Inside the mSuite

As a mobile payment technology provider, AnywhereCommerce has an IP portfolio that includes what it touts as the de facto audio-jack patents, which now total six. And operating behind the scenes is a company-engineered platform that unites each piece of the payments puzzle.

"Our strategy is to come in and offer a true end-to-end payment solution, where we take over the entire product set," said William "Bill" Nichols, Chief Executive Officer at AnywhereCommerce. "We deliver the hardware, the applications, the integration between that app and the device. We send the transaction down the payment line." Once online, a series of portals allows all parties to monitor business activity. AnywhereCommerce Vice President of Marketing Michelle Wagner described the company's offerings as "a family of solutions that includes everything from devices to the mobile apps to APIs and software development kits to a back-end management platform – that's our solutions set."

EMV experts

Having experience with Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) chip-card implementation in the Canadian market, AnywhereCommerce plans to help U.S. merchants transitioning to EMV. "Of course, EMV has been prolific throughout the international community for the better part of 10 to 15 years, so in driving those opportunities we learned a lot about EMV and our capability," Nichols said. "Now it gives us the opportunity to bring that package to North America."

To facilitate U.S. EMV migration, payments veteran Ken Elderts joined the AnywhereCommerce team as Vice President of Sales, ISO Channel. "AnywhereCommerce has taken the lead in creating a broad menu of services that make it easy for ISOs to deliver customized solutions that are EMV-certified and field-proven," Elderts stated. "We are committed to helping ISOs and acquirers make the transition to EMV seamlessly and cost effectively."

ISOs have a choice of integration options that can be bundled accordingly. "We can deliver it as AC SimplePay, which is a complete packaged solution that somebody takes, and they're up and running quickly," Wagner said.

"Or it can be delivered through our AC CorePay software development kit, which allows them to integrate it with their system in a more customized manner."

For most ISOs, AC SimplePay is the quickest route. "You plug in the device, very similar to the Square model," Nichols said. "We have the entire boarding system and back-end processes." With AC CorePay, developers can use the "drag and drop" interface to integrate payment functions into third-party applications and complete the process in less than a day in most cases, the company stated.

Interoperability is another key issue AnywhereCommerce has addressed. "We're focused on making sure that all of our products are interoperable across all operating systems and that our hardware is completely certified," Nichols noted.

AnywhereCommerce reported that its patented audio jack connectivity and encryption technologies are embedded in the Nomad secure chip-card and mag stripe mPOS appliance; the Walker dual chip and signature, and mag stripe reader; its Rover mag stripe device with PIN-entry capability; and the Rambler audio jack-based card reader.

Global connectivity

To help small and midsize businesses reach global customers, the company has certified its suite of hardware, software and gateway solutions to support dozens of international platforms, payment types and third-party integrations. Expansions into China and Central and South America are among the recent examples AnywhereCommerce cited.

"Our hardware is PBOC [People's Bank of China] certified for accepting UnionPay transactions," Nichols said. "If there is an opportunity to partner with someone in the U.S. that needs to accept UnionPay cards, we have that capability in the mobile space, and not too many people can say they have that."

AnywhereCommerce has also established relationships with a majority of the leading merchant acquirers in North America. Its ISO and ISV partners have an opportunity to build end-to-end, off-the-shelf or purpose-built solutions with experts who truly understand mobile commerce from its inception, the company noted.

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