Amman, 30 October 2002 - STS and Mosaic Software announced a software payments solution for the Middle East banking market at the AIBTF in Amman, to assist banks in meeting the compliance mandates of EMV. Mosaic Software are a global provider of software payment solutions, branded Postilion, and are represented in the Middle East region by partners and resellers, including STS based in Amman, Jordan, who have business channels throughout the Middle East and Gulf region.

STS were sponsors this week of the AIBTF, affiliated to the Union of Arab Banks, held in Amman and Mosaic Software used this as an opportunity to speak to the banking delegates about the Postilion EMV Gateway product being promoted in the region by STS and Mosaic Software.

EMV is a smart card standard being adopted throughout much of the global payments market as an alternative technology to outdated magnetic-stripe bankcards. The EMV smart card chips are able to provide significantly higher levels of security, including a PIN number securely stored on the chip, with the intention of attacking the large and growing global payment fraud business. Smart cards also provide a technology that allows other applications to reside on the same chip - possibly a loyalty application, an electronic purse, a driving license or many other possibilities.

The international card association, Visa, have set a compliance mandate the CEMEA region, in an attempt to encourage banks in the region, including the Middle East, to adopt this technology by January 2006. The European Union faces a similar mandate for January 2005. Failure to comply with this technology requirement will leave banks liable for the cost of fraud that would otherwise have been prevented - usually referred to as the liability shift.

Mosaic Software's Postilion product supports the EMV standard allowing smart card transactions to be processed from ATMs, POS terminals and a range of other devices. STS and Mosaic Software are therefore keen to supply this product into a market place where the date for action is getting closer and most banks are still to decide how to support this technology.

Andrew Marshman of Mosaic Software, one of the AIBTF's guest speakers, said, "Banks in the Middle East need to take action fast. Time is running out and we believe that we can help them meet the complex technical requirements of EMV quickly, cost effectively whilst protecting investment in existing systems with Postilion."

Sami Abugarbieh of STS added, "We are already in discussion with a number of banks in the region about EMV. We are able to assist them in understanding the problem, the options and can also offer them a solution that will likely meet their needs."

-Ends-

About STS Group
STS is a progressive company, successfully delivering the highest of quality information technology solutions since 1989. Today, STS Group comprises of four companies; all adhering to the original standards of quality and service created and strongly adhered to by STS. Our companies are: BTech, BUSINESSONE, CompuNet, and IPS.

STS is a leading IT and e-Business Solutions and services provider, both in Jordan and the Region. Empowered by a professional force of 120 qualified and highly skilled employees and partnership with Industry leading companies, STS continues to grow and expand its business. STS, with offices in Amman - Jordan, Ramallah- Palestine, and Dubai Internet City - UAE provides EFT, as well as turnkey e-Business solutions to financial institutions and other Sectors in the Middle East. STS is an EPS partner for Sun Microsystems, a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, and a regional Partner for leading companies including Hypercom, Mosaic Software, Altitude Software, Argus Systems, Vasco, Vignette, IBM, among others.


STS group is based in Amman- Jordan with a branch office in Ramallah-Palestine and BUSINESSONE'S (http://www.B1ME.com) Headquarters in Dubai Internet City- UAE. For more information, please visit: http://www.sts.com.jo.

About Mosaic Software
Mosaic Software is a global EFT company with offices in the United States, the UK, South Africa, and Australia and operations in more than 30 countries. The company provides leading-edge software solutions to banks, Telco's, cellco's, retailers, portals and processors world-wide to drive payments and other financial transactions through ATMs, POS terminals, phones and Internet access points on a truly multi-channel architecture. It also provides EMV enablement, debit card management and loyalty software solutions.

Mosaic Software is at the forefront of next generation integrated real-time payment processing technologies. The innovative real-time payment processing technology platform, Postilion, reduces transaction processing costs, improves analytical capabilities of customer transactions and increases overall transactional revenues. The ability to leverage on a single platform touching all channels leading to customer transactions is further enhanced by Postilion's ability to analyse transactional data through its Office package.

Mosaic Software supports the convergence between retailing, telecommunications and banking in a truly integrated, multi-channel and cost effective way, adding revenue streams to existing and new entrants in the financial services landscape.

Major partners include Stratus Technologies, MasterCard, SmartTrust, Diebold, NCR and Pulse. Well-known companies such as 7-Eleven, Marks & Spencer, E*Trade, TNS, Retail Decisions, ABSA and Cell-C are clients. The company is backed by GE Equity and Comparex and is a selected technology provider to multiple GE Capital businesses.

For more information, please visit http://www.mosaicsoftware.com

For more information please contact:
STS Group
Media & Marketing:
Bishr Al-Madani / Tel: +96265802626 (ext. 176), / e-mail: Bishr.Madani@sts.com

Mosaic Software Media & Marketing:
Kato Oosthuizen / Tel: +44 1932 574 700, / e-mail: kato@mosaicsoftware.com

© Press Release 2005