NEWS RELEASE
July 6, 2000
For Immediate Distribution
RDM Corporation Announces Internet-Based Payment Archive Service Agreement with Global eTelecom
Waterloo, Ontario, July 6, 2000 - RDM Corporation (RDM), a leading developer of specialized software and hardware products for Internet electronic commerce and payment processing, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to provide RDM's Internet-based Payment Archive Service to Global eTelecom of Destin, Florida.
RDM will supply its Payment Archive Service and EC5000i point-of-sale image scanners for Global eTelecom's proprietary Global eSilverTM and Global eGoldTMTM electronic check conversion (ECC) services. Global eTelecom will provide full, image enabled ECC through its network of Processing Banks and Independent Sales Organizations (ISO's).
The ECC market is experiencing explosive growth to meet the needs of merchants accepting checks at the point-of-sale. Up to 18 billion checks are written at the point-of-sale in the U.S. annually. ECC begins with a paper check presented to a merchant. With RDM's EC5000i scanner, all of the information is captured from the check and the transaction is converted to an electronic debit on the customer's account through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network.
The RDM Payment Archive Service is an essential, cost-effective enabler for payment processing companies and merchants who want to capture the benefits of ECC. The benefits of image based ECC to the merchant include lower check handling costs, faster returned payment processing, earlier funds availability, account consolidation and availability of customer demographic information. The images and data are securely stored, available immediately if required for payment collection. RDM's Payment Archive Service provides the merchant and the payment processor with high performance, secure web based image archival and retrieval, with no capital investment or additional support infrastructure and only minimal effort required to integrate data with existing systems. Costs and lead times to implement ECC are dramatically reduced.
RDM's EC5000i scanner captures images and payment transaction information and transmits the data to the RDM Payment Archive. RDM's Payment Archive Service includes high-speed communications from a local dial-up to RDM's site.
John H. Beebe, Chairman and CEO of Global eTelecom said, "This is a winning combination of hardware and services which will open up the market for ECC. Global eTelecom's proprietary payment processing services combined with RDM's EC5000 scanners and Payment Archive service form a cutting edge payment solution that is needed by the ISO channel."
David Lant, General Manager of RDM's Payment Automation Group said, "We are very pleased to partner with Global eTelecom as a charter member of our Payment Archive ASP offering. Global eTelecom has integrated RDM's hardware and services into a complete image ECC solution for the POS merchant market and we look forward to working together to deliver this exciting solution."
RDM's Payment Archive Service and EC5000i scanner help to ensure that financial information is captured accurately and handled securely. RDM announced its Payment Archive Service in June 2000. RDM began shipping production versions of its EC5000i scanner for point-of-sale check verification and conversion applications in April 1999. The point-of-sale market for RDM's check verification and conversion products is estimated to be more than one million locations in the U.S.
Global eTelecom, Inc. owns the first technology approved by the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) to process ECC transactions at the Point-of-Purchase. The company was founded to address the needs in the general business community for a cost effective, creative solution to Electronic Check Conversion (ECC) in each of the following environments: Point of Purchase (POP), Internet, Mail Order / Telephone Order (Phone Check), Recurring Debit and Lock-Box Payments. The philosophy of Global eTelecom, Inc. is, "All things are possible and every hurdle or problem is a stepping stone to a solution." Global eTelecom is a member of NACHA's Electronic Check Council, and has recently secured several multimillion dollar ECC processing contracts which will utilize the RDM service. More information on Global eTelecom can be found on the company's website at www.globaletelecom.com.
RDM has been providing paper and electronic payment automation technologies and solutions to banks, printers and payment processors in over 35 countries since 1987. RDM's corporate information can be accessed via the Company's website, www.rdmcorp.com. RDM Corporation is a public company listed under the symbol "RC" on the Canadian Venture Exchange.
The Canadian Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
For more information, please contact:
Jay Hussey
Investor Relations
The Equicom Group Inc.
(416) 815-0700 ext. 225 phone
(416) 815-0080 fax
e-mail: jhussey@equicomgroup.com
Douglas Newman
C.F.O.
RDM Corporation
(519) 746-8483 phone
(519) 746-3317 fax
e-mail: dgn@rdmcorp.com