Having been a largely unchanged technology for decades, bank ATMs face new pressures from both regulatory and business requirements. One of the strongest of these is the need for improved security in the form of Triple DES and Windows XP SP2.

However, despite these new requirements, the underlying technology, and primarily the PC core, is struggling to keep up. Due to the slow change of ATM technology, the majority of the installed machines are still running OS/2 often on low specification hardware (with Intel 386 processors and limited memory). This means that the typical ATM configuration is incapable of supporting the required changes let alone other desirable features such as graphics, CRM and advertising.

Some machines can be upgraded with original vendor-supplied equipment. For most ATMs the only "upgrade" option is to be completely replaced - despite still having significant lifespan left in the ATM. That is now set to change.

KAL's new Kalignite Upgrade products introduce a new low cost alternative to these vendor-supplied solutions. The Kalignite Upgrade products keeps existing ATMs in service for significantly longer than otherwise possible at a much lower total cost of ownership than purchasing new ATMs or upgrading using ATM-vendor supplied solutions.

Initially, KAL will be providing the following two Upgrade Solutions:

Kalignite Triple-DES Upgrade for Bank ATMs
This solves the pressing need for banks to introduce this high-security encryption feature into their ATM estate. The Upgrade package is simple to deploy and contains all of the hardware and software components needed to migrate banks' existing machines including a Triple-DES compliant Encrypting PIN Pad (EPP), a new PC processor with Windows XP SP2 plus the multi-vendor Kalignite NDC application. Aside from the EPP, the Upgrade solution retains the existing ATM peripheral devices and offers the ability to connect replacement or new, off-the-shelf devices if desired.

Kalignite OS/2-to-XP Upgrade for Bank ATMs
This solution upgrades the ATM to Windows XP SP2 running on a new PC processor and brings it to the same feature-rich hardware and software level as with our Triple-DES upgrade plus the multi-vendor Kalignite NDC application.

Benefits of the KAL Upgrade Solutions for Bank ATMs:

		Upgrade existing ATMs at low cost
		Easily installed and maintained by a wide variety of third party service organizations
		Plug-in the solution to the existing network with no changes to the rest of the infrastructure
		Maintain existing peripherals minimizing training for support engineers
		No dependence on the original ATM manufacturer
		Provides enhanced security though Triple-DES
		Kalignite NDC and the Kalignite Platform fully support open standards so changes and enhancements can be performed cost effectively
		Choose any ATM component supplier for future additions and upgrades
		Advanced features and capabilities of Kalignite NDC enables the integration of CRM, advertising and other new services and dramatically enhances the customer experience