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POS Portal Inc., a Sacramento, Calif.-based point-of-sale terminal distributor, is offering a new service that enables independent sales organizations to update a merchant's terminal remotely. When signing new merchants, ISOs typically would send their existing terminals to a service shop for configuration with the ISO and processor. Now they may log on to the Hosted Download Management service Web site to create files to install in payment terminals, POS Portal says. ISOs will pay a $500 one-time set-up fee, a $50 monthly fee and $10 per download, according to POS Portal. Speeding up the terminal conversion reduces the time between signing the merchant account and activating it. If that process takes too long, some merchants have been known to choose not to activate the account or switch to another ISO. Some of the terminal manufacturers offer a similar service that enables remote management of devices, and includes security updates.
