Getting message

Ann All, editor

• 09 Aug 2004

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Twenty-two years after an especially incendiary performance at Royal Albert Hall, Dylan's record label released an "official" version of the concert with re-mastered, state-of-the-art sound. The result: a renewed appreciation of Dylan's role in shaping popular music.

"If more vendors were as open as Triton, all of our lives would be a little less complicated," said Chris Klein, executive vice president of marketing for Mosaic Software, developer of the Postilion transaction processing platform.

"For businesses like ACI it means supporting less device handlers and the associated maintenance like Triple DES, EMV and remote key downloading," agreed Rick DuVall, a senior product manager for ACI Worldwide, developer of the BASE24 transaction processing platform. "For customers, it means not having to purchase and maintain additional device handlers. It gives them the ability to shop multiple ATM vendors more easily."

A little history

Message specifications like Triton Standard dictate how ATMs communicate with host processors and vice versa. Triton was one of the early pioneers of creating specifications for ATMs using dial-up communications.

The first dial-up specification was created by Tidel in 1992 for its AnyCard ATM. Like Triton, Tidel based the spec on the Visa II protocol, which had been developed for point-of-sale terminals. Transaction processor ACS helped produce the spec.

Also in 1992, Triton began developing a spec for its Scrip Jr terminal, working with transaction processor Intercept.

Before the introduction of dial-up ATMs in the early '90s, all ATMs used leased line communications. Host processors created configurations of  "states and screens" for each ATM operation. Leased-line terminals collect information when a customer requests a particular type of transaction and transmit it to the host; the host then downloads the appropriate configuration.

The approach wasn't appropriate for retail ATMs, said Bill Jackson, Triton's vice president of research and development. "Programming screens for each terminal by the host is time consuming, so a different model was needed."

So Triton and Tidel modeled their retail ATMs on POS terminals, with the ATM containing all of the screens, states and programming it needs to perform transactions.

This approach makes terminal set-up and configuration "trivial" and supports communication using a far less expensive dial-up telephone line, Jackson said.

Because of the newness of dial-up ATMs, Jackson said, Triton had to develop a new interface each time it signed with a new transaction processor. "The interface had to match something they already supported. The message formats were all similar; the same information was needed to do the job - but it was always arranged in a different way."

By 1996, Jackson said Triton had developed more than a half dozen formats for a like number of processors.

"We could not make changes or add new features because the host was in charge of the format. They supported other devices with the same format and did not want to change just for us," he said. "This made life miserable for programmers at Triton. We were supporting lots of versions of code and had to know what processor a customer was using before we built the terminal. Changing processors in the field meant a complete software reload and configuration."

A new relationship with Concord EFS (then EPS) in 1996 marked a change. Concord offered to write code to support Triton's ATMs. "Up to that point in time, no one wrote code to support us. We wrote code to support them," Jackson said.

Triton kept the Visa II protocol but started with a clean slate for the Concord message format itself, Jackson said. Based on its previous experiences with complicated, processor-specific modifications, the manufacturer built the message structure in a way that allowed for modification with no changes to the original framework.

"A brand new RL5000 (Triton's newest and most advanced ATM) could be supported by any processor that wrote software based on the first release of Triton Standard. A 9500 (last manufactured in 1997) would work perfectly with any processor today even if they were supporting the latest version of Triton Standard," he explained. "The goal was to have the version of any terminal code be fully compatible with any version of host processor code, no matter how old or new either was."

Form of flattery?

Because of the popularity of its 9600 ATM, Triton was able to convince processors to support the new standard. Today, some 50 processors around the world do so, Jackson said.

It has become so popular that a number of other manufacturers, including several of the largest in the world, emulate it. Such emulation occurs, said ACI's DuVall, because "it's easier for new players to get into the market by emulating someone else rather than convincing companies like ACI to build new device handlers."

Indeed, many manufacturers also emulate 911/912, a Diebold message format, and NDC/NDC+, an NCR message format. Fujitsu's Prism software, which Triton has licensed for use with its new Windows-based ATMs, features Diebold 912 emulation.

Jackson believes the widespread practice of emulation is tolerated -- though not encouraged -- because ultimately it helps facilitate development of new ATM applications.

Noting that Triton's specification has been shared with partners like Mosaic Software and ACI under non-disclosure agreements, he said, "Triton has never pursued any kind of legal action against anyone, manufacturer or processor. As far as I know, neither have NCR or Diebold. I think this is because each emulates the other and what goes around, comes around. We do not sanction or condone (emulation), but also do not actively discourage it."

Cleaner copy

Triton hopes that offering freer access to its specification will result in "cleaner" emulations, with less testing and development required for software developers and processors, Jackson said.

"If the specification isn't officially open, the emulators, due to a lack of knowledge, eventually drift away from the official specification and companies like ACI are forced to support these nuances in order to keep our customers content," DuVall said.

Offering new functionality should become quicker and easier for manufacturers currently emulating Triton that choose to adopt Triton Standard, said Mike Cowart, operations director, ATM Services for transaction processor Lynk Systems.

Lynk and other processors "make enhancements and updates to Triton Standard first, then look at emulations," Cowart said.

Brad Zerman, president of Qualtex Corporation, which manufactures the WeatherMaster ATM, said Triton's decision to open its spec "is huge for us."

His company is considering entering the burgeoning retail ATM market in the United Kingdom. Developing support for EMV, a smart card standard mandated in the UK, would have been costly, he said. "Triton already supports EMV, so that will allow us to minimize our development costs if and when we decide to enter that market."

Open issues

Triton originally intended to post the Triton Standard spec on its Web site. Due to security concerns, Jackson said it will post a request form instead. It will not collect a license fee, or otherwise charge anyone to use it.

"We are modifying the plan to give it to anyone that legitimately could use it, including competitors, but with a non-disclosure agreement of some kind. While we will continue to help any legitimate processor to develop drivers for it, we will not provide any technical assistance or help to any competitor," he said.

Jackson said Triton hopes to accelerate the development of new ATM features and functionality. "We have always solicited feedback from processors on what we could do to enhance the specification. We do not expect to solicit feedback from competitors; we will not ignore it, either."

By opening its standard, Triton could "theoretically lose some market share due to removing a barrier to other entrants," said ACI's DuVall.

Jackson said the manufacturer hopes Triton Standard will become a communications-independent standard for entry-level ATMs, much as IFX is becoming a standard for more sophisticated machines.
 
"Open standards are good for the industry and will be good for Triton," he said.

At least one competitor worries that encouraging adoption of existing vendor standards, including Triton Standard, could slow a broad move to IFX.

"IFX is not solely being driven by ATM manufacturers; rather it is being driven by the financial industry as a whole. It is the first time a standard has been defined whereby institutions can truly influence what functionality each ATM provider, switch vendor or network provider should implement to meet the customer business needs," said Joe Gallagher, general manager of Software and Services for NCR's Financial Solutions division. "Releasing or advocating adoption of existing vendor standards will not encourage the industry at large to move to IFX and could potentially slow the pace of adoption."