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26/03/2010 -
While many payment processing experts are busy debating the compatibility of cloud computing deployments and PCI compliance, there is one trend that is actually merging the cloud and payment processing.A recent report from Mercator Advisory Group found that cloud computing may be the next big thing in POS terminals.
"Providers in the POS market are attempting to meet market demands by developing solutions that ascend beyond the last generation of POS systems," said the report. "Increasingly, these solutions depend upon applications and services hosted within providers' secure data centers, as opposed to running locally at the merchant level."
The report also noted that "as the payment processing industry shifts more toward a model of host-based processing, the opportunities for remote terminal management and application delivery continue to appear attractive to merchant service providers."
David Fish, senior analyst for Mercator's emerging technology advisory service, called the transition to cloud-based POS terminals "the most prominent vector" in the future of the sector.
PCI expert Walt Conway recently went again the grain by saying that PCI compliance may be possible in the cloud, as long as the provider is thoroughly vetted and proper precautions are put in place.
