A San Francisco-based company on March 30 announced its introduction of a modular set of software frameworks and applications designed to facilitate deployment of Near Field Communication payments and other contactless services by resolving fragmentation and interoperability issues affecting NFC software and hardware installations.
Zenius Solutions Inc. says its NFC Transactions Suite features the Zenius NFC Framework, software to enable communication with multiple secure elements, such as the chips that store information on the phone; the Zenius Mobile Wallet, a rebrandable electronic wallet that enables users to select and manage applications; Zenius Open-loop MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover applets; and Zenius White-label card applications, a group of closed-loop NFC applications.
The company also announced the release of M-Transact, software that turns NFC-enabled smart phones into NFC acceptance point-of-sale and transaction devices; and Zenius TransactionServer, an advanced transaction server supporting the Zenius White-label applications.
The suite provides all mobile payment stakeholders–carriers, banks, issuers, merchants, marketers, developers and manufacturers–with a centralized means to deploy NFC mobile-payment applications and systems, Zenius noted in a press release.
“The market desperately needed a hardware-agnostic architecture that supports the global NFC ecosystem,” John Wiese, Zenius president and CEO, said in the release. “That’s why we have been working closely with all major and emerging enablers in the value chain to build an interoperable system from the ground up that can both fuel and accommodate rapid growth in demand.”
The Zenius NFC Framework, Open-loop payment services and White-label applications are available for integration immediately. The NFC Framework makes it possible for payments, transportation, loyalty, access and identity providers to develop NFC applications rapidly for their entire customer base, and it easily supports multiple secure elements on virtually all mobile-phone platforms, according to the company.
Users of the suite will pay licensing fees that will vary based on their business models and the extent of the company’s software used, Wiese tells PaymentsSource. Volume and how a company makes money from the software also will play a role in the fees licensees pay, he says.
Zenius is both the provider and reseller of its software. The company is working with various hardware partners, including Device Fidelity Inc., Wireless Dynamics Inc. and Giesecke & Devrient, Wiese says. It also is talking with makers of point-of-sale terminals, but Wiese was unable to note specific names.
The company also is in discussions with various card issuers and acquirers, but only Discover Financial Services has granted permission to acknowledge its involvement with the company thus far, Wiese says.
Zenius provides source code and consulting expertise for Discover’s Zip contactless product. Troy Bernard, Discover director of chip payment technology, tells PaymentsSource he is still evaluating how Zenius’ NFC Transactions Suite might help Discover with its contactless endeavors.
But Zenius is addressing a problem affecting the market, Bernard says. “Our customers are acquirers, issuers and merchants, and all are interested in bringing about mobile payments, redeeming offers tied to loyalty cards and coupons, and consolidating them into one wallet,” he says. “Having a common product that is compatible would benefit the industry as a whole.”
Bernard declined to speculate on how the NFC Transactions Suite might affect Discover’s involvement with Isis, the card brand’s NFC partnership with AT&T Inc., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. (
Wiese believes the “tipping point has arrived” for NFC to emerge as an option to using plastic. In the next couple of years, the adoption rate could hit “the 10% range,” he tells PaymentsSource.
“We’ve got these infrastructure builders doing NFC and spending hundreds of millions globally now,” Wiese says. “We’re not on an upward curve of the hockey stick yet, but with the money being put behind this, it’s moving at a rate faster than I thought it would.”
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