The past two weeks have brought significant andexciting changes to the Secure POS Vendor Alliance. When the SPVA launched less than ayear ago, the founding members – Hypercom, Ingenico and VeriFone -always had the vision that the organization would not simply be a soapbox for the “big three,” but rather a more inclusive entity that provided a collaborative environment and a stronger voice for ensuring payments security. The 15 additional members that have joined the SPVA over the past eight months agreed, committing their time and resources in return for the value this organization could provide. With two recent developments, we’ve come even further in realizing our vision.
Bob Carr, CEO of Heartland Payment Systems, was elected to the 2010 SPVA Board of Directors as our Associate Member Director.We are honored to have Bob take on this leadership position and feel there is currently no one better for this role. Bob expressed his commitment to 'bringing POS hardware and software vendors together for the good of all the stakeholders in the payments domain.” I look forward to working with Bob in continued support of our mission.
In case you missed it, the SPVA also launched a new involvement opportunity – the Lab Network. Our Technical Working Groups have been working diligently in the development of implementation guidelines related to end-to-end encryption, payments lifecycle management protocols and other pressing industry needs. Members of theLab Network, including authorized QSA labs, will be given the opportunity to conduct security evaluations of our implementation guidelines and connect with our other members in sharing best practices and raising the security level within the POS industry.
So as you can see, we’ve been busy around here! We’re convinced that the strides we are making to expand our connections will help to further our goals. If you want to know more about what’s going on at SPVA, reach out to me at any time.