Equinox Payments, Voltage Security and Merchant Link Partner to Bring Cutting-Edge Point-to-Point Payment Encryption Solution to Secure Payment Data

NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- National Retail Federation's Big Show (NRF 2012)- Leading payment processing and security vendors, Equinox Payments, Voltage Security and Merchant Link, have collaborated to create a cutting-edge, reliable, cloud-based payment solution to protect sensitive point-of-sale payment data.

The integration of these proven solutions was a direct response to Columbia Sportswear Company's desire to reduce its PCI scope for its retail locations by minimizing or eliminating the need to store any payment data on its network environment, while allowing scalability to support future growth.

In a joint effort to meet Columbia's challenge and push the envelope on payment data security, Equinox's payment terminals were combined with Voltage SecureData Payments™ solutions and Merchant Link's TransactionVault™ tokenization and Payment Gateway™.

• Data is captured using Equinox Payments' next generation L5300 payment system, which is equipped with an integrated contactless reader and features Equinox's remote key injection system that allows a retailer to initiate on-site, in-store terminal key injection quickly and securely for debit card transactions.
• For credit card transactions, Voltage Security's encryption technology featuring stateless key management offers protection of payment data from swipe to processing and works alongside PIN debit encryption without any impact.
• Merchant Link's card-based tokenization technology enhances security and marketing analytics, while its gateway service ensures successful settlement.

"Our customers have high expectations when it comes to the quality of our products and the security of the payment information they entrust us with," said Susan Leafe, Retail Application Manager, Columbia Sportswear Company. "Equinox Payments, Voltage Security and Merchant Link have come together to enable a comprehensive, reliable payment solution that significantly reduces information security risk for us and for our customers while providing the scalability and ease of maintenance we desired."

The initial pilot programs were completed prior to the holiday shopping season and implementation across Columbia Sportswear's 54 U.S. retail locations is expected to be completed by April 2012. By integrating the latest payment technologies and security into a single solution, Columbia Sportswear will not only be able to secure transactions today, but will also be able to adjust and scale the solution when future payment methods such as contactless, electronic wallets and EMV become more mainstream.

About Columbia Sportswear

Columbia Sportswear Company is a leading innovator in the global outdoor apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment markets. Founded in 1938 in Portland, Oregon, Columbia products are sold in more than 100 countries and have earned an international reputation for innovation, quality and performance. Columbia products feature innovative technologies and designs that protect outdoor enthusiasts from the elements, increase comfort, and make outdoor activities more enjoyable. In addition to the Columbia® brand, Columbia Sportswear Company also owns outdoor brands Mountain Hardwear®, Sorel®,and Montrail®. To learn more, please visit the company's websites at www.columbia.com, www.mountainhardwear.com, www.sorel.com, and www.montrail.com.  

About Equinox Payments, LLC

Equinox Payments, headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, a portfolio company of The Gores Group, LLC, is a leading payment terminal manufacturer and secure applications provider. Through its commercial offices in the United States, Latvia, Manila and Australia, and a service repair facility in Mexico, Equinox's more than 200 employees deliver secure payment terminals, applications and services to hundreds of thousands of merchants throughout North America. Further information is available at www.equinoxpayments.com.

About Voltage Security

Voltage Security®, Inc. is the world leader in providing data-centric encryption and key management solutions for combating new and emerging security threats. With innovative, powerful and easy-to-use encryption and tokenization solutions for protecting sensitive business data, Voltage customers are able to address privacy regulations and best practices from around the world. Voltage customers adopting data-centric encryption include some of the largest companies in the world across a wide variety of industries including payments, financial, insurance, medical, e-commerce and more. Voltage solutions are based on two groundbreaking encryption approaches: Identity-Based Encryption™ (IBE) and Format-Preserving Encryption™ (FPE). Voltage solutions have changed how enterprises protect their most valuable asset, their customer data. Offerings include Voltage SecureMail™, Voltage SecureData™, Voltage SecureData Payments™, Voltage SecureData Web™, Voltage SecureFile™ and Voltage Cloud Services™ which provides cloud scale encryption and key management for businesses, partners and their customers. The company has been issued several patents based upon breakthrough research in mathematics and cryptographic systems. To learn more about Voltage customers please visit voltage.com/customers.

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 retailers, hotels and restaurants. 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.

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