Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition

While many segments of the economy remain stagnant, there is at least one area growing at a healthy clip: check fraud. From 1997 to 2001, check fraud perpetrated against deposit accounts grew by more than 400 percent, accounting for more than $4.3 billion in 2001, the last year for which figures are available, according to the American Bankers Association. Last week, Create!form International announced a new product called CheckDefense to help companies protect themselves against check fraud.

Known in industry lingo as a "positive pay" application, CheckDefense works by periodically sending banks encrypted reports that list the checks the company has recently written. If somebody writes a fraudulent check for that company's account and the bank cashes it, the bank is liable for the amount of the check. If things are working correctly, the bank won't cash the fraudulent check in the first place.

CheckDefense is a Microsoft Windows application that can be integrated with Create!form's magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) check writing software, called Create!micr, which runs on OS/400, Unix, and Windows platforms. The integration between Create!micr and CheckDefense requires Create!stream, the "intelligent" routing component for the Create!form suite. However, in the coming months, the company will integrate Create!stream with the core Create!form software, obviating the need to purchase it separately to integrate CheckDefense and other Create!form components.

Create!form obtained the source code for CheckDefense through a private label agreement with AcuPrint Technology, a developer of secure payment solutions in Carlsbad, California.

One of the early adopters of CheckDefense was Gallatin Steel. Kirk Works, a process manager for information systems at the company, says the CheckDefense process is automatic and no one even knows it's happening. "The bank can compare checks presented for payment against the positive pay report to verify the payee and the amount. CheckDefense eliminates most possibilities of check fraud," he says. "What's more, using CheckDefense creates no additional strain to Gallatin's employee workload or network resources."

CheckDefense is available now. Pricing begins at $2,995, which allows the user to connect to an unlimited number of accounts at one bank. Connections to additional banks cost $300 each. For more information, go to www.createform.com.

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FAST400

What makes IBM different from Microsoft regarding Fast400??

What is Fast400?

You are hearing a lot about Fast400 aren't you? But what is Fast400? Fast400 is a "tuning" product for the iSeries. Fast400 will allow an iSeries server to utilize the available CPW for interactive processing. IBM would have you believe that these interactive cards that cost thousands to millions of dollars, actually add value to your server. By buying Fast400, you do not ever need to buy anther interactive card for your iSeries. For a free demonstration of Fast400, please visit www.fast400.net.

Why Fast400?

A few years ago Microsoft would not let other software companies build tools to work with the Windows operating system. Microsoft did all kinds of scurrilous things to stop other manufacturers software from working on their platform. They would put code in the base operating system that prevented other companies code from working properly. IBM even had these issues with Operations Navigator. In the early days of Operations Navigator, the developers in Rochester had to scrap early versions because Microsoft did not want IBM leverage on what was proprietary to them. Netscape also had a few problems using the Windows operating system.

The result

Now we all know what happened to Microsoft. After spending tens of millions of our tax dollars in the trial, the US government told Microsoft that they were acting as a monopoly and what they did was not right or fair.

The similarity

IBM is doing exactly the same thing to Fast400 as Microsoft did. IBM has changed the operating system of the iSeries 400 to prevent Fast400 from working. In fact this has been done several times now, and each time the Fast400 developers produce a new fix to circumvent the IBM action. Why does IBM do this? because Fast400 takes money out of IBM's pocket. The potential for IBM to make billions from its user base, for delivering virtually no product is tantamount to corporate deception! Did IBM change the operating system when EMC introduced a low cost storage solution for the iSeries?

The future

The cat and mouse game between IBM and Fast400 is already a year old. Every time IBM changes the operating system to disable Fast400, the developers of Fast400 produce a new version within days to enable it again. Does Fast400 have a commercial agenda? Of course it does. Fast400 is in business to provide its clients with added benefits, which will maximise the interactive performance of iSeries 400 servers. And as we are a business, why shouldn't we charge a nominal fee for that service? A fee that our clients see as being fair and proper. After all, it's not Fast400 that is making enemies in the user base. As long as IBM wants to play "David and Goliath" we will continue to "out" the giant. Fast400 is not running, you can be assured!!

For more information, please visit www.fast400.net.