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Press release: Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union Succeeds with Stratus as Foundation for ATM Network Upgrade

ATM/EFT services go Above and Beyond with Diebold, Mosaic, and Stratus

Denali is the name that the Athabascan people gave to North America's tallest mountain (Mt. McKinley). Fittingly, the credit union that has adopted the majestic peak's name keeps its sights on a high goal: delivering service that goes Above and Beyond. The $360-million-asset Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union strives to exceed the expectations of its 45,000 members in every way, including its automated teller machine/electronic funds transfer (ATM/EFT) services.

Because Denali Alaskan regards its 36-and-growing ATMs as prime self-service territory, the financial institution is not content to offer just the usual transactions familiar to ATM users. This drive motivated the credit union to bring its ATM/EFT processing and switching in house in order to provide expanded services.

"The shared processing we had been using had to be managed efficiently for all the institutions that use it. But we wanted total control over the look, the feel, and the services at our ATMs," explains John Layton, assistant vice president of payment systems at Denali Alaskan.

To reach its objective, the credit union extended the services at its Diebold ATMs by deploying Mosaic Software's Postilion^® product and a fault-tolerant Stratus^® ftServer^® W Series system. Diebold, Incorporated provided both the software and server as part of an end-to-end Diebold ATM solution. (In addition to the ATMs for which the company is so well known, Diebold is an authorized reseller of Postilion and ftServer products.)

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Choosing the right gear

Research into intercept processing options (in which transactions by the credit union's members are not switched out to the shared network) had led Denali Alaskan to Mosaic's Postilion online transaction processing and switching software. The software would enable the control over, and visibility into, services and transactions sought by Layton and his colleagues.

"What's wonderful about the Mosaic software is that it's all here right in front of me," says Layton. "We have real-time statistics; there's no 14-hour wait to know how much cash is in the ATMs. We know immediately if an ATM goes down; we don't find out four hours later."

Layton describes Mosaic Postilion's software as a "very user-friendly package" that fits well with its technology infrastructure and staff skills. The solution runs in a familiar Microsoft^® Windows^® operating system environment, uses the SQL Server database - and significantly - allows ATMs to be set up and configured through a point-and-click graphical interface. This is a notable improvement from less modern alternatives that use a command-line interface, which means a programmer or a technician is needed to set up ATMs.

Having decided on its ATM/EFT software, Denali Alaskan explored the server possibilities. The IT team considered a conventional server they could order with additional availability features such as dual processors and network interface cards. However, Diebold recommended a different platform: the fault-tolerant Stratus ftServer W Series system.

"We looked at building a server semi-comparable to Stratus. The cost was comparable, but the other approach did not have the same redundancy," Layton says. "The Stratus ftServer system was the better choice because people have zero tolerance for unavailable ATMs."

With uptime features integral to these Microsoft Windows-based servers, ftServer W Series systems have demonstrated that they meet or exceed 99.999% availability in customer installations. The ftServer family of Intel^® processor-based systems automatically defends against unplanned downtime with Stratus Continuous Processing^® technology including lockstep hardware, failsafe system software, and ActiveService^TMcapabilities. Software applications benefit from this protection from the time they start running on these servers (without the extra software modifications and supplemental testing needed to implement a high-availability cluster of servers).

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Ascent to new services

Its ATM/EFT software and fault-tolerant server provided the flexible, yet strong, base that Denali Alaskan needed to realize its vision. Observes Layton, "The ATM self-service terminals have a lot more function than we were using them for. We wanted to increase use of the ATMs as a delivery channel where we could reach out and touch members. After that, there were opportunities to deploy ATMs in retail locations with revenue sharing. And we could dispense things other than cash, such as stamps."

For example, Denali Alaskan is deploying check truncation (information on paper checks is captured and sent through the clearing system electronically) to make deposits available to members on the spot.

Members are also able to request mini-statements at the ATM that show their most recent transactions, and they have quick access to information about all of their accounts. And at the Anchorage airport location, when not in use the ATMs make their presence more visible by playing MPEG video of the credit union's commercials.

One-to-one marketing is another coming enhancement. "We want to use the five seconds of the 'Please Wait' screen to offer value, so it is not just idle time spent at the ATM. We want to customize the experience. For example, there is the possibility to communicate to a member who just paid off a car loan. We might say, 'You are pre-approved for another car loan. Would you like more information?'" says Layton.

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Uptime at its peak

Besides the expanded services available at the Diebold ATMs and powered by the Mosaic and Stratus technology, the credit union has another goal. Layton states, "We want to put ATMs wherever you are: at the grocer, the state fair, the snow-machine rally." Denali Alaskan successfully conducted three mobile deployments the first summer that ATM/EFT processing was brought in house, with more on the way.

With no plateau in sight for either its ATM/EFT services or locations, Layton regards this electronic delivery channel as truly mission-critical. "We count on the Stratus and Mosaic platform. The tolerance that people have for an ATM being down is the same as consumers have for a bug in their salad - zero," he says.

The reliability record of the combined Mosaic and Stratus platform that backs the Diebold ATMs has been unbroken to date at Denali Alaskan. "We couldn't be happier. We have had 100% uptime on Stratus and no problems," Layton comments.

The credit union has gained the desired control and visibility, plus the confidence of reliable in-house processing as it takes ATM/EFT services to new heights.

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