Visa is rolling out a network capable of handling all forms of
electronic payments in a move to fast-track e-commerce
transactions.
The Direct Exchange project, a secure Internet protocol network,
began two years ago in the US.
It uses point-of-sale terminals to link shops directly to the
merchant's bank over the Visa network, speeding up the processing
of payments. It will also allow consumers to exchange Visa payments
directly over the network.
Visa's project seeks to build a scalable system to process all
forms of electronic payment. It can process 10,000 messages per
second, 100 billion transactions and $1trn (£66bn) per year in
payments Visa claims.
Analysts have hailed the initiative as good news for consumers but
added that its success would rely on retailers investing time and
money to integrate their IT systems with the network.
A basic version of the Direct Exchange service was implemented in
the USA last summer but Visa now plans to roll out a more advanced
system based on messaging technology.
Although Visa will convert its global network to IP, its
functionality, such as payment processing, may be implemented
differently in each country or region.
Sara Garrison, senior vice-president for technology at Visa,
acknowledged the need for the system to be 100% reliable and said
it could grow 20-30% per year.
Visa is using a platform called Tuxedo from Bea as the middleware
to link the clusters. "To achieve the high levels of reliability
the service requires we are using a high availability cluster
environment for messaging," Garrision said. It is based on Sun
servers, EMC storage and an Oracle database.
Mark Simmons, senior analyst at Bloor Research said Visa's project
was in line with services offered through the enhanced networks of
other financial services companies. He added, however, "To
integrate with the new Visa network you have to change the way your
business operates."
Cliff Saran and Nick Huber