ACI Worldwide (Nasdaq: ACIW), a leading international provider of software for electronic payment systems, today announced that Westsphere Systems has selected BASE24 and ACI Payments Manager to enable Westsphere to become a new ATM/POS acquirer in the Canadian market.
The solution will operate in an ACI On Demand hosted services environment. With an initial deployment of 1,500 devices nationwide, Westsphere plans to leverage their On Demand solution and expand their network over time.
"ACI is a leader in the Canadian market among Interac members," said Doug MacDonald, president and CEO at Westsphere Systems. "After extensive research, we chose ACI based on the company's experience, expertise and unique ability to provide the functionality we need to service our customers."
ACI On Demand will allow Westsphere to use ACI's world-class payments software through a hosted solution arrangement in which ACI will configure and host a unique copy of its software to meet Westsphere's needs. This will offer Westsphere greater control than traditional outsourcing and multi-tenant arrangements and eliminate the need for the customer to staff and manage its own systems infrastructure.
Westsphere will run ACI's flagship payment engine, BASE24, and ACI Payments Manager in the hosted environment. BASE24 provides a comprehensive, high-performance, fault-tolerant solution to deliver services through ATMs, kiosks and self-service devices. It also offers a fast, powerful authorisation system that can improve margins by reducing losses and operational costs while allowing customers to pursue new opportunities.
ACI Payments Manager is a modular software solution that enables financial institutions and processors to automate the clearing and settlement of electronic payment transactions. The solution also provides card issuance and transaction instrument program support.
ACI On Demand solutions are operated at remote data centers with full backup capabilities to ensure business continuity. System availability and performance are guaranteed through service-level agreements.
MacDonald continued, "By partnering with ACI, we have partnered with the largest supplier of electronic processing application software and systems servicing nine oof Canada's top 10 conventional banking operations."
"This is an exciting time for payments processing in Canada," said Mark Vipond, chief operating officer at ACI. "We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to partner with Westsphere as it embarks on new ventures and business opportunities. The ACI On Demand environment should prove to be ideal for Westsphere's needs."