7 Feb 03: U.K. Clearing Hub Adopts Data Junction for XML-Based Integration

BACS Ltd., the U.K.’s automated payments clearing house, is using Data Junction solutions as the integration hub for its upgrade from BACSTEL to the Web-based BACSTEL-IP. Data Junction’s suite of integration solutions, including its UNIX Integration Engine, already manages the integration processes for both the current BACSTEL system and the phased introduction of BACSTEL-IP, an upgrade aimed to meet the rapidly growing demand for more efficient electronic payment services, including salary payment and direct debit collections.

BACSTEL-IP, a new way of accessing the BACS payment services, is based on Internet protocols and uses the latest PKI technologies for the highest level of security. For current BACSTEL clients, shortly after they submit a payment they receive an acknowledgement of submission before a printed report confirming the transaction is sent the next day. The new Web-based submission practice for BACSTEL-IP customers, supported by Data Junction, sends acknowledgement and confirmation much faster by eliminating the printed report. Data Junction intercepts printed reports and converts the data stream into an XML format that is then translated and displayed on a Web page.

This new Web-based process gives BACS a much more interactive channel with their customer base. Customers can monitor the status of payments as they are processed, receive a wider range of reports electronically than currently available, and maintain their own records – all online.

“BACS, being at the center of the UK payments industry, has key issues involving reliability, resilience and security. Data Junction enhances this level of service with robust, dependable solutions,” says Martin Wilson at BACS Limited. “We chose Data Junction because of its excellent user interface, its Java compliance, as well as its ability to expand with the larger volumes of transactions we will see in the future.”

BACS processes in excess of 3.7 billion financial transactions annually with more than 60 million in a peak day. By 2006, BACS expects to have processed upwards of 5 billion items in a single year. BACS (formerly Bankers Automated Clearing Services) is one of the world's largest automated payment clearing houses. Established in 1968, BACS is owned by the major banks and building societies in the UK. BACS’s business encompasses the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) processing of Direct Debit, Direct Credit, Standing Orders, information advices and the management of interbank network services. Over 40,000 companies are customers of the BACS service, including all of the FTSE 100, while a further 60,000 businesses are indirect submitters to BACS through commercial bureaux.

Data Junction, based in Austin, Texas, has more than 40,000 customers for its integration products. Customers include 75% of the Fortune 100 as well as major consulting firms and software vendors that embed Data Junction's technology. The company sells directly to VARs and corporations in the U.S., the European Union and Latin America, as well as through more than 100 Alliance Partners in the United States and distribution partners throughout the world.