After several months of development, SparkBase successfully moved 100% of the dial-up traffic to its next-generation gateway this morning. This new gateway improves speed and reliability for merchants still processing dial-up transactions. Scalability was also improved with the ability to translate several other message formats on the fly.
“This new gateway is seriously revolutionary. We were able to shave 2-4 seconds off of our normal transaction time, and improve reliability over older phone lines.” Said SparkBase CEO Douglas Hardman. “We’re seeing a lot of people move to IP, but there is a substantial contingent of merchants still on older dial-up terminals. With the ability to migrate merchants off of other networks, while maintaining support for our own library, SparkBase is an even easier decision for ISOs of all sizes. We also continue to be 100% backwards compatible to all of our supported terminals. The only thing that merchants should notice is faster transaction times while the customer is waiting.”
With this transition completed, SparkBase will also begin rolling out a new reporting structure that will be fluidly compatible with several CRM packages like SalesForce.com, NetSuite, and open source applications like SugarCRM. This will enable SparkBase ISOs to manage their customer base through their own existing applications, without using any of the provided SparkBase tools.
The way the industry is shifting, you have to be compatible with a lot of things,” said Hardman. “We have a very robust set of tools, but there are some clients that have invested substantially in their own software. This just makes it easier for them to manage their merchants with minimal modifications to their own software.”
The gateway transition occurred at 4:00am EST on June 28th. The integration and reporting updates are expected in the coming months.
About SparkBase – SparkBase entered the stored-value industry in early 2004 as the first truly independent gift and loyalty processing network. SparkBase continues to lead in innovation with its proprietary gateway, using patent pending technologies for processing stored value transactions with traditional cards, and new mobile payments methods. Developed in house at their headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, SparkBase is a leader in gift and reward processing. For more information, visit sparkbase.com.
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