| [April 19, 2012] |
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USA Technologies Upgrades Its ePort Connect Service Platform For Scalability and Growth
MALVERN, Pa. --(Business Wire)--
USA
Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: USAT), ("USAT"), a leader of wireless,
cashless payment and M2M telemetry solutions for small-ticket,
self-serve retailing industries, has completed an upgrade to its ePort
Connect® service platform-an action aimed to support USAT's growing base
of customers and the next generation of services and emerging M2M
applications, such as mobile marketing and mobile payment. The
customer-facing portion of the upgrade launched this week, with new
features and functionality added to its web-based customer data portal,
USALive®.
"This next generation upgrade really revitalizes USA Technologies' (News - Alert)
platform for service delivery," said Stephen P. Herbert, Chairman and
CEO of USA Technologies. "We expanded our capacity for growth by moving
to industry-leading computing infrastructure, and made important
upgrades to proprietary and third party software that improve system
performance and our ability to efficiently scale. We also improved card
user experience, cutting approximate authentication times-from swipe to
approval-in half.
"In addition, users of our cloud-based data reporting system will see an
improved USALive that is easier to navigate, customize and automate for
faster access to valuable information to manage their businesses.
Finally, we made what we believe to be important enhancements to our
ePort Connect service infrastructure that set the stage for new forms of
revenue growth-from the hosting of more third party hardware to expanded
services that stem from the emerging trends in M2M applications and NFC
mobile payment," said Herbert.
The upgrade incorporates the latest in network server technology in
addition to proprietary software development that markedly increases
capacity and allows USA Technologies to seamlessly "add on" capacity as
USAT's connected service base expands. Recently, USA Technologies
reported preliminary data for the quarter ended 3/31/2012 that indicated
its connected service base had grown to 148,000 cashless and M2M
connections-double what it was two years ago.
In addition, the upgrade enhances the ease with which a greater variety
of third party devices can connect to USAT's ePort Connect service.
Today, devices from some of the biggest vending machine and kiosk
manufacturers in the business network to ePort Connect, including MEI,
Crane Merchandising Systems and AMI Entertainment Network.
Users of USAT's customer reporting portal noted an improved user
interface earlier this week. Among the enhancements introduced were:
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Faster and more customizable (user-defined) reportng capabilities;
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New "look-up" capabilities to make it easier to search;
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Additional analytical data for logistics and inventory decisions aimed
at saving smaller businesses the expense of investing in an additional
reporting system;
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DEX transfer can now be made immediately, or triggered at a
pre-determined time when an operator requires it, for added
convenience. For example, USA Technologies will have the capability to
send machine health alerts directly from a machine to an operator via
email or another server using SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol);
and,
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Anticipated in 30 days, the opportunity to have MDB (multidrop bus)
alerts added for better payment device diagnostics for bill acceptors
and coin acceptors.
"We connected with our customers and are delivering what they asked
for-speed, more information to help them better serve their customers
and stay competitive, and finally, the ability to stay in front of
emerging consumer trends. In short, we believe that we needed a robust
and adaptable next generation ePort Connect service platform that could
readily respond to the needs of our customers while enabling new
capacity for growth. Our recently introduced Two-Tier Pricing Program,
which includes the ability to assign discount cash prices to individual
machines via over-the-air updates, is a great example of that
adaptability. Going forward, we believe it will be the platform that
will help us capture the many opportunities emerging in mobile marketing
and mobile payments-prepaid, loyalty, couponing and others," said
Herbert.
ePort Connect® is a PCI (News - Alert)-compliant, end-to-end suite of cashless payment
and telemetry services specially tailored to fit the needs of the small
ticket, self-service retail industries. Services offered through ePort
Connect currently include payment processing services (such as wireless
connectivity, online sales reporting through USALive, settlement,
over-the-air updates), remote DEX data management and machine health
alerts. Recently, USAT has added two-tier pricing to this suite of
services.
About USA Technologies:
USA Technologies is a leader in the networking of wireless non-cash
transactions, associated financial/network services and energy
management. USA Technologies provides networked credit card and other
non-cash systems and services in the vending, commercial laundry,
hospitality and digital imaging industries. The Company has been granted
79 patents and has agreements with Verizon, Visa, Compass (News - Alert), Crane and
others. Visit our website at www.usatech.com.
Forward-looking Statements:
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995: All statements other than statements of historical fact
included in this release, including without limitation the financial
position, achieving profitability, business strategy and the plans and
objectives of USAT's management for future operations, are
forward-looking statements. When used in this release, words such as
"anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", and similar
expressions, as they relate to USAT or its management, identify
forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on
the beliefs of USAT's management, as well as assumptions made by and
information currently available to the USAT's management. Actual results
could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking
statements as a result of certain factors, including but not limited to,
the ability of USAT to generate sufficient sales to generate operating
profits, or conduct operations at a profit; the ability of USAT to
retain key customers from whom a significant portion of its revenues is
derived; whether USAT's customers continue to operate or commence
operating ePorts® received under the Jumpstart program or
otherwise at levels currently anticipated by USAT; the ability of USAT
to compete with its competitors to obtain market share; whether USAT's
customers continue to utilize USAT's transaction processing and related
services, as our customer agreements are generally cancelable by the
customer on thirty to sixty days' notice; whether the significant
increase in the interchange fees to be charged by Visa and MasterCard (News - Alert)
for small ticket debit card transactions would adversely affect our
business, including our revenues, gross profits, and anticipated future
connections to our network; whether or not our continued non-acceptance
of any MasterCard debit cards would adversely affect our business,
including our revenues, gross profits, and anticipated future
connections to our network; whether USAT's existing or anticipated
customers purchase ePort devices in the future at levels currently
anticipated by USAT; and, whether USAT's customers will continue to
experience the levels of cashless sales or number of cashless
transactions seen in the two-week period following deployment of the
Two-Tier Pricing Program. Readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking
statement made by us in this release speaks only as of the date of this
release. Unless required by law, USAT does not undertake to release
publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect
future events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.

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