ITOCHU TECHNO-SCIENCE Corporation (abbreviated CTC; headquarters: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yushin Okazaki), The Japan Research Institute, Limited (abbreviated JRI; headquarters: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President and CEO: Shunichi Okuyama), and Nihon Hewlett Packard K.K. (abbreviated Nihon HP; headquarters: Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yasuyuki Higuchi) have been commissioned by GLORY LTD. (hereinafter GLORY; headquarters: Himeji City, Hyogo; President: Hideto Nishino) to reengineer an Electronic Payment System using Nihon HP's massively parallel processing server HP NonStopTM Server and JRI's card payment business package TOURNET/CARD(TM).

GLORY's Electronic Payment System is a payment gateway system for use with debit cards and credit cards. It provides secure and flexible payment services to enterprise customers in various industries and businesses amounting to 400 companies in Japan, including medical institutions and the amenity service industry. To adapt to the sharply increasing number of transactions in systems due to the recent generalization of electronic payment, and in response to growing internal and external needs, such as the need to timely introduce automatic machines featuring new functions and to reduce system operating costs, GLORY has decided to reengineer its systems, aiming at achieving high reliability and easy scalability.

CTC, which has extensive experience in building high-reliability systems, quality assurance included, was responsible for overseeing the overall reengineering of the Electronic Payment System. In addition, with its high reliability and leadership in scalability, HP NonStopTMServer has been adopted for the system infrastructure, while JRI's card payment business package TOURNET/CARDTM, with its extensive track record in the credit card industry has been adopted as the software solution. The project started in April 2004 and system cut-over was achieved after six month.

With its highly scalable and highly available new system, GLORY provides active support to customers nation-wide in strengthening the security of their payment processes, cash payments included, and reducing their costs. In addition, to be able to easily expand the functions of various types of payment services, GLORY will rapidly develop new offerings, such as compatibility with IC cards, handling of transactions in foreign countries, and introduction of new automatic machines with added functions.

GLORY's Pioneering Efforts

Although 620 cases of robbery in the streets and 19,920 cases of purse-snatching were reported in 1995 in Japan, these figures jumped, respectively, to 2,505 cases (approximately four times the previous figure) and 36,378 cases (approximately two times the previous figure) in 2004*, illustrating the current deterioration of security, which is now a social problem. In addition, following the relaxation of regulations such as that of finance, requests are now coming for the provision of secure and diversified payment methods, by card for example, even in fields where payment used to be only in cash, such as in medical institutions and amenity service-related installations.

Quickly acknowledging this trend of the times, GLORY has been offering since 1998 electronic payment services that enable the secure and flexible performance of various payments such as cash, debit card, credit card, electronic money payments, etc., using its own-produced specialized terminals (automatic machines). By using these services, for example when paying healthcare fees or hospitalization fees at a medical institution, it is possible to quickly and securely pay by cash card or credit card the sum billed or confirmed by the medical accounting system, after insertion of a consultation card into an automatic payment machine. As a result, patients do not need anymore to prepare cash for paying healthcare fees such as hospitalization fees. In addition, medical institutions can aim now at the automation of billing procedures, and be capable of achieving much better work efficiency and a reduction of cash management costs.
* Statistics from the National Police Agency, December 2004. Figures as of November 2004.

System Integration Provided by CTC, JRI, and Nihon HP

With its extensive experience in building systems requiring high reliability, CTC was entrusted with overseeing the overall system reengineering, quality assurance included, and was responsible for project management, including management of developers from GLORY. CTC has provided reengineering of the entire infrastructure, including networks, with centralized one-stop maintenance service after system operation started. CTC also provides a full range of services including system operation, monitoring, and administration.

The 3 companies CTC, JRI, and Nihon HP will continue to provide a highly available and highly scalable infrastructure to enable enterprises to adapt swiftly to fast-changing business conditions and new projects.

Specificities of the New System

High Reliability and High Scalability Achieved by NonStop(TM)Server

HP NonStopTMServer achieves an availability of 99,9999%, the highest standard in the industry, and has an extensive track record in the payment business. HP NonStopTMServer also has an extensive track record in the finance industry, with a world share of more than 90% of stock exchange servers and of 66% of credit card payment processing. By fully using this experience and know-how in this system reengineering, building a high-precision electronic payment system was possible in a short time. In addition, the adoption of a massively parallel architecture enables flexible system scaling and linear extension of system performance. Also, adopting a single-system image has helped reduce operation man-hours, while the capability to perform online maintenance and installation of new systems has resulted in improved operability and maintainability.

A Flexible System Built in a Short Time With the Adoption of TOURNET/CARDTM

The TOURNET/CARD Package is a Card Payment Business Package completed through the integration of JRI's long experience in developing NonStop systems and extensive know-how of the credit business. In TOURNET/CARD, because functions for connection to various financial networks and for authorization of whether to perform payment or not are modularized according to the type of transaction, implementing them in the system is possible with minimum customization, and as a result, it has been possible to build the system in just 6 months between the start of specification study and the beginning of live system operation. In addition, because of the capability to access the same physical database as that of legacy systems using open applications, legacy systems can be efficiently used, allowing the adoption of a flexible system configuration.

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This press release is delivered by ITOCHU TECHNOSCIENCE Corporation, The Japan Research Institute, Ltd., and Nihon Hewlett Packard K.K. Please note that its content may have been repeated. Thank you for your comprehension.

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