processing application. Recently certified PMS/POS interfaces include: Company/Application Product Type Apropos Retail Mgmt. Sys. Retail POS Fabco Hotel PMS InfoGenesis/Revelation Food/Bev POS PosiTouch Food/Bev POS Ross (IntraWest Resorts) Ticketing POS Springer-Miller Systems SMS|Touch Food/Bev/Retail/POS SpaSoft Spa Mgmt. POS By interfacing to $$$ IN THE BANK, PMS/POS applications developers add real-time credit card processing functionality to their products, while expending minimal programming time. Unlike other credit card solutions, Shift4 provides 24/7 technical support to end-users, as well as to the PMS/POS system developer, drastically reducing the number of calls to their support centers. Perhaps most valuable, developers are $$$ IN THE BANK's network interfaces, which provide robust connectivity to leading banking and transaction processing networks. $$$ IN THE BANK functions as a gateway to nearly every merchant banking network in the US and Canada, eliminating the need for system developers to write and maintain multiple direct interfaces to their clients' individual banks. Aptly named the "One Last Credit Card Interface" Alliance, Shift4 provides a free Software Developers Kit (SDK) to help with the initial interface programming. Once written, vendors and end-users can be assured that every credit card transaction sent via $$$ IN THE BANK will be 100% compliant with the latest banking regulations. "Shift4's strength lies in their ability to integrate diverse points of sale within a resort environment." states Sten Karlsen, VP of Development for Apropos Retail Management Systems. "$$$ IN THE BANK was key to our providing IntraWest with a complete enterprise POS solution", he adds. "The interface development process was the quickest and easiest we've ever done and we look forward to expanding the $$$ IN THE BANK platform to support our growing POS and e-commerce offerings." Mr. Karlsen adds. "Our goal is to interface with every hospitality application on the market. By doing so, we can further cement our position as the industry standard for credit card technology." states Dave Oder, President/CEO of Shift4. Standard to the $$$ IN THE BANK application is its PC-based front-end user interface, called an "Audit Station". The Audit Station's reporting and archiving functionality provides users with real-time access to multi-level transaction data, allowing management to make informed business decisions. "$$$ IN THE BANK delivers 4 second authorizations via their TCP/IP API", "If they can satisfy the mega-resorts in Las Vegas, they can satisfy anyone." notes SpaSoft's Director of Development, Kostas Sourgoutsidis. "$$$ IN THE BANK's phenomenal auditing and reporting capabilities are second to none", he adds. "More and more hotel management companies are requiring $$$ IN THE BANK compatibility when choosing new property management and point-of-sale systems-so an interface to $$$ IN THE BANK is becoming a real necessity." says Mark Mason, Shift4's VP of Sales and Marketing. All too often the blame for security breaches, which put consumers' credit card data in the hands of criminal hackers, falls squarely on the shoulders of the transaction software provider. However, in the recently publicized case of CD Universe, an on-line music seller, some basic systems safeguards could have prevented the incident. What E-Commerce Merchants should not do:

Do not assume that your e-payment software provider is a security expert. Independent resellers with little or no technical expertise often sell credit card processing software without knowledge of security issues.
Do not treat the selection of payment processing software as an auxiliary item. How customers pay for your goods and services is essential to your success, so the system that supports these transactions should be regarded as such. If your web development firm is not well versed in security issues, choose another firm or demand that you choose your own payment-processing vendor.

What E-Commerce Merchants should do:

Enlist the services of a credit card transaction specialist with expertise in Internet, software, hardware and data security.
Invest in firewall security, but DO NOT rely on this single defense mechanism to protect you from every possible threat.
Limit all anonymous connections to your web server.
Store customers' credit card data on a non-viewable directory, preferably on a separate server than that of your web pages.
Avoid file-based credit card processing software.
Look for direct sockets-based credit card processing software.
Prevent non-trusted employee's physical access to web server areas.
Disable directory scanning.
Be aware that your shopping cart and other web-based software may maintain credit card data, and thus be vulnerable to attack. Secure the data in these applications as indicated above.

What on-line Shoppers should do:

Obtain a credit card account with a moderate limit to be used for on-line purchases only.
Check your card statement regularly and report suspect transactions immediately.
Realize that, purchase for purchase, on-line shopping has been proven to be safer than traditional mail/telephone order or face-to-face shopping.

About Apropos Retail Management Systems, Inc.

Founded in 1989, Apropos Retail Management Systems has become the leading supplier of advanced technology retail software and system solutions to the growing market of small to mid-size chains, from 5 to 250+ store locations. Apropos provides a complete, one-stop solution from E-Commerce to POS to Back Office to Accounting and Data Warehousing - all built on the most advanced technology, and tied together with full professional services.

About SpaSoft

SpaSoft was launched in September of 1993 at the International Spa Association (I/Spa) Trade Show in Florida. Since its initial release it has gained an international reputation for expertly managing the Scheduling and Reporting needs of a variety of Spas, ranging from small city Day Spas to large Resort Destination Spas.