VeriFone VeriFlex Utility Solution to Provide Intelligent Prepayment Benefits for Utilities Worldwide.Business Editors and High Tech Writers PALO ALTO Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 2000 MTC mtc - A Modula-2 to C translator. ftp://rusmv1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/soft/Unixtools/compilerbau/mtc.tar.Z. and VeriFone Provide Solution that Saves Customers Money, Enables Utilities to Offer Value-added Services VeriFone, a division of Hewlett-Packard Company, and Metering Technology Corporation, today announced the VeriFone VeriFlex Utility Solution, a fully integrated, end-to-end prepayment solution that automates the utility revenue cycle from meter reading to collections. The solution is expected to help utilities worldwide achieve new levels of operational efficiency and payment flexibility for customers. The VeriFlex Utility Solution combines the power of VeriFone's leading global payment technology with electronic meters and power-line communications technology Noun 1. communications technology - the activity of designing and constructing and maintaining communication systems engineering, technology - the practical application of science to commerce or industry from Metering Technology Corporation, a developer of advanced global metering products. Prepayment with the VeriFlex Utility Solution allows consumers to choose when they pay and the amount of service they purchase, saving consumers money on late fees, return check fees and disconnect/reconnect fees. Prepayment simplifies the management of high-turnover properties like student housing, apartments, seasonal housing and rental homes. The turnkey prepayment solution eliminates most of utilities' expenses for manual meter reading, bill processing and mailing, manual payment collection, and service disconnection and reconnection. VeriFlex provides meter power outage Noun 1. power outage - equipment failure resulting when the supply of power fails; "the ice storm caused a power outage" power failure equipment failure, breakdown - a cessation of normal operation; "there was a power breakdown" information to identify outages that may indicate fraud. In addition, utilities using VeriFlex receive payment before delivery of service, improving cash flow by 45 to 60 days. "Our proven technology and application leadership means the VeriFlex Utility Solution offers secure prepayment and two-way communication Two-way communication is a form of transmission in which both parties involved transmit information. Common forms of two-way communication are:
How it Works The VeriFlex Utility Solution features an in-home VeriFone PATM PATM Planetary Atmospheres PATM Pay Attention to Me PATM Performance-Based Air Traffic Management unit plugged into any home electrical outlet, which communicates with an electronic meter supplied by MTC. The meter measures total power consumption and generates notices indicating when remaining value is low. PATMs equipped with a modem support two-way communication between the utility and the home. This positions utilities to offer value-added services like severe-weather advisories. In the event that prepaid meter value is running low and that revalue would be difficult, such as 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning Sunday Morning may refer to:
tr.v. re·charged, re·charg·ing, re·charg·es To charge again, especially to reenergize a storage battery. re . To prepay for utility service, consumers take their utility-issued smart card to any participating utility office or merchant location. These locations have a smart-card-based payment terminal running the VeriFlex Utility revalue application. Customers prepay any amount, which is loaded onto their smart card. During the revalue process, information about the customer's power usage and meter outages is sent to the utility. To load prepaid value onto their meter, consumers insert the smart card into the PATM. The PATM communicates through Metering Technology Corporation's power line carrier interface to the meter. The meter automatically decrements value as service is used. Households using a PATM equipped with a modem can prepay using a telephone or PC. The entire solution operates from a central server at the utility headquarters, which runs VeriSmart II, the revaluing engine for the VeriFlex Utility Solution. VeriSmart II enables the utility's existing customer information systems to share data with the revalue application used at participating payment locations. A lower-cost version of the VeriFlex Utility Solution uses an electronic meter with an integrated contact-less smart card reader. Eliminating the in-home PATM provides a more affordable prepayment solution. Omni 3350 The VeriFlex Utility Solution works with a variety of smart cards Example of widely used contactless smart cards are Hong Kong's Octopus card, Paris' Calypso/Navigo card and Lisbon' LisboaViva card, which predate the ISO/IEC 14443 standard. The following tables list smart cards used for public transportation and other electronic purse applications. and payment terminals, including VeriFone's Omni 3350. This multi-application payment terminal features a built-in smart card reader, a 32-bit processor, a 14.4Kbps modem, printing at 12.5 lps, and allows multitasking multitasking Mode of computer operation in which the computer works on multiple tasks at the same time. A task is a computer program (or part of a program) that can be run as a separate entity. to speed the processing of multiple applications. The terminal can process all forms of e-payment and features high performance in a sleek integrated design The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. Please help [ improve the introduction] to meet Wikipedia's layout standards. You can discuss the issue on the talk page. . About Metering Technology Corporation MTC was founded in 1997 to provide innovative metering solutions for the revitalized re·vi·tal·ize tr.v. re·vi·tal·ized, re·vi·tal·iz·ing, re·vi·tal·iz·es To impart new life or vigor to: plans to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods; tried to revitalize a flagging economy. and expanding market for energy measurement solutions. Its proprietary silicon chip technology enables MTC to deliver intelligent, low-cost energy meters for commercial and residential needs in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. and world markets, as well as metering modules for licensing and resale. For more information on MTC and its metering products, visit the Web site at www.metertech.com. For more information visit www.metertech.com About VeriFone VeriFone (http://www.verifone.hp.com), a division of Hewlett-Packard Company, is the leading global provider of secure electronic-payment solutions for financial institutions, merchants and consumers. The division has shipped more than seven million electronic-payment systems, which are used in more than 100 countries. About HP Hewlett-Packard Company -- a leading global provider of computing and imaging solutions and services -- is focused on making technology and its benefits accessible to individuals and businesses through simple appliances, useful e-services and an Internet infrastructure that's always on. HP has 86,000 employees worldwide and had total revenue from continuing operations continuing operations Parts of a business that are expected to be maintained as an ongoing segment of an overall business operation. Income and losses from continuing operations are reported separately if any segments have been discontinued during the of $42.4 billion in its 1999 fiscal year. Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com. |
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