Specially developed secure software is required when a business wishes to collect payment from customers by Direct Debit or pay suppliers and staff by directly crediting their bank accounts. This 'payment gateway' software must pass stringent testing by Bacs, the organisation which operates the UK bank clearing network.

Few software houses have the Bacs Approved Software Supplier status necessary to connect to the bank network and Unified Software is the first company to achieve this since 2003.

Unified's payment gateway, BankPay-IP, combines the security, convenience and performance of conventional payment gateway software with a unique pay-per-use model. This now makes Direct Debit and Bacs payment processing easy and affordable for businesses of all sizes, without the need to rely on a bureau.

CTO George Barron commented: "We have been working on this project for quite some time now and we are very proud of the product we have developed. Achieving Bacs Approved Software Supplier status is a major milestone for us as it gives us access to a much larger market and means that we can now offer a complete end-to-end payment solution.

Customers will see benefits in the form of improved cost effectiveness when compared to traditional payment gateway software. The technologies used and our pricing model bring to the market an unprecedented combination of functionality, scalability and value for money."