Co-op signs cash machine deal
The Co-operative Bank has signed a seven-year outsourcing contract with IT services provider Wincor Nixdorf to manage its 2,400-strong cash machine network.
Wincor plans to migrate the network to its own processing platform next year. It will also manage all future technology development for the bank.
Glasgow goes completely WiFi
Glasgow claims to have become the first Scottish city to have a WiFi-enabled city centre for public use, thanks to six BT Openzone hotspots installed across the central pedestrianised area of the city. The city council is also considering using WiFi for internet-based CCTV cameras, bus shelters and traffic signals.
Cheques on the way out
Use of paper cheques will end within the next two decades, as online banking and direct debit become the de facto means of making payments, according to Halifax bank. Cheque payments fell to 2.1 billion last year from a peak of 3.7 billion in 1990, while business cheque usage has dropped every year since 1997. Based on current growth patterns, the bank believes there are likely to be 20 billion debit card transactions processed each year by 2025.
Nats signs Spanish accord
The UK’s National Air Traffic Services (Nats) has established a joint venture with its Spanish counterpart AENA to jointly develop a next-generation air traffic management system capable of managing airspace in Spain and the UK. The system will be introduced first in Gran Canaria and the Spanish peninsula in 2007, before being installed at Nats’ Prestwick centre in 2009 and finally at Swanwick in 2012.
Met integrates communications
The Metropolitan Police Service is spending £36.6m on an integrated communications control system to improve communication with its 30,000 officers. The system is being brought in to support the Met’s new central communications command structure, which sees the consolidation of 32 London borough-based command posts into three central call centres.