The point of sale terminal maker Hypercom Corp. is letting merchants connect their terminals to the Internet through digital subscriber lines, which can reduce the approval time for a card transaction to one second, from seven to 10 seconds or more.
The DSL feature is available on new models of Hypercom's ICE line of Internet-enabled terminals, but merchants who already have the terminals cannot upgrade them to support digital subscriber lines.
Though DSL connections give merchants faster approval times, the technology is expensive. Internet terminals with the DSL feature cost about $100 more than regular Internet-enabled terminals, which are themselves more expensive than ones that do not connect to the Web. The $100 extra does not include the continuing cost of DSL service, which might be as much as $100 a month, according to vendors.
Hypercom said it hopes to attract merchants who already have DSL lines and thus can use existing connections to make use of the terminals.
John Marshall, senior vice president of the Phoenix-based company, said high-volume businesses, such as fast-food chains, would probably be the ones most interested in the terminals' fast authentication times. The high-speed link lets merchants and card issuers identify cardholders quickly enough to send personalized ads to the terminals' color screens, he said.
"DSL will unleash the ability to move images, graphics, and color," Mr. Marshall said. "If I had this screen and could get the client to look at it, then what could I possibly do with this?"
The technology will help merchants and card issuers design better loyalty programs and customer-specific offers, Mr. Marshall said. High-speed communications will let advertisers transmit such offers without compromising transaction times, he said.
"It all comes down to, 'Do you have enough bandwidth?' " Mr. Marshall said.
He predicted that merchants, card companies, and advertisers will take advantage of the DSL terminals and their ability to "deal with people almost instantly."
