Smart Bits: Verifact Assisting Restaurant Program

International Verifact Inc. said it is supplying the point of sale hardware for the electronic purse program launched in November by Restaurants Normandin.

In what the company said is the first private, mult-outlet smart card program of its kind in Canada, the Quebec restaurant chain is converting paper gift vouchers to electronic gift certificates. Cards loaded with 25 or 50 Canadian dollars can be used for payment at all 27 outlets.

The program is to add a loyalty-points component next year, using a microprocessor chip that will also allow the cards with depleted cash values to be reloaded.

International Verifact's Pospad II terminal will be used in all locations. Oberthur Canada is making the disposable memory cards for the launch phase, and the loyalty program will run on the High Co. XSL system.

The company "worked very closely with Cyberpro Technologies Inc., an experienced multiapplication smart card solutions provider in Canada," said David Groves, the point of sale company's vice president of engineering. "Cyberpro provided the application and we provided the terminal-hardware expertise."

Also, International Verifact and Groupe Ingenico of Paris announced a global strategic alliance to market smart card and other technology.

Under the terms of the arrangement, the two terminal manufacturers will license their technology to each other. International Verifact will incorporate Ingenico's secure smart card architecture in its own products and will become the exclusive distributor in Canada and the United States for all Ingenico products and related technology.

A joint venture with a majority stake owned by International Verifact will be the exclusive distributor for the products in Latin America, while Groupe Ingenico has the right to distribute selected International Verifact products outside the Americas. Closing was scheduled for Dec. 17.

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