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February 17, 2003

LEVEL FOUR ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR THE LATEST EMV-CERTIFIED SOFTWARE FROM LEADING ATM SUPPLIERS.

Six UK banks using Level Four software for EMV conversion

London, 17 February 2003 - Level Four Software, a leading provider of ATM test and development software today announced that its EMV FastTrack product now supports the latest EMV-certified software from leading manufacturers including NCR, Diebold and Wincor-Nixdorf. Banks upgrading their ATMs with newly released EMV-certified software can work with Level Four to rapidly conduct full end-to-end testing across their ATM networks. Level Four is responding to the certification recently granted by EMVCo to several major European ATM manufacturers.

EMVCo, formed by Europay, MasterCard and Visa to manage, maintain and enhance EMV card specifications for payment systems, has a specific set of requirements that ATM manufacturers are required to meet, in preparation for the EMV compliance deadline of 2005. This will ensure that banks' ATM networks can fully support the extended functionality available through the introduction of EMV chip cards.

Upgrading ATM functionality to EMV has previously been difficult because there were no adequate tools available. With Level Four's technology a bank can graphically develop EMV transaction workflow and conduct sophisticated end-to-end simulation of EMV transactions for thorough testing before deployment. Six of the UK's leading banks are already using software from Level Four to test their ATM networks and enhance functionality to support the introduction of EMV smart cards. Existing customers include LloydsTSB and Abbey National.

"We predict that the recent EMV-certification of the leading ATM suppliers will spur many banks to begin their EMV compliance projects. To date many have adopted a 'wait and see' attitude until initial pilots were complete and certified software available," comments Martin Macmillan, CEO, Level Four. "We are currently experiencing a high demand for our products, which support EMV projects as banks want to rapidly migrate and test their ATM networks to ensure they are ready for the EMV deadline."

Despite many of Level Four's customers being well underway in terms of EMV compliance, Finextra Research claims that 48% of banks have not progressed further than the initial planning stage for migrating their ATM networks to EMV. However, almost 90% of financial institutions in EMEA expect their EMV smart card implementation projects to be live by the 2005 compliance deadline.

Level Four's primary software technology is the ATM Channel Development Suite - a comprehensive toolkit that allows financial institutions to develop, test and rapidly deploy new content and applications within their ATM delivery channels. It includes ATM Simulator, ATM Developer and EMV FastTrack plug-ins, allowing the rapid introduction of EMV compliance. The ATM Channel Development Suite also enables financial institutions to offer relevant, personalised and interactive functionality to customers through their existing ATM networks.

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