Automated Teller Machines (ATM) are one of the banking technologies that contribute to the technological innovation and have become quite popular in Bangladesh. Maruf Alam (MA), senior manager, Systems & Marketing, Electronic Transactions Network Ltd. (ETN), talks to Saad Bin Fazle Hammadi (SH) about the technologies they have implemented for banking services.

SH: Tell us about ETN and the technologies you offer.

MA: Electronic Transactions Network Ltd. (ETN) is a joint-venture company between United Group and Sonic Global Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Australia that has been operating in Bangladesh for the last two years, providing services to banks on a shared basis. Presently, we have nine banks as members of our network in-cluding a nationalised commercial bank (NCB), one foreign bank and seven local private sector banks.

The idea of a shared ATM network was conceived in 1996 but the commercial operation started in 2001. Our network has been branded as the "Electroways Network" and the product our banks have in the market is the "E-Cash" ATM Card operational in the debit platform. The main switching software, responsible for multiple bank transaction processing, routing and authentication of transactions, is Technique Plus II (TPII), developed by IFS International of New York, USA (currently acquisitioned by Sonic Global Solutions Pty. Ltd.). The TPII is built on the C++ programming language, uses the ORACLE (RDBMS) database and operates on the UNIX Platform.

The company provides ATM/Debit Card Services from 20 ATMs located in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. From these ATMs, clients of member banks are able to withdraw cash, make balance inquiry, pay various utility bills and make fund transfers.

SH: Bangladesh is advancing in the arena of information technology. How does ETN contribute to this progress?

MA: We strongly believe that our contribution towards the advancement of information technology in Bangladesh is quite notable. In fact, we are the first and only company in Bangladesh to implement the quintessence of a truly online shared ATM network, through which any single bank cardholder may enjoy the advantage of using multiple ATMs located in multiple member bank premises.

SH: Tell us the about the network structure of ETN? What technologies are you implementing for your services?

MA: We are using ATMs manufactured by Diebold Inc. with servers from HP, network equipment from Nortel Networks, security device from Racal and card production management system from NBS of the UK. We also maintain and operate a fully functional disaster recovery site to make the network fail-proof.

Three different ATM models are currently in use. They are the 1064ix (stand-alone ATM), 1071ix (Through-the-Wall ATM) & 1072ix (Through-the-Wall) models. Each of our ATMs can capacitate up to four cash cassettes, of which, each one may hold up to 2,000 cash notes. Cash loading in ATMs are based entirely on usage frequency of the machines.

All ATM booths have 24/7 CCTV surveillance systems to keep records of transactions taking place for a period of over one year. Moreover, each booth has a hot-telephone link affixed for troubleshooting and instant help-desk services.

SH: How do your member banks maintain the ATM transactions?

MA: Our Switch Server centrally controls all the ATMs of the network, which is connected online, using hybrid WAN. A mixture of ADSL, RF Link and VSAT solution is implemented to connect all of our ATMs to our centrally operational Switch server. A middleware software bridges between our Switch and respective member bank software, which is responsible for data uploads and downloads on a daily basis.

SH: Tell us about the financial prospects? Are yours a profitable venture?

MA: Business investments are either long-term or short-term. We have come to this market with a long-term vision. We believe that the business prospects of plastic card usage in the debit platform will exceed all other applications available.

SH: What does 2004 hold for ETN?

MA: The year 2004 should be challenging for us as we expect to cover the wider segments of our socio-economic class as users of plastic cards. At present, our member bank cardholders are making an average of 1,200-1,500 transactions from the ATMs a day, which is increasing proportionately with the growth of cardholders. Our objective is to become the 'National Switch of Bangladesh' as a third party electronic banking transaction processor.

SH: We understand you are planning to sign contracts with other ATM service providers in Bangladesh, which would increase the booths as well as benefit customers with access to ATMs at random and also allow access for Master Card holders. How far have you reached your objective?

MA: Yes, we do plan to shake hands with other potential ATM/POST service providers to expand our network in due course of time. We are at the final stage of becoming the Master Service Provider (MSP)/ Third Party Processor (TPP) for accepting MasterCard International (MCI), Maestro and Cirrus Transactions through our ATM-POST network.

The service will enable foreign MasterCard, Maestro and Cirrus cardholders to make transactions in taka, through our devices and vice versa for all of our Maestro and Cirrus branded cardholders, to make transactions from the Electroways Network and all other ATM networks, which support the above brands.

We are the only operating Switched ATM Network in Bangladesh with ISO Standard Switch Software (The TPII) compatible to EMV, JCB, Diners, Amex and other international networks.

SH: What are the security features of your network?

MA: The following aspects of our network may be defined to establish our security aspects and system robustness:

Hardware Security

a) Racal brand 128 bit Host Security Module (HSM) through which card information is encrypted, decrypted along with PIN generation. This device is used worldwide to maintain and relay highly secure information as an exchange platform. After HSM has verified and authorised the PIN and decrypts it, customers receive funds from ATM. The HSM is also responsible for generating ATM Card PINs for the TPII, and

b) Each ATM has a built-in 64-bit encryption device for ensuring maximum security during transactions.

Software Security

a) TPII software operates on the UNIX platform, which is known to be the world's most secure and redundant operating system providing multiple users and multiple tasking facilities, and

Database is maintained in Oracle (RDBMS), the world's most secure database system.