Working jointly with several partners, FIDUCIA IT AG developed an independent multivendor platform for operating statement printers (KAD), automated teller machines (GAA) and service terminals (ST). The result was named agree SB and is an integrated component of the FIDUCIA product range.

agree SB fits seamlessly into the agreeŽ product line and uses the most modern Java technologies, in order to offer secure, highly available and flexible services on self-service terminals.

A detailed examination of agree SB shows, that the platform, which consists of different modules, forms a coordinated and integrated entity. The main part is the agree SB Application - a Java application which, partially runs on the terminal and partially on central application servers. It builds a frame for the different banking transaction use cases (for instance: statement print or cash dispense). The banking part is supported by the system management component – agree SB Operator – that can be used with a Web browser interface. As a result, the bank’s and the technical staff are able to perform various operations on the self-service terminals (configuration change, restart, and lots more). agree SB Operator is an extended version of KIXOperator for special requirements of FIDUCIA IT AG.

agree SB supports more than 130 different terminal types from the manufacturers Diebold, NCR and Wincor Nixdorf. In order to support all the terminal types with the agree SB Application the software product KIXTerminalControl is installed in the self-service terminal.

For the direct services at the terminal FIDUCIA IT AG uses KIXLocalServices, which are identical in look-and-feel on each self-service terminal and are available during interventions such as cassette change, etc.

KIXTerminalControl, KIXLocalServices and KIXOperator are products of Salzburger Banken Software. Furthermore, the architects and the developers from Salzburger Banken Software support FIDUCIA IT AG during the development and improvement of the agree SB solution.

In spring of 2004 version 1.0 of agree SB was released for the general use. Within the shortest time many banks, with a total of 1000 terminals, migrated from the old system into the agree SB world. This was a logistic challenge, because the terminals had to be completely reinstalled. For this purpose, a bank employee or a technician at the terminal was needed. Additional workload caused by new agree SB terminals and new users of agree SB Operator had been compensated by means of horizontal scaling (installing further server capacity). This is just one of the advantages of a modern “Three-Tier-Architecture” (self-service terminal – central server – backend) compared with the former decentralized system, with hundreds of servers distributed in banks and their branches.

Meanwhile, more than 22,000 self-service terminals (ATMs, Cash-Recycling-Systems, statement printers and service terminals) run with agree SB, which shows, that this modern solution is appreciated by the banks. With this new sales channel the financial institutions are now able to transport their services directly to the customer – with a twenty-four-seven availability that emphasizes the proximity to customers.

FIDUCIA IT AG with its agree SB solution created worldwide one of the most modern and efficient self-service platforms. By doing so, FIDUCIA accomplished a technological step that lie ahead of many other German computing centers. Salzburger Banken Software is proud of its contribution to the success of agree SB.