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November 07, 2005

LEVEL FOUR RE-DEFINES PRODUCT STRATEGY, EMBRACING OPEN STANDARDS AND SUPPORTING INNOVATION AT THE ATM

ATM Developer and ATM TrueTest enable rapid deployment of new functionality on NDC/912 and Windows open standards-based ATMs

London, 8 November 2005 - Level Four Software, the leading provider of open standards-based ATM testing and development software, has today announced a re-focus in its product positioning strategy, enabling the company to better support the growing global demand in the ATM and self-service market for faster deployment of new functionality. Following the company’s restructure announced recently, the new product strategy is reflected in a rationalisation and re-focus of the company’s product portfolio.

Going forward, Level Four’s ATM Channel Development Suite will incorporate two key products: ATM TrueTest and ATM Developer. ATM TrueTest will provide a fully automated testing solution for any Windows (XFS compliant) ATM and self-service software image, while ATM Developer will support the maintenance and conversion of ATM applications running on legacy OS/2 systems, and Windows versions of those legacy applications.

Both products assist in developing new functionality at the ATM, irrespective of software platform, and automate and comprehensively document every stage of the testing process end-to-end.

“Automated testing reduces time to market for new functionality and improves confidence in new ATM and self-service applications, enabling banks and financial institutions to revitalise their ATM channel, which in turn creates an opportunity to build customer loyalty and increase customer retention,” said Jim Tomaney, product director at Level Four Software. “By focussing on the ATM channel, Level Four’s product strategy addresses today’s ROI conscious world and is aligned with banks’ future aspirations for their self-service channels.. Our goal is to deliver a strong ATM testing and development software suite that delivers results in line with both end-user and customer demand.”

Level Four’s product strategy supports the increasing adoption by financial institutions of open-standards based ATM software. Open-standard based solutions are currently transforming the ATM market, historically controlled by a few large proprietary vendors. Leveraging this new open market, many ATM network providers are now taking the opportunity to review their software strategy, and are looking for opportunities to unlock the profit potential of the ATM channel.

ATM TrueTest provides an independent and flexible desktop-based testing environment for MS Windows open standards-compatible ATM applications. Given the industry’s historic dependence on intensive manual testing, the ROI is rapid. ATM TrueTest supports comprehensive automation for end-to-end development and regression testing of ATM software in conjunction with a central host system.

ATM TrueTest simulates ATM hardware peripherals and their interface to the ATM application via the XFS interface layer, enabling customers to dramatically shorten development and deployment timescales of Windows-based ATM and self-service applications.

ATM Developer provides a comprehensive configuration management solution for NDC/912 based ATM networks. Typically, ATM screen presentation and transaction flows have remained static due to the complexities of updating content, but due to increasing business demands as well as regulatory technical issues this situation is changing.

ATM Developer provides a graphical user interface to manage ATM configurations, both screen content and logical transaction flow, using a simple drag and drop interface. Configuration files may be tested online as ATM Developer provides a connection to the host system, effectively representing a virtual online ATM on a desktop.

Supporting ATM Developer and ATM TrueTest, Level Four will also offer two plug-ins: Bunch Note Acceptor and Cheque Processing Module. Both plug-ins simulate hardware peripherals to the ATM, enabling full testing of any fault scenario.

About Level Four
Level Four’s development and testing products have been built to address the needs of ATM deployers seeking to maximize their investment in the ATM channel.

BRIDGE:test is targeted at banks and ATM deployers who are running, or seeking to run, a modern ATM network based on the industry-wide CEN/XFS open standard.  BRIDGE:test provides an enterprise regression test platform to test CEN/XFS based applications in a controlled environment. Customers gain benefits of the breadth of testing and improved quality assurance as well as reduced time to market due to increased testing efficiencies.

ATM Developer is targeted at banks and ATM deployers who are running states & screens protocol controlled applications such as those based on NDC or 912. ATM Developer provide a graphical environment in which customers can maintain the configuration file from creation to validation.

Since 1995, Level Four has built an impressive global customer base of banks and payments processors including, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB, Bank of America, CIBC, VocaLink and Standard Bank of South Africa. Headquartered in Dunfermline, Scotland, Level Four has offices in Dubai and Charlotte, NC, USA. http://www.levelfour.com  

Level Four’s online ATM industry resource: www.atmindustryinfo.com 

For more information, please contact:
Nicola Koronka
Hotwire
+44 (0) 20 7608 4673
levelfour 'at' hotwirepr.com