Product Description

Credit Card Authorization Solution with Alliance AuthExpress 

Alliance AuthExpress provides a credit card authorization application that supports high transaction volumes, a rich set of interfaces, and sophisticated systems management to support your mission critical authorization requirements. You can authorize Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express and a variety of private issue credit cards.  You can also process check authorizations and on-line credit applications depending on your network interface.  You can settle directly through the authorization network, or you can use FTP to securely send settlement batches to your bank.  Alliance AuthExpress provides the system monitoring, error notification, and audit trails you need for an Enterprise solution.

Authorization networks

Alliance AuthExpress supports Visa Access Point (VAP), Visa Direct Exchange, First Data (FDMS), Alliance Data Systems, and ValueLink networks.  Additional networks are supported as customer requirements dictate.  Alliance AuthExpress also supports PPP (Point-To-Point) dial networks to the extent that networks support PPP for production authorization.  SSL Network support is available for Internet authorization. [top]

Communications interfaces

A rich variety of communications interfaces are available for sending authorization transactions to Alliance AuthExpress.  You can use TCP sockets, secure TCP sockets (SSL TCP), Web HTTP browser connections, secure Web HTTPS browser connections with SSL, Web CGI applications, IBM Websphere MQSeries, SNA LU6.2 (APPC) communications, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), FTP with PGP encryption, SMTP email with PGP encryption, and secure FTP with SSL encryption. Special interfaces exist for Point-of-Sale applications like Triversity and Infogenesis. This rich set of communications interfaces makes it easy to integrate all of your computing platforms with Alliance AuthExpress. Alliance can serve as your one point of credit card authorization for all of the platforms and applications in your Enterprise. [top]

Authorization network communications redundancy

Alliance communications interfaces to networks include failover IP address support. If a connection to your network fails Alliance will automatically use a failover IP address or host name. This provides for automated recovery and network redundancy. The failover address can be a dial router, alternate gateway, or Internet connection.  Alliance alerts you when a network connection fails and automatically switches to the backup connection. If the backup connection fails Alliance sends alert messages and begins automated recovery procedures. [top]

Application interfaces

For applications hosted on an IBM AS/400 or iSeries platform Alliance provides a data queue interface for credit card authorization. Your interactive and batch applications can queue authorization transactions and receive authorization responses. You can send one transaction at a time, or send transactions as they are available. Multiple applications can send authorization transactions concurrently. [top]

Multi-processing and interleaved processing

Alliance supports transaction input from any communications or application interface concurrently. Transactions are sent to a transaction router that indexes the transaction and routes it to the appropriate communications interface. When authorization responses are received the router matches the response with the original authorization request and transfers it back to the requestor. Network communications interfaces support interleaved transactions and are able to send and receive transactions as they are available in a full duplex mode of operation. [top]

Motorcycle Industry Council member program   

Members of the Motorcycle Industry Council qualify for special Alliance AuthExpress software and services when they join the MIC BankCard program. The Boaz Group in association with the MIC provides cost effective solutions for MIC members and affiliates. Patrick Townsend & Associates will help you deploy a native IBM AS/400 authorization and migrate from your existing POS Partners 2000 PC solution. You can retain your current banking relationship and Vital merchant information.

Error notification

Alliance AuthExpress supports a rich set of error notification facilities. When an error occurs you can receive messages via email, pager (email gateway), system operator message queue, SNMP network management trap message, and optional electronic message board. All error messages identify the date and time of the message, originating system, message ID, and first and second level text associated with the message. This provides a pro-active method of detecting and handling network outages and application failures. [top]

Systems management

The Alliance Application Monitor provides full system and application monitoring to insure that all system facilities are functional at all times.  Application Monitor watches network interfaces, disk storage, subsystems, user jobs, Alliance jobs, and other measures of system health to insure that your application runs consistently and reliably.  System error conditions are reported via email, pager (email interface), SNMP network management alerts, and system operator messages. Alliance Application Monitor provides the highest level of system monitoring possible for mission critical applications. [top]

Transaction history and audit trails

Alliance AuthExpress includes the option to capture authorization requests and responses in a history file for audit purposes.  You can specify that all sensitive data be stored in encrypted format for security. System reports and interactive inquiries let you easily find transactions by date and time, credit card, or other selection criteria. [top]

Web browser interface for configuration

In addition to a standard terminal interface, Alliance provides a secure web browser interface for systems configuration and management. You can use the Internet or Intranet to connect to the Alliance AuthExpress to create new configurations or change existing configurations, perform system maintenance, or view application logs. If you prefer to deny access using a secure browser session you can restrict access to Alliance to standard terminal sessions. [top]

Integrated diagnostic logging

Alliance incorporates integrated diagnostic logging in the credit card router and communications interfaces. You can turn on diagnostic logging during system testing or certification to review transaction logs and the details of each transaction. All application logs provide a hex interpretation of the data as well as date and time stamps. These logs can assist application developers and system support staff in determining why transactions fail to process. [top]

On-site installation and training

Alliance AuthExpress Enterprise customers receive three days of on site installation, training, and support. Entry and SMB users can receive these services for an additional charge.  Alliance certified specialists will install your Alliance AuthExpress server and application software, train your systems support staff and application developers, and provide planning support. Additional training and support is available under the standard Alliance services contract. [top]

24/7 technical support

For Alliance Enterprise customers our technical support staff are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to provide assistance in the event of a system or network failure.  Remote dial support is built into the Alliance application to allow technical staff to access your system and determine the cause of failures. Most problems are handled within a few minutes. Alliance Entry and SMB customers can access 24/7 support for an additional fee.  [top]

Out-sourced system management