Alaric's Authentic EFT authorisation and switching system was implemented by BPWCCUL to provide an online interface into the National Debit Switch, known as the CarIFS (Caribbean Integrated Financial Services) network, run by the islands' major banks. CarIFS was initially instituted to facilitate debit switching capability among the commercial banks on the island, but has recently invited the Credit Unions to join the network. The entire project phase, from functional specification in September to certification and completion of the live production system in November, took just two months. The physical implementation and testing was achieved in under four weeks.

Following a rigorous selection process, Authentic was chosen to link BPWCCUL's ATMs into the CarIFS network and support the authorisation and switching of both issuing and acquiring transactions, interfacing to BPWCCUL's Symitar host system. This successful initial implementation marks the first part of a three-phase project which will also see further credit unions on the island being given access to the CarIFS ATM network.

"The speed and ease of this implementation is a tribute to the flexibility and performance of Alaric's Authentic system, as well as the quality of the entire Alaric project team," comments Irwin Gibson, Head of IT for BPWCCUL. "Alaric has proved itself to be a great business and technical fit for the needs of our organisation, and we are looking forward to the next phases of the project, which will deliver considerable benefits for our members and customers."

Prism Services Inc, project Managers for CarIFS, was full of praise for the ease and professionalism with which the project was completed, and CarIFS commended BPWCCUL on their choice of Alaric International.

PRISM Services Inc, which has gone through this exercise numerous times before with different service providers, remarked that "Alaric's personnel were proactive, thorough, and demonstrated due diligence in ensuring that each step was correct on the first try, and that the project was completed on time. Alaric's personnel queried all uncertainties in the project plan and scripts beforehand, so that once a certification window was provided, all systems were go."

Poul Laursen, Head of Professional Services for Alaric International said, "As a solution provider, we set ourselves extremely high standards and we are delighted to have delivered phase one of this major implementation in just two months. Our aim is to continue to exceed expectations in the levels of our service and support as we move to the next stages of this milestone project for BPWCCUL."