SILVER SPRING, MD (December 11, 2012) – Merchant Link, a leading provider of payment gateway and data security solutions, today announced that it has completed integration with ID TECH’s encrypting point-of-interaction (POI) devices, to increase P2PE hardware options for its customers.
 
“By combining ID TECH’s secure encrypting payment devices with Merchant Link’s layered solutions, our customers can obtain the highest level of security and support for their payments,” said George Jiang, Vice President of Engineering for ID TECH.
 
The integration adds support for ID TECH’s innovative encrypting card readers to Merchant Link’s TransactionShield® point-to-point encryption solution. Data is encrypted the moment a credit card is swiped or entered on a keypad. The data is then passed through the merchant environment and sent to Merchant Link’s cloud-based gateway for decryption and authorization. Cardholder data is replaced with tokens that are sent back to the POS to reference the transaction. The entire process removes all unencrypted data from the merchant environment.
 
Properly deployed, implementation of these solutions can remove merchant POS systems from the scope of PCI DSS, easing compliance efforts and cost. The use of industry-standard encryption and key management practices saves on the cost of proprietary encryption licensing fees. In addition, Merchant Link’s processor-neutral gateway offers the flexibility to switch amongst processors quickly and efficiently, keeping merchants in control of their payment partners and rates.
 
“The addition of ID TECH to Merchant Link’s portfolio was a strategic business decision based on customer demand,” said Geoff Krieg, Vice President of Product Management for Merchant Link. “We are pleased to support merchants using these products.”
 
Certification is complete and the first beta site is live. Integration is available for customers using ID TECH’s SecureMag™, SecurePIN™ 130 SL, SecureKey™, SecureKey™ M100 and M130, Sign&Pay™, and Secure Line Mobile devices.

About ID TECH
ID TECH is a global leader in the Auto ID industry with sales, manufacturing and R&D facilities around the world. The company has become a well-established payment solutions provider with extensive experience in data capturing and encryption products and services. Designing dependable, feature-rich products has made ID TECH a leading supplier of MagStripe readers/writers, mobile payment readers, contactless readers, smart card readers, barcode readers, POS keyboards, signature capture devices, PCI-compliant PIN pads, and other specialty products for OEMs, VARs, resellers, distributors, and key end users. ID TECH provides both standard and custom solutions to support customer requirements. 

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 retail locations. 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. For more information, please visit www.merchantlink.com, read our blog www.merchantlinksecuritycents.com and follow us on Twitter.