AT&T Co’s NCR Corp is gradually slipping its Unix, OS/2 and MS-DOS on iAPX-86-based computer product line in under all its vertical market offerings, and it is now pulling the same trick by integrating the products of its new parent. It has introduced a new architecture for financial institutions, designed to enable the implementation of information systems that give employees and customers immediate access to expert information at a branch, an automated teller machine, corporate offices or at home, via workstations and two-way audio video links. The idea is that a bank’s branch should be developed around a centre of expertise, a central location for the bank’s specialists, whose skills should be accessible anywhere on the network conceived by NCR. The company suggests that if a customer needs assistance from a remote teller machine, a touch of the screen should immediately bring up a full video image of a bank employee in the centre of expertise, enabling a face-to-face conversation to ensue. At home, a customer would be able to contact the bank via AT&T SmartPhone to conduct all normal banking activities, including payment of credit card bills, utility bills and home or auto payments. At the branch, a loan officer in need of further information while evaluating someone for a loan would be able to call a loan expert at the centre for help, again via a local screen. And employees at corporate headquarters would be able to pull the same trick via their personal computer workstations. NCR calls the idea Financial Enterprise Architecture, and like all the company’s computer products, it relies on NCR’s Cooperative Computing Architecture. The new Financial Enterprise Architecture will also provide a map to eliminate islands of information, by linking large mainframes, mid-range servers and desktop workstations so that any information needed is easily accessible. The company says that Huntington Bancshares of Columbus, Ohio, is already developing the first application of video conferencing at remote locations using the NCR 5682 self-service terminal, and is also using the AT&T SmartPhone.
