XLink receives Frost & Sullivan award for M2M best practice in retail and finance

With the larger retailers increasingly adopting integrated EFT connectivity solutions, VersaLink has grown in stature. It gives customers who use asymmetric digital subscriber (ADSL) lines as their primary connectivity network a seamless handover between fixed networks to the 3G network. This ensures high-uptime, a crucial advantage for retail customers. VersaLink runs on the Virtual Redundant Reroute Protocol (VRRP) which sets it apart from most other competing products in the market. Based on this protocol, XLink creates a virtual IP address for entire sets of customer till points, to which all transactions are directed, regardless of the communication channel - ADSL or global system for mobile communication (GSM).

"XLink is delighted to have been given the Technical Leadership M2M in Retail SA 2014 Award. It is timeous that XLink is now entering its tenth year of business and we are hugely privileged to have been given this recognition. This award has created a platform to further endorse XLink's capability to take our offering to other countries in Africa and other regions beyond the African continent," comments Anton Leal, CEO and founder of XLink Communications.

In 2007, Vodacom's acquisition of stakes in XLink gave the latter access to the operator's funds, as well as expertise in the European M2M market. XLink subsequently implemented the Global Data Service Platform (GDSP) developed by Vodafone, Vodacom's parent company. This platform enables enterprises to control and manage their M2M devices across different countries.

The GDSP platform allows a Vodafone SIM to roam on networks in which it has a presence directly or through subsidiaries. It also roams on the networks of mobile operators with which it has partnerships. As a result, if the network fails, the SIM can switch to a partnering network through roaming. This is an especially important feature for M2M solutions that do not use dual SIM technologies.

Executive head, machine-to-machine and vertical industries at Vodacom Business, Tony Smallwood comments; "Widespread M2M adoption in the local market cannot happen with only the bigger entities involved. Vodacom Business partners with smaller, more agile, visionary developers in this space. Its controlling stake in specialised M2M company, XLink, also ensures a rapid focus on M2M proposition development and end-to-end project management."

"In terms of a contribution to the retail and banking industry, XLink not only created a niche market but the offering itself has saved the industry millions of rands in connectivity costs over the last decade as well as provided these entities with a different service interface and hopefully a client user experience at the card point-of-sale level," adds Leal.

Frost & Sullivan Information & Communication Technologies Research Analyst Lehlohonolo Mokenela highlighted that in addition to the VersaLink's seamless connectivity platform, XLink also offer an outstanding management information system (MIS) solution, which was designed to monitor the signal strength in the network, connecting the remote device, the date and time of a transaction as well as the success or failure of the transaction. Using a web portal to monitor the status of devices and quality of the connection to the devices allows the XLink technical support staff to remotely diagnose technical problems.

By leveraging the MIS portal, the support staff can make intelligent decisions, minimising the need for on-site support visits while simultaneously reducing the lead time for problem resolution. This has seen the company deliver improved support services, achieving a first-line problem-solve ratio of nearly 85 percent.

Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development.

About Frost & Sullivan Best Practice Awards

Global research company Frost & Sullivan monitors more than 300 industries and 250 000 companies. Their Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development.