he company was named Prodata when it opened in 1972 in Belgium. In June 1993, it was acquired by a larger player out of Australia - namely, Intellect, whose focus was POS devices and electronic funds transport. Since that time, through highly developed technology and dedication to the customer, Intellect has established itself as a leading smart card specialist in Europe, Asia and Australia. It boasts a long history in point-of-sale terminals, outdoor payment solutions and non-attendant devices and has deployed more than 800,000 terminals worldwide.

Notwithstanding, Intellect brings credibility to the American market, from putting Belgium on the payment-processing map with the first outdoor POS infrastructure to Ireland's largest smart card rollout for Exxon's TigerMiles loyalty program.

"We are not just about providing devices," says CEO Jan de Smet. "We are about moving up the value chain in services and delivering value-added applications."

Intellect is looking at the U.S. with open eyes and arms. "We are a niche player here," says de Smet. "We come from that part of the world where smart cards were adopted years ago. Our devices are all engineered with that capability. Many of the products we've designed are over-engineered for the U.S. market. This will change as smart card usage increases."

Even with its strength in the POS and mobile e-commerce market, Intellect faces stiff competition in the United States. "We recognize VeriFone, Hypercom, Lipman as our competitors, and, quite frankly, up until now we weren't in a position to compete," says de Smet. "Now we are."

Intellect is positioning itself via new U.S. partners who are looking at smart cards with serious interest and investment and discussing those options with Intellect. While de Smet admits their interest may not be for immediate adoption, it is a definite commitment to future usage. "Our U.S. partners are realizing it's not so smart to keep relying on magnetic stripe devices," he says.

Combining local market support with a 30-country global infrastructure, Intellect offers both static and mobile terminals for face-to-face and unattended transactions. The star performer is its new Sapphire 9870, a mobile terminal that promises to meet all merchant needs. With high level security, EMV level 1, EMV level 2 kernel, a V.22bis fixed modem, magnetic and smart card hybrid reader as well as graphic display as standard, the 9870 is not only well equipped but boasts user friendliness as well. Intellect calls it the "any card, any time, any place" solution.

Intellect is quite serious about becoming a leading mobile payment provider. The Sapphire 9870 is just part of the Intellect Sapphire suite, dedicated to the mobile merchant. The first successful Sapphire was the 9770 model. In 1999, 7,000 Sapphire 9770 units were deployed.

The 9870 is the new and improved model. The differences are in shape and communication capabilities. "The 9870 is a far more modern device," says de Smet. "Mobile commerce has developed over the past few years, and we have grown with it."

Other Intellect products include its Microbank terminal for smart card-based home banking, OPT2027 for unattended payments (such as gas stations) and its IPT 8515 and newer multipay 8527 wireless terminals for debit, credit and private-label card transactions at the point-of-sale.

Interestingly enough, Intellect does not maintain a large inventory of product. "We adopt product for each market," says de Smet. "Every merchant has their own requirements, so we adapt each terminal to meet those merchant needs."

Intellect has equipment manufacturing plants and warehouses in Europe and Asia. Turnaround time for its smart card solutions averages from three to four months from start to finish.

As for the cost of getting smart, Intellect claims it has competitive pricing for all of its products and believes that once adoption of smart card technology is widespread in the U.S., those costs will become even more competitive.

Intellect is marketing its solutions across the board to both small and large merchants who require mobile capabilities. Two businesses, in particular, have hit the Intellect mark. AMPS Wireless Data Inc. was so impressed with the Sapphire 9870 that it contracted with Intellect in April 2002 for 1,000 units in the U.S. Then in May 2002, Intellect closed a $700,000 deal with ThruComm Inc. in conjunction with Paymentech for its OPT2027 terminals. ThruComm will be installing the outdoor terminals in drive-through restaurants.

A big part of Intellect's U.S. campaign is the ISO community. For the last three years, Intellect has been working with a select number of ISOs for its 9770 terminals via Linkpoint as its U.S. distributor. With the introduction of the 9870 terminal, Intellect believes its appeal to ISOs is even more intensified.

"We offer superior quality and technology," says de Smet. "Obviously, the high quality, high end players in this market will recognize our state-of-the-art product."

Intellect outsources customer and ISO support in the U.S. through its American partners and is negotiating with multiple U.S. entities to expand its support and smart card market share.

"The U.S. market is quite nicely structured, so we have five or six companies interested in us," says de Smet. "We're looking for partners with good penetration in local markets, capable of helping Intellect get better established in the market with partnerships already in place. We are always open to looking at new business models."

With obvious challenges, what motivated Intellect to make the big move into the American market? "We see a good opportunity," says de Smet. "Not as a mass market because there is still quite a difference between the market today and what we offer, but in the long run, if the services and partnerships are in place, once our technology is embraced, we're ready for strong penetration."

Predicting that penetration is a challenge for Intellect as well. "You don't know from what angle it will start, maybe two to three years," says de Smet. "You really need a couple of applications that justify the investment and usage of smart cards."

According to de Smet, the investment can be significant at the outset. He believes some merchants might need to replace their complete infrastructure to utilize smart cards since they use devices that are not smart card capable. In most cases, upgrading isn't an option.

"For those devices with the old mag stripe, they cannot move to smart card," says de Smet. "The investment involves not only money, but time, infrastructure and personnel."

Another obstacle de Smet sees to widespread smart card acceptance is attitude. According to de Smet, the main driving force for chip-based technology in Europe and Asia has been security. Many countries experienced high fraud rates and were driven to adopt alternative methods of payment processing. Not so in America.

"In the United States, companies are more pragmatic because they look at the economics of the situation," says de Smet. "The cost of preventing fraud is another whole thing. The American attitude is to deal with fraud rather than replace an entire infrastructure."

While de Smet admits that smart cards may not be the American solution of choice at the moment, he believes it will come. He sees smart companies starting to invest in new technology rather than continuing investments in obsolete solutions.

"As soon as one or more killer applications come into play, then the industry will take off," says de Smet. "We are hopeful about the future."

And Intellect has reason to be. It has tripled its revenue over the past three years. It has a positive cash flow and is opening new markets with obvious success.

"We are communicating with those markets," says de Smet. "We're not educating them. Rather, we are letting the market educate us. We have a very flexible attitude. Once a relationship is established, we then start talking to them about our technology. We show them what we have been doing around the world and the business behind that. We discuss revenue figures as well. Credibility is always found through revenue."