By Graham K. Rogers

Most people I know remember quite clearly the first news of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Anyone who travels internationally will be aware of the changes that enhanced security measures have brought about as a direct result of the events that day.

A lesser known effect came about because of the immediate freeze on air transport movements: checks (or cheques) could not be returned to the home banks for processing, so major delays occurred in payments systems - especially in Europe and the USA - that required fast clearing.

As a result systems have been developed that enable checks to be cleared at the receiving branch rather than having to be returned to the issuing bank. When verified, data is transmitted between banks and productivity has been enhanced. Epson report that as well as banks, a number of retailers are also investing in such devices.

The company has developed a number of multifunction teller devices including the TM-S9000MJ and TM-S2000MJ. These devices use accurate character recognition of the magnetic inks used for such high security printing. The check is also scanned and turned into a black and white image with a process that separates any background images from the data and increasing the accuracy of data to be transferred at a speed that allows both sides of 200 checks a minute to be processed.

The device also scans ID cards and reads the magnetic strip of an ATM card as well as printing a receipt using thermal technology. It can also print a check using an inkjet printer head.

More information is available in the Epson press release, or via the Epson area website.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.