Smart card loyalty standards draw nearer
International standards for smart card-based loyalty systems that work in real-time at the point of sale are another step closer, following a patent cross-license agreement between Visa, Catuity, and Welcome Real-time.
By creating the technological solutions and conditions for access to multiple providers, the agreement will allow Visa members and partners to more easily deploy smart-card based loyalty solutions.
The cross-license will be worldwide and royalty-free until the last patent expires, and extends to all Visa affiliates, members and merchants.
Participants will develop and promote interoperable loyalty solutions by integrating Visa's interoperability toolkits within their platforms, allowing cards with one technology to be used in terminals connected to different loyalty platforms, and for data from different loyalty processing centres to be aggregated.
Welcome's CEO, Aneace Haddad, said, "The adoption of a common interoperability platform immediately removes barriers to the deployment of value added services for smart cards."
For further information: · Visit Catuity at http://www.catuity.com · Visit Welcome Real-time at http://www.welcome-rt.com · Visit Visa International at http://corporate.visa.com