MasterCard International has signed an exclusive agreement with Harmonic Systems Inc. of Minneapolis to sell electronic payment and data communication services to retail merchants.
The service is a so-called virtual private network, which will let merchants complete point of sale transactions in as few as five seconds, a speed normally possible only with private networks.
Cutting Costs
The service is designed to help merchants in cutting their data communication costs by a third to a half, Harmonic Systems president Barrs Lewis said in a prepared statement.
The virtual private network will be marked by a MasterCard unit called the Automated Point-of-Sale Program, known as MAPP.
"This agreement leverages our expertise in point of sale processing and the expertise of Harmonics in retail automation," said Heidi Goff, a senior vice president for the automated point of sale program.