Credit to the Web
InternetRetailer.com featured EFSnet, a faster, more reliable, and lower cost connection to First Data's processors than traditional communication media. Describing the evolution of point-of-sale and online payment solutions, the article specifically cites the Internet as an emerging vehicle for transaction processing. "Transactions that had taken as long as 20 seconds over dial-up lines now take no more than 3 seconds over the Internet." And that leased-line performance comes at the cost of a dial-up connection. In his interview for the article, Gary Arnold, president of the Emerging Technologies Group for Concord EFS, identified the Web as a major data network for payments. "Retailers understand the concept right away. I firmly believe the Internet will become a major network for credit card processing." (InternetRetailer.com Article, November 2002)

Vans connects to First Data EFSnet using IBM Websphere
To improve its profits and further grow its revenue, Vans, Inc. wanted to reduce its operational costs and to increase its customer service, which were becoming difficult to manage with their transaction growth. Van’s recognized that one of its unmanaged costs was due to outages from one of its online payment services providers. The costs were associated with the labor intensive manual process used for handling payments of its e-commerce site when its partner’s payment services were offline. Further, customers were frustrated by delays introduced in the fulfillment process of on-line orders awaiting payment authorization that were having to be completed manually. Vans chose to redevelop their e-commerce site using IBM's Websphere Commerce Suite taking advantage of Websphere's built-in interface to First Data EFSnet Web Payment Services.

First Data EFS Joins with Link2Gov to Process Electronic Tax Payments for IRS
First Data announces that it is joining forces with Link2Gov Corp., an e-payment solutions provider to government entities, to provide electronic payment processing services to federal taxpayers for the 2002 tax year. First Data will provide payment authorization and settlement for tax payments made through Link2Gov's telephone and Internet interfaces. "The continuing shift to the convenience and security of electronic payments in the private sector has set the stage for rapid acceptance of electronic payments to government agencies," said Edward A. Labry III, First Data Corporation (More about Link2Gov).

Web Services Used for Brick-and-Mortar POS Payments
.NET Magazine was very surprised to find that just as .NET was being released, a Fortune 500 company was already using it's SOAP architecture to deliver payment processing Web services. Checkout Accelerating Electronic Payment Processing - A payment processing firm uses .NET and the Web services programming model to improve connecting to its platforms at (.Net Magazine, May 2002).

Next-Generation Web Conference Touts First Data's Solution
Infoworld.com zeroed in on First Data's EFSnet at its Next-Generation Web Services conference, noting the gateway's ability to utilize Web services for payment processing. Roy Bricker, Vice President of strategic alliances for Web Payment Services at First Data, was interviewed for the story. "It takes away the entire complexity of payments," Bricker said. "All you need is an Internet connection and you're done." (Infoworld.com, January 2002)

Web Services Used for Brick-and-Mortar POS Payments
Another Web resource, Ecomworld.com, also covered First Data's EFSnet solution, reporting that "stores currently using POS dial-up lines are expected to receive the greatest benefit from the new offering, including elimination of the usual dial-up connection delays." The article noted that "merchants will also be able to receive the same processing speed as dedicated leased-line connections without expensive installation and maintenance costs." (Ecomworld.com, January 2002)