Under the terms of the multi-million dollar three-year agreement, an initial deployment of 10,000 systems has just been completed. The Artema Hybrid PIN Pad replaces an incumbent provider's product and was selected in head-to-head competition with other global payment providers.

Hypercom's Artema Hybrid PIN Pad will work in tandem with POS Partner GmbH's POSCardZVT point of sale terminal software. REWE-Informations-Systeme GmbH has supported and defined the solution with its partners and is overseeing the mass installation.

"We selected Hypercom because they are a recognized and competent provider of payment systems. The addition of their Artema Hybrid PIN Pad payment systems is a win-win for our customers and our company," said Jens Siebenhaar, Managing Director of REWE-Informations-Systeme GmbH.

"Leading retailers today demand high speed, high performance payment systems that expedite the fast and secure transmission of vital transaction data, and that is exactly what Hypercom delivers," said Peter Vesco, Managing Director, Northern Europe, Hypercom Corporation. "REWE Supermarket's selection of Hypercom speaks to our company and products' competitive advantages and reinforces our already significant footprint in this important market."

Some 300,000 Artema Hybrid systems have been deployed in Germany alone, and the product has set a new standard in the market for fast and reliable card payments. Artema Hybrid features a single slot "hybrid" card reader and secure integrated PIN Pad for magnetic stripe and chip card transactions. It was the first terminal to be certified according to the TA 7.0 chip-card specifications, recently introduced by the Zentraler Kreditausschuss (ZKA) German banking association.