As industry demand for cost effective and innovative payment systems grows, two leaders - Ingenico a leading supplier of electronic payment terminals and Wavecom a leader in industrial wireless technology - are combining forces to establish a platform for a next generation wireless electronic payment system architecture.

The terms of the agreement make Wavecom the primary supplier of wireless technology to Ingenico for future generations of state-of-the-art wireless payment terminals. Furthermore, the two companies' R&D teams will work together, each bringing their own skilled experts to jointly evolve innovative, cost-effective new systems. The wireless payment systems space is complex, taking into account the highly rigorous needs of the banking industry for secure transactions, and one in which Ingenico has long time experience. It also depends on the cellular wireless world, one in which Wavecom is a pioneer and brings extensive expertise and unique skills for ensuring secured cellular communication.

Mobility is becoming a major trend in the payment terminal market, we anticipate that wireless terminals will become dominant in the coming years and we believe that Wavecom is the best-positioned partner to get us there," commented Christophe Dolique, Marketing VP, from Ingenico. He added, "Combining Wavecom's unrivalled level of expertise in industrial wireless communication with Ingenico's vast knowledge of the extremely complex world of electronic payment systems put us on track for significantly expanding this market."

Frank Souguir, Group Vice President for the EMEA region at Wavecom commented, "Together with Ingenico, we believe that we can optimize the architecture for payment systems, bringing the total system cost down significantly. We further intend to work on streamlining the manufacturing of wireless payment systems and help launch a wide array of new products that meet a growing demand for faster, easier and totally secure payment transactions from around the world."