Spark Ventures

 

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Level Four Americas LLC, a leading supplier of open standards-based ATM software, announced that its BRIDGE:test software is being utilized by two of the Top Five financial institutions in the U.S. and three of the Top Ten financial institutions in Canada.

BRIDGE:test enables banks to automate their software Quality Assurance testing, minimizing the chance of software failures which result in downtime. BRIDGE:test is used in North America to test the software applications that run in excess of 33,000 ATMs.

IBM’s withdrawal of support for OS/2 - the long-reigning chief operating system for ATMs - has instigated a period of sustained change within the ATM marketplace as ATM networks shift to Windows®-based operating systems. The Windows operating system affords a greater graphical capacity with options for advanced transaction functionality and personalization, and also goes hand in hand with the eXtensions for Financial Services (XFS) open standard, which enables banks to separate purchase decisions between ATM hardware and software. However, the move to Windows has resulted in significantly increased complexity of the ATM terminal and a greater frequency of change in the software environment itself, resulting in a greatly increased testing burden.

Level Four’s BRIDGE:control product assists banks in ensuring ATM uptime by employing state-of-the-art methods to deliver reliability at the ATM. Using techniques such as remote software maintenance, predictive hardware maintenance and direct-to-device diagnostics, BRIDGE:control is helping banks maximize their ATM uptime. Both BRIDGE:test and BRIDGE:control assist banks in building, testing and managing XFS-compliant, multi-vendor ATM applications that increase customer satisfaction ratings, expand features and reduce operating expenses.

“Despite the recent write-downs associated with the mortgage side of our customer’s businesses, the demand for BRIDGE:test and BRIDGE:control remains high due to the strong return on investment and incremental increase in ATM uptime these products provide,” Steven
R. Lund, president, Level Four Americas. “The ill effects of rolling out an ATM application without adequate testing can be staggering in both cost and reputation. Automated testing of the application and the ATM software stack also improves speed to market, which is of particular significance at the ATM channel, as it remains banks’ highest contact point with their customers.”

Level Four will shortly release a Guide for U.S.-based ATM networks migrating to the Windows-based operating system that will offer best practices for the move.

About Level Four Americas LLC
Level Four’s BRIDGE suite of open standards ATM software products has been developed to address the needs of ATM deployers seeking to maximize their investment in the ATM channel. BRIDGE is targeted at banks and ATM deployers who are running, or seeking to run, a modern ATM network based on the industry-wide CEN/XFS open architecture standard. A true holistic end-to-end offering, BRIDGE addresses the needs of ATM deployers in the areas of installation, testing and monitoring as well as run-time ATM application software.

Level Four Americas has built an impressive customer base of banks and payments processors in North America including Bank of America, CIBC and many of the top financial institutions in the US and Canada. Level Four's global customer base includes Royal Bank of Scotland, ING, National Bank of Dubai, Vocalink and Standard Bank of South Africa. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Level Four Americas' parent company is located in Dunfermline, Scotland, and also has offices in Dubai, UAE. Additional information is available via the company’s Web site at www.levelfour.com.