News Posts

New Partnership Allows Ski Resorts to Manage All Payment Transactions from Any Point-of-Sale Across the Resort

SILVER SPRING, MD (February 28, 2012) — Merchant Link, a leading provider of payment gateway and data security solutions, and Transaction Resources, Inc. (TRI), a provider of innovative payment processing solutions, have announced a partnership that allows ski resorts and other hospitality providers to obtain enhanced security and support for their payment transactions – from lift ticket sales, to food and beverage transactions, to hotel bookings, spa services and more.

Eight ski resorts throughout the U.S. have already implemented this integrated solution, which includes the Merchant Link Payment Gateway™ and TransactionVault™, Merchant Link’s tokenization solution that replaces each card number with tokens. TRI and their clients will have the ability to add TransactionShield™, Merchant Link’s point-to-point encryption solution. Four additional implementations are expected to be complete by Q2.

“We are very pleased with how smoothly all of the accounts are being boarded and with all the positive feedback we are receiving about the Merchant Link service,” said David Frick, President TRI. “Thanks to this partnership, we can offer a solution that streamlines and secures payments across multiple channels, easing the administrative burden for our hospitality customers. We looked at other solutions and partners, and did not find the same level of flexibility and personalized support offered by Merchant Link.”

Merchant Link’s Payment Gateway provides significant advantages over premised-based or direct connect systems. These benefits include better reliability, flexibility and control, as well as real-time reporting and easy implementation. From a security perspective, the cloud-based gateway solution and added tokenization technology removes all cardholder data from the merchant’s IT environment – dramatically reducing the risk of a data breach while reducing PCI scope.

“TRI is an ideal partner for Merchant Link,” said Dan Lane, CEO of Merchant Link. “We both have a   passion for customer service and innovation. Together, we hope to help ski resorts and other untapped markets realize the benefits a robust payment gateway and security solution can provide in the ever-evolving, complex world of payments today.”

About Transaction Resources, Inc.

Transaction Resources, Inc. (TRI) offers innovative payment processing solutions by combining the latest technologies and a passion for customer service. Since 1993, the company’s key markets have grown to include retail, restaurant, lodging and resort industries. Its employees bring years of experience from hardware & software providers, network processors, banks and merchants. CardDog, a dynamic gift and loyalty system, is the latest product in the company’s committed growth as a leading payments provider. For more information on TRI and CardDog, visit
www.transactionresources.com
www.motomerchantaccount.com
www.highriskmerchantaccount.com
www.carddog.com.

Enhanced security is now available for MICROS OPERA and MICROS RES Customers with P2PE and Tokenization

COLUMBIA, Md., Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCRS), a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, is pleased to announce that it now offers Point-To-Point Encryption (P2PE) and Tokenization for its MICROS OPERA Enterprise Solution and MICROS Restaurant Enterprise Solution (RES) customers. Utilizing Merchant Link TransactionShield and TransactionVault, customers using MICROS OPERA version 5.0.03.01+ or MICROS RES version 4.10+ and our new encrypting and tamper-resistant card readers can obtain a greater level of security when processing payment card transactions, and reduce their Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) scope.

This newest generation of hardware-based encryption and Tokenization ensures that unencrypted payment card data is not processed, stored or transmitted on the MICROS OPERA or MICROS RES systems, as it is encrypted at the initial point of swipe using the new encrypting card reader. The encrypted credit card data is then securely transmitted to Merchant Link for decryption and processing. A token is generated by Merchant Link and returned to the MICROS OPERA or MICROS RES system where it is stored after authorization. This solution provides secure and cost effective protection against the increasingly common interception of cardholder data in-transit.

MICROS’s new P2PE and Tokenization solution has been implemented at many locations, including The Georgia Center, a hotel, conference, and continuing education learning facility for University of Georgia students, visitors, and the community. “Adding P2PE and Tokenization to our MICROS OPERA solution was the easiest and most cost effective way for us to satisfy and exceed our PCI compliance regulations,” stated Corey Doster, IT Director, The Georgia Center. “P2PE and Tokenization reduce our PCI-DSS scope and therefore eliminate some of the time consuming and costly steps that we needed to take to become and stay PCI compliant. It was very important for us to enhance our transaction security and protect our customers’ credit card data from potential threats. MICROS’s security offerings allow us to be proactive about potential threats, by preventing sensitive data from ever passing through our OPERA system.”

“Many credit card security compromises today involve the interception of unencrypted cardholder data in-transit,” stated Jim Walsh, Chief Information Security Officer, MICROS Systems, Inc. “MICROS’s new P2PE and Tokenization solution provide a robust and cost effective tool against this common method of theft. With strong, hardware-based encryption at the initial point of swipe, the likelihood of a merchant cardholder data compromise is reduced. We are very pleased to offer our customers this powerful and cost effective solution, which provides significant security benefits, as well as reduces PCI-DSS scoping and compliance costs.”

About The Georgia Center

The University of Georgia’s Conference Center and Hotel is located on the beautiful, historic campus of UGA in Athens, Georgia. The Center includes a 200-room hotel, four onsite dining options, banquet areas, conference rooms, auditoriums, a fitness center, and a computer lab — all under one roof. The Georgia Center received the “2010 Prime Site Award” from Facilities & Destinations Magazine. And Meetings and Conventions Magazine highlighted The Center as among the best university-based conference centers in the country. For more information, please visit www.georgiacenter.uga.edu.

About MICROS Systems, Inc.

MICROS Systems, Inc. provides enterprise applications for the hospitality and retail industries worldwide. Over 330,000 MICROS systems are currently installed in table and quick service restaurants, hotels, motels, casinos, leisure and entertainment, and retail operations in more than 180 countries, and on all seven continents. In addition, MICROS provides property management systems, central reservation and customer information solutions under the brand MICROS-Fidelio for more than 26,000 hotels worldwide, as well as point-of-sale, loss prevention, and cross-channel functionality through its MICROS-Retail division for more than 100,000 retail stores worldwide. MICROS stock is traded through NASDAQ under the symbol MCRS.

For more information on MICROS and its advanced information technology solutions for the hospitality industry, please contact Louise Casamento, Vice President of Marketing at (443) 285-8144 or (866) 287-4736. You can also visit the MICROS website at www.micros.com or send an email to info@micros.com.

The MICROS logo is a registered trademark of MICROS Systems, Inc.

All other product and brand names are the property of their respective owners.

SILVER SPRING, MD (January 4, 2012) – Business Solutions magazine has named Merchant Link, a leading provider of cloud-based payment gateway and data security solutions, as one of the Best Channel Vendors for 2012 in the Payment Processing category.

Merchant Link scored particularly high in the areas of service and support, product reliability, and channel friendliness. The company was also recognized for product innovation, reflecting the company’s recent focus on providing cutting-edge tokenization and encryption solutions to protect sensitive customer data and enable merchants to meet and exceed PCI compliance standards.

“Merchant Link is pleased and honored to be named to the list of Best Channel Providers,” said Dan Lane, president and CEO of Merchant Link. “The company strives to deliver peace of mind for our channel partners and their customers by providing the highest level of service, security and reliability for their payment processing solutions.”

The list of best channel vendors was based on responses to a survey conducted by Business Solutions magazine and Penn State University. The survey was given to over 4,000 Value Added Reseller (VAR) subscribers and received over 10,000 votes. The Best Channel Vendor list includes only the service providers who received scores in the top 5 percent of their category and is published in the January 2012 issue of Business Solutions magazine.

About Merchant Link
Merchant Link is a leading provider of cloud-based payment gateway and data security solutions, removing the risk and hassle from credit card acceptance for more than 150,000 hotels, restaurants and retailers. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Silver Spring, Md., Merchant Link currently enables more than 3 billion transactions annually for some of the world’s best-known merchants, providing connectivity to the major U.S. payment card processors. TransactionVaultTM, our tokenization solution, and TransactionShieldTM, our point-to-point encryption solution, mitigate the risk of a data compromise while lowering the cost and effort of PCI compliance. Further information is available at www.merchantlink.com. For our expert opinion on encryption, tokenization and PCI compliance, visit our blog at www.merchantlinksecuritycents.com.

Joie de Vivre, which manages the largest collection of boutique hotels in California and an assortment of restaurants and spas, will raise the standards of customer service by implementing Merchant Link’s tokenization solution to protect the credit card data of its guests across 27 of its locations.  Merchant Link is a leading provider of cloud-based payment gateway and data security solutions.

Joie de Vivre offers one of the most unique collections of lifestyle hotels and continues to expand on its fresh and inventive properties.  Merchant Link will deploy its hosted, card-based tokenization solution across the Joie de Vivre enterprise, including the hotel property management systems and the spa point-of-sale systems, ensuring that every transaction is tokenized and there is an extra layer of protection that will protect Joie de Vivre’s brand.

“We pride ourselves on being innovative and offering exceptional hospitality services and products to our customers,” said Michael Stano, Joie de Vivre’s vice president of technology. “Our commitment to excellence extends even further by offering safe and secure financial transactions for our customers so they can enjoy their experience without worrying about the safety of their payment information.  And we have the peace of mind knowing that sensitive data doesn’t live on our network.”

Joie de Vivre, a long time customer of Merchant Link, will utilize TransactionVault™, a tokenization technology that removes customer card data from merchants’ systems where it is most at risk of being compromised by hackers. By tokenizing every transaction throughout the entire hotel experience from check-in to purchases at the gift shop and more, Joie de Vivre can remove payment data from all points in the payment process.  This valuable data will instead be stored in Merchant Link’s secure, hosted “vault,” and therefore effectively lowering the cost and effort of attaining and maintaining PCI compliance.

“The lodging industry is quickly realizing the importance of tokenization to secure sensitive data,” said Dan Lane, President and CEO of Merchant Link.  “We have served Joie de Vivre’s payment transaction needs since 2007, and we continue to work with them as they address the complexities of payment transactions.”

About Joie de Vivre Hotels

Joie de Vivre Hotels ( www.jdvhotels.com ) embarked on its mission to “create joy” for guests and employees in 1987, when Chip Conley founded the innovative hospitality company in San Francisco. Each one of Joie de Vivre’s more than 30 hotels is an original concept designed to reflect the local community and engage the five senses so that guests enjoy authentic, memorable experiences. Today Joie de Vivre manages the largest collection of boutique hotels and resorts in California and is expanding outside the state with openings in Scottsdale, Arizona this fall and Chicago in early 2012.

Tokenization offers added layer of security to spa management software while reducing PCI scope

Merchant Link, a leading provider of payment gateway and data security solutions, today announced that its TransactionVault™ tokenization solution now fully integrates with industry leading spa and activity management software SpaSoft, providing an extra layer of payment security — while helping meet PCI compliance requirements — for spas and resorts.

Offered by PAR Springer-Miller, SpaSoft is a management and scheduling software solution for spas and resorts that now integrates with Merchant Link’s next-generation tokenization solution, which removes customer credit card data where it would be at risk from hackers. The data is instead stored in Merchant Link’s hosted vault. The combined solution helps reduce resorts, spas and health clubs Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) scope.

JC Resorts, a leader in the management and operation of premium golf and resort properties, has selected and is piloting the combined solution.  Having installed SpaSoft with TransactionVault in two of their largest properties in San Diego and Laguna Beach, JC Resorts now has a higher level of confidence in the security of their financial transaction data.

“We are always looking for solutions that will help us best manage our business while also ensuring that all of our transactions are fully secure,” said Diane Li, Chief Information Director, JC Resorts. “In addition, meeting current PCI compliance requirements can be very challenging. The new integration between SpaSoft and TransactionVault will allow us to be compliant and have the peace of mind knowing that we are ultimately protecting our guests.”

Since 2006, SpaSoft has interfaced with Merchant Link’s payment gateway solution and the integration with TransactionVault reinforces PAR Spring-Miller’s commitment to providing data security and PCI compliance solutions to its customers and users.  SpaSoft is currently in use in more than 900 locations.

“Providing tokenization with TransactionVault enhances the SpaSoft complete spa management solution. Our clients appreciate our system which is both feature-rich and fully secure when it comes to processing debit and credit card transactions,” said Victor Vesnaver, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, PAR Springer-Miller Systems.  “Unfortunately, data breaches in the hospitality sector are on the rise and this new integration allows resort and spa operators to protect their guests from having their card information compromised.”

The PCI Security Standards Council recently released its tokenization guidance, which aims to provide greater clarity about how tokenization solutions relate to PCI DSS and impact compliance. In addition, the TransactionVault solution has been proven to significantly reduce merchants’ PCI DSS scope, according to an independent security assessment released by Coalfire Systems.

“Hospitality providers are constantly facing the threat of nefarious hackers who are very persistent in their efforts to obtain guest’s vital information,” said Dan Lane, President and CEO of Merchant Link.  “By integrating TransactionVault into SpaSoft, we are offering hospitality providers the most comprehensive line of defense against cyber criminals.”

About SpaSoft and PAR Springer-Miller Systems

An industry-standard for more than 10 years, SpaSoft is a fully integrated, dynamic activities management/scheduling software solution, specifically designed to meet the unique needs of resorts, day spas, medi-spas and health clubs. SpaSoft‘s integrated offering includes resource management, club membership, group management, inventory management, point-of-sale, yield management, loyalty proram, user-defined and standardized reporting, as well as client management and history.

SpaSoft is one of the many products offered by PAR Systems-Miller Systems Inc, the leading provider of hospitality management solutions. The extensive product line offered by PSMS meets the technology needs of all types of hospitality enterprises including city-center hotels, destination spa and golf properties, timeshare properties and casino resorts worldwide. For more information on SpaSoft or PAR Springer-Miller Systems, visit our website at www.spasoft.com.

About Merchant Link
Merchant Link is a leading provider of cloud-based payment gateway and data security solutions, removing the risk and hassle from credit card acceptance for more than 150,000 hotel, restaurant and retailers. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Silver Spring, Md., Merchant Link currently enables more than 3 billion transactions annually for some of the world’s best-known merchants, providing connectivity to the major U.S. payment card processors. TransactionVaultTM, our tokenization solution, and TransactionShieldTM, our point-to-point encryption solution, mitigate the risk of a data compromise while lowering the cost and effort of PCI compliance. Further information is available at www.merchantlink.com. For our expert opinion on encryption, tokenization and PCI compliance, visit our blog at www.merchantlinksecuritycents.com.

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Originally published by SC Magazine, reported by

The use of a tokenization solution does not eliminate a merchant’s need to validate compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the industry group responsible for managing payment security guidelines said in a new document released Friday.

“The misconception is that I can buy one of these [tokenization solutions] and be PCI compliant,” Bob Russo, general manager of the PCI Security Standards Council, told SCMagazineUS.com. “That’s not the case.”

A mature and properly deployed tokenization solution can, however, simplify the requirements of PCI DSS by taking systems that no longer contain sensitive credit card numbers out of the scope of the standard, according to the 23-page supplement released by the PCI Council.

Meanwhile, Sue Zloth, product group manager at payment data security provider Merchant Link, a member of the PCI Council’s tokenization task force, told SCMagazineUS.com on Friday that she believes the document is a good first step, though it may lead to some confusion and deter adoption.

Zloth took issue with a section that discusses the need to evaluate whether a token itself could be used – in lieu of cardholder data – to perform a transaction.

The document states that so-called “high-value tokens,” which can be used as a form of payment, could be monetized by an attacker or used to generate fraudulent transactions.

The council introduced a valid concern –  that certain tokens could be valuable to attackers — but “fell down” by failing to describe how a tokenization system could adequately protect tokens from being fraudulently used, Zloth said.

“A properly implemented system will know who is sending transactions and will not allow anyone to send transactions with a token,” she added.

To read this full story go to http://www.scmagazineus.com/pci-council-releases-tokenization-guidance/article/209505/

Independent Assessment by Industry Leading PCI QSA, Finds That Merchant Link’s Encryption and Tokenization Solutions Enhance Transaction Security for Merchants.

Merchant Link’s TransactionShield™ and TransactionVault™ solutions can significantly reduce merchants’ PCI DSS scope, according to an independent security assessment released today by Coalfire Systems, Inc, a Payment Card Industry (PCI) Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and Payment Application Qualified Security Assessor (PA-QSA) company.

Merchant Link’s TransactionShield is a point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solution that ensures that customer data is secure from the moment their credit card is swiped.  Merchant Link’s TransactionVault tokenization solution removes customer credit card data where it would be at risk from hackers. The data is instead stored in Merchant Link’s hosted vault.  The combination of TransactionShield and TransactionVault secure both data in-flight and data at rest, and reduce the cost and effort of attaining and maintaining PCI compliance.

“Merchants continue to be plagued by data breaches caused by inadequate security controls or applications which allow access to sensitive payment card data,” said Kennet Westby, president and COO of Coalfire.  ”Merchant Link’s comprehensive offering including both tokenization and encryption can provide significant risk mitigation of data compromise and is one of the most effective data security controls available to merchants today.”

“Merchants are currently burdened with having to keep all customer data secure while also meeting challenging PCI requirements,” said Dan Lane, President and CEO of Merchant Link.  ”Coalfire’s assessment of our P2PE and tokenization solutions further validates that Merchant Link can provide transaction security solutions that go beyond current PCI requirements, ultimately allowing merchants to focus on their core businesses.”

Coalfire’s assessment, which included technical testing, architectural assessment, industry analysis, compliance validation and peer review, found that:

  • TransactionShield will leverage multiple encrypting point of interaction (POI) devices deployed in the merchant network and a Merchant Link-hosted decryption system which eliminates the transmittal of cleartext cardholder data through the entire merchant network.
  • TransactionVault can eliminate post authorization storage of cardholder data from a merchant’s network by storing it in Merchant Link’s PCI DSS compliant data centers.
  • TransactionShield is aligned with Visa Best Practices for Data Field Encryption published by VISA in October 2009, as well as guidance provided in the Initial Roadmap: Point-to-Point Encryption Technology and PCI DSS Compliance published by PCI SSC in October 2010.
  • TransactionVault is aligned with Visa Best Practices for Tokenization guidance published by VISA in July 2010.
  • Properly deployed, implementation of the TransactionShield and TransactionVault solutions together can effectively remove merchant retail POS systems from the scope of PCI DSS by:
    • Capturing card data only via a TransactionShield integrated POS application and encrypting Point of Interaction (POI) device;
    • Strongly encrypting card data at the TransactionShield point of capture in a secure, restricted access, encrypting POI device, where the merchant has no ability to decrypt the card data;
    • Storing only card data tokens post authorization as returned by TransactionVault.

To learn more about Merchant Link’s TransactionShield and TransactionVault, and obtain the report, click here.

About Coalfire

Coalfire is a leading, independent IT Audit and Compliance firm that provides information technology (IT) audit, security assessment and IT compliance management solutions.  The company has grown rapidly since being founded in 2001 and now completes more than 1,000 projects annually in retail, financial services, healthcare, government and utilities.  Coalfire has developed a new generation of technology-enabled IT Compliance Management Tools under the Navis brand.  These tools enable Coalfire to efficiently deliver governance, risk and compliance (GRC) services and keep pace with rapidly changing regulations and best practices.  Coalfire’s solutions are adapted to requirements under emerging data privacy legislation, including the PCI Data Security Standard, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, HIPAA/HITECH, NERC CIP, Sarbanes-Oxley and FISMA. For more information, please visit www.coalfiresystems.com

About Merchant Link

Merchant Link is a leading provider of cloud-based payment gateway and data security solutions, removing the risk and hassle from credit card acceptance for more than 150,000 hotel, restaurant and retailers. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Silver Spring, Md., Merchant Link currently enables more than 3 billion transactions annually for some of the world’s best-known merchants, providing connectivity to the major U.S. payment card processors. TransactionVault™, our tokenization solution, and TransactionShield™, our point-to-point encryption solution, mitigate the risk of a data compromise while lowering the cost and effort of PCI compliance. Further information is available at www.merchantlink.com.

The Georgia Center, a conference center and hotel with 200 rooms and suites on the campus of the University of Georgia (UGA), will be providing a more restful night’s stay for their guests moving forward. That’s because the Georgia Center is working with Merchant Link to install the company’s TransactionShield™ point-to-point encryption solution to ensure that customer data is secure from the moment their credit card is swiped.

“We have always sought to be aggressive when it comes to our approach to data security,” said Corey Doster, the IT Director at the Georgia Center.  ”Merchant Link solutions help us meet and exceed our PCI compliance requirements while removing the customer data completely from our premises.  The addition of TransactionShield provides another layer of security to protect our faculty, staff, students and campus visitors against theft and misuse.”

The Georgia Center, which serves over 42,000 guests every year, has been a longtime customer of the Merchant Link Payment Gateway™ since August 2006. The conference center and hotel also deployed Merchant Link’s TransactionVault™ tokenization solution last year with significant success. By combining the two solutions, the Georgia Center removed sensitive data completely from their systems.

The recent addition of the TransactionShield point-to-point encryption solution will extend the protection of customer data from the moment the credit card is swiped and as data travels through UGA’s IT environment to the Merchant Link network. New credit card readers immediately encrypt credit card data and decryption does not occur until it reaches Merchant Link’s cloud-based payment gateway. Once authorization is received, data is sent back to UGA’s Micros OPERA Property Management System in the form of a token.

The implementation of TransactionShield at the Georgia Center is Merchant Link’s first point-to-point encryption installation. Following the successful implementation at the Georgia Center, Merchant Link expects to rapidly deploy the solution to other hotel, restaurant and retail merchants around the country.

About the Georgia Center

The Georgia Center, the University of Georgia’s Conference Center and Hotel, is located on the beautiful, historic campus of UGA in Athens, Georgia. The Center includes a 200-room hotel, four onsite dining options, banquet areas, conference rooms, auditoriums, a fitness center, and a computer lab — all under one roof.

For additional information, go to http://www.georgiacenter.uga.edu.

About Merchant Link

Merchant Link is a leading provider of cloud-based payment gateway and data security solutions, removing the risk and hassle from credit card acceptance for more than 150,000 hotel, restaurant and retailers. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Silver Spring, Md., Merchant Link currently enables more than 3 billion transactions annually for some of the world’s best-known merchants, providing connectivity to the major U.S. payment card processors. TransactionVault™, our tokenization solution, and TransactionShield™, our point-to-point encryption solution, mitigate the risk of a data compromise while lowering the cost and effort of PCI compliance. Further information is available at www.merchantlink.com. For our expert opinion on encryption, tokenization and PCI compliance, visit the Merchant Link blog at www.merchantlinksecuritycents.com.

Merchant Link’s Sue Zloth to Participate in PCI Boot Camp at 2011 HITEC Conference

What:

Hospitality technology professionals realize that the safety of guest credit card data and other sensitive information is an important part of ensuring a peaceful and relaxing experience. However, when it comes to payment security, hospitality professionals often have limited knowledge and understanding of the unique requirements, risks, tactics and tools they need to ensure their systems are secure and PCI-compliant.At this year’s Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference (HITEC), Merchant Link’s Sue Zloth will join other experts in the payment processing and security industry in hosting “PCI Compliance Boot Camp.”. The boot camp will serve to educate hoteliers on PCI compliance, how to pick a qualified security assessor (QSA), cloud computing, incident response plans and more.

It will also focus on the ways hoteliers can minimize risk by removing card data from their environments using emerging technologies and best practices such as tokenization and point-to-point encryption.

Who:

Sue Zloth, Product Group Manager at Merchant Link, knows the hospitality industry and the challenges hotels are facing in today’s difficult security environment. She has over 25 years of hospitality and payment industry experience helping to educate decision makers on how to integrate security into payment processing systems.

Sue is a member of the new Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals (HFTP) PCI Taskforce as well as a member of the PCI Council’s Tokenization Taskforce, co-chair of the Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) Software Forum, and member of the HTNG Payments Workgroup.

When:

HITEC 2011

June 20, 2011

8:30 AM – 11:15 AM (CT)

Where:

Austin Convention Center

Ballroom G

500 E Cesar Chavez St

Austin, TX 78701

About Merchant Link
Merchant Link is a leading provider of cloud-based payment gateway and data security solutions, removing the risk and hassle from credit card acceptance for more than 150,000 hotel, restaurant and retailers. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Silver Spring, Md., Merchant Link currently enables more than 3 billion transactions annually for some of the world’s best-known merchants, providing connectivity to the major U.S. payment card processors. TransactionVaultTM, our tokenization solution, and TransactionShieldTM, our point-to-point encryption solution, mitigate the risk of a data compromise while lowering the cost and effort of PCI compliance.Further information is available at www.merchantlink.com.For our expert opinion on encryption, tokenization and PCI compliance, visit the Merchant Link blog at www.merchantlinksecuritycents.com.

The Copper Cellar Corporation, which owns and operates 19 Copper Cellar, Calhoun’s, Smoky Mountain Brewery, Cherokee Grill and Chesapeake’s restaurants, will be serving more than quality dining and memorable experiences to its guests moving forward: it will also provide peace of mind with a robust payment protection solution.

The Copper Cellar Corporation recently installed TransactionVault, Merchant Link’s tokenization solution, and the Merchant Link Payment Gateway across all of their locations in Knoxville, Nashville, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Maryville and Lenoir City.

“It’s comforting to not have to worry about the security of our guests’ credit card information,” said Mike Gaston, vice president of information services for Copper Cellar Corporation. “The fact that it is not stored anywhere on our network is a huge relief.”

The company chose to utilize these solutions to safeguard customer’s sensitive payment data and remove it from the premise to ensure that it is transmitted safely and effectively while reducing their PCI DSS compliance footprint.

The Merchant Link Payment Gateway sends payments quickly, while detecting and correcting errors along the way. It ensures funds are delivered accurately and consistently, prevents expensive chargeback fees and reduces clerk or system errors and prevents them from showing up on customer credit statements.

TransactionVault removes customer credit card data at the point of sale where it would be at risk from hackers. The data is instead stored in Merchant Link’s hosted “vault,” effectively securing “data at rest” and reducing the cost and effort of attaining and maintaining PCI compliance. Through TransactionVault, Merchant Link processed 1 billion transactions at more than 15,000 merchant locations in 2010.

The Copper Cellar Corporation utilizes a Squirrel point-of-sale (POS) system for customer payments. Their previous payment processor and data security solution created problems for them by posting batches twice. Merchant Link’s full suite of reporting and error detection tools help to eliminate failed batch attempts, duplicate batches or no settlement attempts.

“Our old processor had double posted batches before,” said Gaston. “Despite not being directly responsible for the error, it made us look bad in the eyes of our guests. Merchant Link monitors for potential batch issues and ensures that problems such as these are a thing of the past for Copper Cellar, its restaurants and its customers.”

The wide-scale implementation was completed shortly after a pilot site went live successfully with Merchant Link’s solutions.