United Arab Emirates, Septmeber 26th 2005 - Network International, the regions preferred card solutions provider in keeping with its culture of innovation and continuous improvement exhibited its new offering- MOBILE GPRS POS TERMINAL at Gitex 2005.  

The Middle East region is currently witnessing a paradigm shift in payment landscape. As the industry migrates from magnetic-striped payment technology (cards, terminals, network, etc) to EMV (EuroPay, Mastercard, Visa) technology, banks and financial institutions not only have to justifiy their millions of dollars of investments in upgrading the existing payment infrastructure but also need to keep up with evolving technology to maintain competitive advantage. 

"We understand the challenge that banks are currently facing in having to cope with an ever-changing payment landscape" said Abdulla Qassem, Chairman, Network International.  "With the aim of helping our customers and the payment industry overcome such dilemmas, we at Network have invested considerably in reviewing and re-architecturing our payment infrastructure to introduce the Mobile GPRS POS Terminal" 

Mobile GPRS POS Terminal is a totally mobile payment terminal providing online card acceptance payment capability to any merchant on the move. It is not only faster and more convenient than landline phones but also helps increase revenue by reaching out to new market segments where fixed-line connectivity is limited or not practical such as remote areas, exhibitions/conventions, mobile merchants such as real estate agents, insurance agents, police, etc. Deployment time too is reduced as there is no waiting time for installation and commissioning of lines as all configurations and preparations can be done before hand. GPRS also has the added advantage of lowering cost as calls are billed on data size rather than connection time.

 Mr Ram Chari, Senior Manager, Network International, said "At Network, we have a robust and innovative culture. Our holistic approach enables us to gain competitive edge by introducing new applications and services quickly and securely with minimum technology obsolescence. We believe that the addition of wireless payment systems will further simplify the payment process for end customers, and add to the continued demand of card-based transactions."

Mr. Qassem added "As the largest and most popular exhibition of its kind in the region, GITEX 2005 provides the perfect platform to introduce this revolutionary new connectivity option to the Middle East market." Being the first to introduce the option in the market, Network is willing to capitalize on its investment and lend its technological communication advantage to its customers in their move to 'smart' payment solutions.