First Regents Bancservices, LLC uses Concord EFS, a vertically integrated electronic transaction processor.

The old way of connecting to a Payment Processor
Most payment processors, including Concord, acquire, authorize, and settle payment transactions using software systems built on proprietary (Closed Architecture) systems. To communicate with the processor’s proprietary systems, the client company would develop code that creates and parses very rigid transaction messages requiring each and every byte to be in an exact position or entire transaction messages could fail. After development was completed, a very thorough certification process would make sure that the programming was successful. If at any time either party upgraded their products, re-certification would be required. This closed architecture methodology, which is and has been typical in the industry, usually involves several weeks or months of development time.

The Information Highway
The Internet along with its state of the art message protocols has provided for a dramatically better way of connecting to large scale data processing companies such as Concord. The open architecture of the Internet Protocol (IP) makes it a highly efficient, cost-effective, and flexible communications protocol for local and global communications. The Internet Protocol has been widely adopted, not only on the global Internet, but also on the internal networks of large corporations. We at Concord fully recognize and appreciate the significant benefits that the Internet provides over traditional communication methodologies (Leased Line, Dial-Up, Satellite, etc).

The New Way of Connecting to a Payment Processor
We have developed a groundbreaking Internet-based payment gateway, EFSnet, which allows clients to connect to our payment platform within hours and days rather than weeks and months. EFSnet removes the traditional barriers of programming, certification, and periodic re-certification by acting as a translator between standard Internet language and our proprietary payment processing language. Implementation is faster and upgrades are automatic since clients write to EFSnet in a standardized and universal Internet language (XML or Name/Value Pair Posts), rather than certifying directly to our processing platform's proprietary protocols.

XML Web Services
EFSnet was built using the new Web Services standards and protocols, including Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). These World Wide Web Consortium standards, which represent an entirely new way of communicating between dissimilar systems, will likely form the basis for all connections in the future. To our knowledge, EFSnet is the first payment processor in the U.S. to expose these open Internet standards (SOAP) to potential merchants and electronic payment solution providers, putting us well ahead of the technology curve.

Broad Range of Payment Services
The initial application for EFSnet has been acquiring and processing credit card payments on retailer Web sites, but this is only the beginning. The EFSnet gateway can be used to facilitate a wide range of emerging Web-based payments, such as gift cards, online checks, and business-to-business purchase cards with detailed reporting. In addition, brick-and-mortar retailers can use EFSnet as a secure Internet connection in place of traditional dial-up connections to perform card present credit and pin debit card payment authorizations plus check verification (using STARCHEK). Instead of the usual six to eight second delay of a dial-up connection, an Internet line is always connected, allowing retailers to enjoy the same processing speed (1-4 Seconds) as a dedicated leased-line connection without the expensive installation and maintenance costs.