New Edge Networks' receives retail service certification

New Edge Networks is reaping some rewards from its efforts to bring retailers into the broadband world, announcing certification from two major providers of point-of-sale technology for its retail service.

VeriFone Inc., the market leader in card-swipe devices for payment and Paymentech, which is a national electronic payment processor, have both certified New Edge Networks' end-to-end broadband service for retailers. That means the two companies have certified that the New Edge Wide Area Network service, used in conjunction with a Precidia Technologies' Ether232POS to convert the dial-up signal to IP, securely transfers data involved in retail transactions, and they will provide technical support for that solution. This opens up major new opportunities for New Edge to go after the convenience store and gas station market.

"There are 125,000 convenience store and petroleum operators using some 10 million of these devices," said a New Edge spokesman. "In order for those devices to migrate to broadband, they will need to be converted or replaced. Replacing is not an option for operators looking to control their costs."

New Edge launched its Retail Broadband Alliance last fall, intended to court smaller retail operations with its DSL-based WAN service.

"This is significant because it is the first solution among the Retail Broadband Alliance, which New Edge formed last fall, to make it easy for retail merchants to migrate to broadband," said the spokesman. "The intent of the alliance is to get different companies along the line to work together. This is significant in that regard."

More than 50 companies have joined the RBA.

New Edge also announced the first customer for its new point-of-sale solution, the 28-location Quik Mart convenience store chain in Tucson, Ariz.

"Being able to keep our existing point-of-sale system was a major factor in our decision to move from dial-up to broadband," said Troy W. Little, president of Quik Mart stores in Tucson, in a prepared statement. "We didn't want to replace our existing point-of-sale system but we clearly saw the business advantages of a broadband network. We are now able to complete credit card transactions in five to six seconds--down from about 30 seconds in the past. This speeds customers through our check-out lines, which translates into a positive shopping experience and increased sales volumes."