Ingenico's eN-Concert Division Sold to Southern DataComm

By Nicole Zaro Stahl, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

After six years under the ownership of Ingenico, a French firm that specializes in secure transaction solutions, the eN-Concert technologies division at 5673 West Las Positas Boulevard has been acquired by another leader in the electronic payments industry, Largo, Florida-based Southern DataComm, Inc.

Since its November 2003 move-in, the group at the Hacienda site has been developing software that manages in-store transactions - all those debit and credit card swipes that pushed the dollar volume of Visa, MasterCard, and American Express purchases up to nearly $6 trillion in 2005. The Ingenico parent company, based in Atlanta, Georgia, provided the retail terminals, compatible with the major hardware and software platforms, for electronic signature capture and online debit PIN entry, along with a variety of advertising and custom applications. Combining the funds transfer and PIN pad software with its electronic payment terminals enabled Ingenico to handle the routing of money for many of the top retailers in the U.S., including Costco, Kmart, and Safeway.

The local eN-Concert team will continue its focus on developing, maintaining, and servicing proprietary electronic payment transaction processing software and extensive back office applications. According to Southern DataComm President Gary Eng, blending eN-Concert into the corporate fold will allow "value-added resellers and merchants to select one vendor for complete electronic payment automation, providing fast, secure, and reliable end-to-end payment solutions." An important feature of the eN-Concert product line is its compatibility with all major hardware and software platforms currently used by retailers, including IBM, NCR, Ingenico, VeriFone and others. The eN-Concert suite is available as separate modules or as an integrated system, providing customers with a flexible, scalable solution.

Southern DataComm has a long history in the field of merchant payment technology, going back to its founding in 1985. The company developed ProtoBase® Software, reputed to be one of the most recognized credit card processing solutions today. The eN-Concert acquisition represents a strategic move "in the tier-one, multi-lane retail market and signals a long-term commitment towards the expansion of our end-to-end suite of products and services to a broader customer base," states the press release announcing the purchase. The move "brings Ingenico in as one of many SDC strategic partners for ongoing terminal and hardware initiatives," notes the company, bolstering its efforts to become a strategic single-source provider for the processing of all electronic payments.

SDC provides integrated electronic transaction processing solutions to the North American lodging, travel, restaurant, e-commerce, specialty retail, ticketing, government and cable TV industries. The company's comprehensive line of solutions provides both high speed and secure authorizations and settlements for credit, debit, check, private label, and gift card transactions.

Photo: Southern DataComm's Hacienda facilities are at 5673 West Las Positas Boulevard, in the Stoneridge Business Center.

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