EL PASO, Texas - These are tough days for many lenders as the housing market is flat in many markets and competition is keen in all markets.

An open letter to credit union leaders:

SEATTLE - Was ist los? Que pasa? Fuze Digital Solutions can answer those questions. The company announced its Fuze Suite v6.2 now supports Spanish, French and German, and will add languages requiring Unicode, Chinese and Japanese, in the near future.

BEDFORD, Mass. - Two-factor authentication should find a receptive audience among consumers, according to a new survey.

LAS VEGAS - One company believes it has a way to raise the IQ of front-line staff.

The CU Journal recently reported on the changing demands on CIOs. I'm one of them. How do you see that role changing, and what does your panel primarily expect and want from CIOs/IT staff at client credit unions?

BEDFORD, Mass. - Look for some "pretty scary" security threats to blow in this year, in the form of do-it-yourself kits that allow amateurs to launch man-in-the-middle attacks, and invisible Trojan computer viruses.

LAS VEGAS - If there is one common denominator in what credit unions want from their technology solutions, it is openness.

SAN FRANCISCO - Fear and awareness of identify fraud may be up, but actual cases are down, according to a new survey.

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. - If Mike Kloiber forgets to turn forward his watch crown on Sunday, March 11 to get an early start on daylight-saving time this year, the world probably won't stop spinning for the Tinker Federal Credit Union CEO.

DENVER - Bellco CU wanted to do right by its members, deciding to reward those with the greatest depth of relationship. The CU started using profitability analysis software to help make decisions about segmenting the membership and refining its rewards program.

PROVO, Utah - Members compliment and complain to Utah Community Credit Union (UCCU) here through an online feedback system-and call center representatives usually respond within two hours.

LAS VEGAS - This may finally be the year video finally moves from fantasy to a deployed solution in interacting with members.

GLASTONBURY, Conn. - Open Solutions Inc. announced that Tampa, Fla.-based GTE Federal Credit Union successfully implemented Open Solutions' data processing platform, The Complete Credit Union Solution and other complementary products. With more than $2 billion in assets, 39 branches and approximately 250,000 members, GTE's footprint continues to expand, both through acquisitions and aggressive member growth. Open Solutions' DP platform is now the core technology for all of GTE's product and service delivery initiatives.

MOORPARK, Calif. - LynxGate Solutions, a provider of the Fiserv Inc. product CAT ATM management suite announced that San Mateo Credit Union (SMCU) has selected LynxGate's Controller for Automated Tellers (CAT) solution. SMCU has more than $570 million in assets and a growing network of 18 ATMs. LynxGate's CAT solution will provide the credit union with advanced ATM management, monitoring and switch gateway capabilities.

PROVO, Utah - Reading feedback from members can be "a lot of fun," according to Brad Norton, vice president, marketing and business development at Utah Community CU (UCCU), which uses a web-based feedback management tool.

LAS VEGAS - In what may be a first in disaster recovery technology for credit unions, Clark County CU (CCCU) here is unveiling a new hot site, built and maintained entirely by staff members.

MySpace isn't just the new channel where credit unions can market to Gen Y (see related story). Credit Union Journal found that credit unions have become part of the fabric of the ubiquitous social-networking site in other ways.

DENVER - Bellco CU always took for granted that its borrowing members were the most profitable.

FRISCO, Texas - IntegraSys announced it has completed the first three platforms of the system-wide technology refresh of its Credit Union Business Environment (CUBE) core processing system. With in-house and service-bureau delivery options, CUBE leverages Microsoft technologies to provide credit unions with maximum flexibility through its open architecture, integration capabilities and unprecedented ease-of-use.