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| For
immediate release
alphyra and ViVOtech Announce Strategic Alliance
at Cartes 2006 Event in Paris
alphyra to use ViVOtech’s next generation software platform
to deliver new range of gift, prepaid and loyalty products to the
European market
Paris, France, 7th November 2006 - alphyra, the
owner of payzone, Europe’s largest branded network for the
collection of
consumer payments, and ViVOtech, the leading infrastructure provider
of the third generation of electronic payment technologies, today
announced the signing of a software licence and services agreement.
The agreement gives alphyra access to ViVOplatform, a software platform
that supports a new range of integrated gift, prepaid, promotions,
and loyalty products for retailers including department stores,
convenience stores, gift shops, restaurants, hotels, leisure outlets,
bookshops and music stores. ViVOplatform software is designed to
work with the current generation of payment cards and to integrate
with ViVOtech’s contactless, Near Field Communication (NFC)
and Over-the-Air (OTA) payment provisioning technologies.
The United States market is the largest gift and prepaid card market
in the world and ViVOplatform has a number of unique functional
and technical features that will enable European retailers to launch
new and exciting products to their consumers.
According to Payment System Europe (PSE) Consulting, Europeans are
expected to spend some €75 billion using prepaid cards by 2010,
of which €20 billion will be spent using retailer-issued gift
cards. This strategic alliance with ViVOtech positions alphyra well
to capitalise on the growth in the prepaid and gift card market.
In addition, alphyra will be able to exploit the next generation
of payment systems developed by ViVOtech using ViVOpay contactless
readers, ViVOcards/fobs, and ViVOnfc mobile phone and
OTA payment provisioning software. These innovative solutions allow
consumers to make contactless payments with radio frequency-enabled
credit cards, smart cards, debit cards, key fobs, and NFC-enabled
mobile phones. These new technologies will also enable retailers
and card issuers such as banks to offer locationbased and personalised
loyalty, coupon and promotion programs.
alphyra already has a significant pre-paid mobile top up business
relationship with the mobile telephone operators in Europe and is
in a unique position to work with the mobile telephone sector to
leverage new commercial opportunities presented by the imminent
deployment of NFC-enabled mobile phones.
John
Nagle, CEO of alphyra said: “alphyra is delighted to partner
with a Silicon Valley company that has pioneered the development
of the next generation of payment technologies. The ViVOtech gift
and loyalty platform gives alphyra an immediate competitive edge
in cross-selling these services to the 100,000 + retailers with
whom we have relationships across Europe and it has already helped
us to win new customers in the retail sector.
“We’re very excited about the synergies that will flow
from ViVOtech’s leadership in contactless, NFC phone, and
OTA payment provisioning technologies and alphyra’s strategic
relationship with the mobile telephone industry in Europe. The fast
transaction speeds and other advantages offered by contactless/NFC
solutions will bring real benefits to convenience stores and other
retailers where quick and efficient check out service is important
for both the retailer and the consumer.”
“ViVOtech’s
strategy is to be the leading enabler of innovative payments providers.
We are honoured to work with Europe’s largest branded network
for the collection of consumer payments - alphyra has a unique presence
in Europe and through working with ViVOtech they are ideally positioned
to capitalize on the expected high growth in prepaid, gift, and
loyalty markets in the coming years,” said Michael Mullagh,
CEO, ViVOtech. “Using ViVOtech software products alphyra is
able to leap frog on to the next generation of payment and loyalty
services and to offer them to European retailers. This has already
resulted in wins for alphyra in Europe.”
alphyra plans
to go live with its gift card, prepaid and loyalty services at two
major retailers before the end of year 2006.
To
see the demo of ViVOplatform and other contactless and NFC technologies,
visit ViVOtech booth # 4L34 at Cartes 2006 in Paris, France.
About
alphyra
alphyra operates payzone, Europe’s largest branded network
of 150,000 retail points for the collection of consumer payments.
Headquartered in Dublin, with operations in 20 countries across
Europe, it processes over 400 million transactions per year on behalf
of its clients with a value of over 12 billion Euro. alphyra is
the clear market leader in its industry offering a wide range of
services including pre-paid mobile top-ups, energy pre-payments,
bill & general payments, pre-paid VISA vouchers, local &
housing authority payments, pre-paid credit cards, payment vouchers
for online use, pre-paid stored value cards including gift card
and loyalty, contactless payment solutions, transport ticketing,
lottery applications, parking and electronic road
tolling, debit & credit card transactions and money transfer.
For further, information visit www.alphyra.com.
About
ViVOtech
ViVOtech is the market leader in contactless/NFC/OTA payment software,
transaction management systems, and readers. These innovative solutions
allow consumers to make contactless payments with radio frequency-enabled
credit cards, debit cards, key fobs, and NFC-enabled mobile phones.
ViVOtech's products are used by some of the most prominent retailers
in the United States. Currently, with more than 200,000 units in
18 countries, ViVOtech's products are in use at movie theaters,
fast food restaurants (QSR), casual dining establishments, convenience
stores, gas stations, drug stores, grocery stores, buses, taxicabs
and vending machine locations, enabling a wide variety of businesses
to accept contactless/NFC payments. In 2005, ViVOtech received the
prestigious Frost & Sullivan technology award for its role in
transforming the contactless payment industry, as well as winning
the first annual ETA Technology Innovation Award. ViVOtech was recently
honored with a MasterCard "Best Vendor Partner Award"
as the first vendor to deliver stand-alone contactless readers for
MasterCard PayPass customers. For further information, visit www.vivotech.com.
About
Cartes 2006
Visit www.cartes.com
For
further information, please contact:
alphyra
Smithfield
+44
(0)20 7360 4900
Rupert Trefgarne/Andrew Wilde
rtrefgarne@smithfieldgroup.com
ViVOtech
Editorial Contact:
Kristin Miller
SSPR
+ 1 719-634-8292
kmiller@sspr.com
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