News from the Wire

TNS, Semtek provide end-to-end encryption for merchants and acquirers

Monday, April 20, 2009 — 13:35:27 (EDT)

Reston, Va., Apr. 20, 2009 -- Transaction Network Services (NYSE:TNS) has joined forces with Semtek to provide managed decryption and communication services as part of a comprehensive end-to-end card processing encryption solution for the payments industry. TNS’ PCI DSS certified global backbone network will support Semtek’s Cipher Hidden Encryption (CHE™), providing a seamless security solution for both large retailers and processors alike. TNS will facilitate the underlying network management, transaction decryption and encrypted connectivity to defined processors and acquirers, working closely with secure data capture firm Semtek.

The end-to-end encryption solution, which will help prevent fraudulent card transactions, will be available from this summer and is compatible with existing processing environments, making its implementation easy for participating retailers, acquirers and processers. In addition to strong security for card information and protection from data breaches, merchants and acquirers will also benefit from fast implementation time by utilizing TNS’ extensive network, which is one of the largest in the payments industry. Jim Foster, Senior Vice President of TNS’ Point of Sale division said “By joining forces with Semtek we can provide new security solutions for the payments industry which can be installed without disrupting day-to-day business activities. The TNS managed service will offer additional protection to merchants and acquirers against data breaches similar to the ones experienced by businesses in recent years.

“Unscrupulous people are becoming more inventive and so it has never been more crucial to implement the latest and best security solutions available. After evaluating commercial alternatives for end-to-end encryption, we determined that Semtek’s CHE was a best in class provider and a great partner to go to market with. CHE is the only strong encryption solution that can be deployed end-to-end without disrupting merchants existing data and its structure. We’re excited about the opportunity to offer end-to-end encryption in a managed service model that makes it readily accessible to processors and their merchants.”

"Our Cipher technology provides an end-to-end security solution that is, we believe, the most efficient and powerful means of securing card data available in the world today," said Patrick Hazel, Semtek’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our clients have been looking for options to streamline the implementation process and TNS will be a superb partner to make this happen.”

Visitors to this week’s ETA exhibition in Las Vegas will be able to learn more about how this new security solution can benefit their businesses. Visit TNS at stand 907. About Transaction Network Services: Transaction Network Services (TNS) is an international data communications company that enables payments, money and voices, to move around the world. TNS’ mission is to enable the world to transact. It does this through a broad range of networking, communications and value added services, which it provides to many of the world’s leading retailers, banks/processors, telecommunications companies and financial markets. Since its inception in 1990, TNS has designed and implemented multiple data networks, each designed specifically for the transport of transaction-oriented data. TNS' networks support a variety of widely accepted communications protocols and are designed to be scalable and accessible by multiple methods. Today, TNS has offices throughout the world serving customers in 28 countries with the ability to provide services in other countries. For further information about TNS, visit www.tnsi.com Statements and information contained in our press releases and newsletters that are not descriptions of historical fact may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or performance and from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods. www.tnsi.com About Semtek: Semtek Corporation has been a leader in magnetic technology since 1999, serving large public and private sector clients who require secure data capture components for their fixed-base and wireless devices. Since 2004, Semtek has been focused on resolving the security deficiencies of magnetic stripe based payment systems and is playing an increasingly central role in the development of end to end security architectures for merchants and payment processors.

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Source: Company press release.