Today the Wall Street Journal printed an article about personal identity theft and card data security titled Hackers Aren’t Only Threat to Privacy, by Ben Worthen.

Markiyan Malko, Merchant Warehouse’s PCI Compliance Officer had some interesting thoughts on the importance of keeping vigilant when it comes to accessing and distributing both personal and financial information.

Having a good amount of experience in the payments industry I can attest to the fact that a surprising amount of breaches occurs accidentally and without anyone actually trying to steal the data. This is why it’s important to put systems and solutions in place that will limit the employee’s access and ability to distribute the data unless it is essential to their job function. Many of the solutions that are becoming increasingly prominent in the credit card payments industry at this time involve the use of encrypting hardware that eliminates card data from ever being seen in the clear. For example, my company, Merchant Warehouse, deploys encrypted card reader that immediately secures the data right in the read head of the card reader. That data is then passed through the customer’s system fully encrypted and sent off for processing where it is then decrypted by the processor/bank. By using this type of solution the customer and their system never sees any sensitive data in the clear which offloads a lot of the responsibilities of securing the data to the payment processor and gives the business owner some peace of mind knowing their employees can’t steal or accidentally expose the data.

Andrew Conry-Murray included Merchant Warehouse in his article on PCI Compliance. The article discusses technology available to ease the pain of compliance and Conry-Murray writes that Merchant Warehouse offers encrypted card readers, which return tokens rather than card data to merchants and retailers that can be used for common transaction requirements such as voiding or refunding a purchase to ensure card data is not stored on merchant computers.

To read the article, click here.

On Saturday, March 27th, 2010, Merchant Warehouse employees volunteered their time with Jumpstart, a national early education organization serving preschool children in low-income communities. Merchant Warehouse enjoyed a fun day cutting, coloring and organizing materials that will be used in pre-school classrooms in local urban schools.

Our volunteer coordinator had nothing but great things to say about how hard our group worked and the amount of materials we completed in the short time we were there. The materials we made will aid Jumpstart volunteers in teaching low-income pre-school children language and literacy, social and initiative skills.

About Jumpstart:
Jumpstart is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that every child in America enters school prepared to succeed. To support this mission, we bring college students and community volunteers together with preschool children in low-income communities for a full school year of individualized mentoring and tutoring. Jumpstart’s research-based curriculum is focused on building language, literacy, social and emotional skills in preschool children, while providing our volunteers with a rewarding way to have lasting impact in their communities.

To strengthen and sustain our program, Jumpstart works with education partners and sponsors in mutually beneficial collaborations. To learn more, visit http://www.readfortherecord.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Jstart_homepage

On March 29, 2010, Business Solutions magazine features Dipesh Shrestha, owner of Compro Boston and satisfied partner of Merchant Warehouse as he talks about the benefits of selling integrated payment processing with his POS software.

The article, titled “The Payment Processing & POS VAR Revolution” highlights how the integration of credit card processing has given POS VARs like Compro Boston a competitive advantage for winning merchants’ business.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

On Saturday, March 27th, 2010, Merchant Warehouse employees volunteered their time with Jumpstart, a national early education organization serving preschool children in low-income communities. Merchant Warehouse enjoyed a fun day cutting, coloring and organizing materials that will be used in pre-school classrooms in local urban schools.

Our volunteer coordinator had nothing but great things to say about how hard our group worked and the amount of materials we completed in the short time we were there. The materials we made will aid Jumpstart volunteers in teaching low-income pre-school children language and literacy, social and initiative skills.

About Jumpstart:

Jumpstart is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that every child in America enters school prepared to succeed. To support this mission, we bring college students and community volunteers together with preschool children in low-income communities for a full school year of individualized mentoring and tutoring. Jumpstart’s research-based curriculum is focused on building language, literacy, social and emotional skills in preschool children, while providing our volunteers with a rewarding way to have lasting impact in their communities.

To strengthen and sustain our program, Jumpstart works with education partners and sponsors in mutually beneficial collaborations. To learn more, click here.

ISO & Agent features the new Windows Mobile and Google Android MerchantWARE Mobile applications from Merchant Warehouse in the most recent edition of the publication.

The article also highlights that the MerchantWARE Mobile software has been downloaded over 15,000 times within the past year and that Merchant Warehouse signs an average of 200 merchants a month due to the mobile software alone.

To read more, click here.

On March 3, 2010, PizzaMarketplace.com announced a new mobile payment processing application from Merchant Warehouse for the Android and Windows Mobile SmartPhones.

When Merchant Warehouse developed its MerchantWARE Mobile payment processing application, it did so with mobile businesses in mind, including pizza and other delivery service restaurants. With MerchantWARE Mobile, delivery personnel can do their jobs more efficiently while offering convenience to their customers.

To read more about this product and the article, click here.

Newest mobile payment applications to be showcased at Booth 1663

BOSTON, MA — March 1, 2010 — Merchant Warehouse, a premier provider of merchant accounts and credit card processing solutions, today announced the company will be demonstrating its MerchantWARE Mobile™ applications integrated with MagTek’s encrypted Bluetooth card reader, perfect for the on-the-go workforce, at the 26th Annual International Pizza Show 2010 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, March 2-4. Additionally, Merchant Warehouse will be showcasing the MerchantWARE product suite of PA-DSS compliant solutions including MerchantWARE Transport & MerchantWARE Secure Encrypted Card Reader, two PA-DSS compliance solutions for developers.

The International Pizza Show is the ideal venue for demonstrating MerchantWARE Mobile applications as they’re the ideal mobile payment solution for pizza delivery drivers. With MagTek’s Bluetooth card reader, all credit card data is encrypted at the point of swipe before it is accessed by the mobile device, and the data is then securely transmitted and stored at the Merchant Warehouse gateway and data vault. Sensitive information is never stored on the mobile device itself, so merchants and customers have peace of mind knowing their card data information is safe.

MerchantWARE® is a complete suite of certified payment processing solutions designed especially for Developers and VARs. This suite provides end-to-end encryption and tokenization and enables developers to create superior POS systems that deliver a variety of payment processing solutions for their customers. MerchantWARE is PA-DSS certified.

MerchantWARE® TransPort™ allows point-of-sale developers to remove the card processing function entirely from their software while retaining full functionality through a “transaction portal.” The PA-DSS audit scope may be reduced or eliminated by delegating all of the sensitive portions of payment processing to MerchantWARE TransPort. Once integrated into a point-of-sale system, MerchantWARE TransPort assumes all of the duties of handling sensitive payment data so that the POS system never comes in contact with it. When a card is swiped, cardholder data is collected, prepared, and transmitted via SSL to MerchantWARE’s secure payment gateway, where it is processed and an authorization token is automatically sent back to the POS system.

Both MerchantWARE solutions will be on display at Booth 1663.

What: 26th Annual International Pizza Show

When: March 2-4, 2010

Where: Las Vegas Convention Center,

Las Vegas, Nev.

WHO: Merchant Warehouse enables merchants to process all forms of electronic payments including credit, debit, EBT, rewards and gift cards, and checks using any payment processing device.

About Merchant Warehouse

Since 1998, Merchant Warehouse has set the standard for credit card processing by guaranteeing competitive pricing in merchant accounts, software, equipment, and providing dedicated, high quality customer service. Over 80,000 merchants later, the company continues to lead the industry with groundbreaking technology initiatives: MerchantWARE®; BINsmart™; and MerchantWARE Mobile. Merchant Warehouse has been named the ETA 2009 ISO of the Year, Business Solutions’ Best Channel Vendor for 2009 & 2010 and is a two-time recipient of the Boston Business Journal Pacesetter Award. Merchant Warehouse co-CEO, Henry Helgeson, was also named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 for New England. The company is committed to community and charitable involvement. For more information, please visit http://merchantwarehouse.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MWarehouse.

About Xsilva

Xsilva Systems makes a comprehensive suite of retail tools under the LightSpeed brand that are tailored to the Mac platform and intended to help individual retailers and small retail chains grow and manage their businesses more effectively. LightSpeed makes managing a retail business as easy as click, drag and drop, and features a powerful front-counter point of sale solution. It also features extensive quoting, ordering and invoicing capabilities, label and barcode printing, reporting, inventory management, customer profiling and tracking, credit-card processing, gift cards, multi-store lookups and stock transfers. Add-on module LightSpeed Web Store allows retailers to generate and maintain a customizable PHP- and CSS-based e-commerce site from their LightSpeed database.

Contacts:

Marianne Rocco, Marketing Director

Merchant Warehouse

800.941.6557 x2051

mrocco@merchantwarehouse.com

Meghan Welborn / Michael Sullivan

PAN Communications

978.474.1900

merchant@pancomm.com

Mobile Applications join the growing list of payment options offered by Merchant Warehouse

BOSTON, MA — March 2, 2010 — Merchant Warehouse, a premier provider of merchant accounts and credit card processing solutions, today announced two new mobile payment processing applications for MerchantWARE® Mobile™, a user-friendly, virtual payment processing application that provides small and large businesses with simple and secure card processing capabilities. The new applications are now available for the Google Android and Windows Mobile platforms – joining the already available iPhone/iPod touch and Blackberry.

2010 has unofficially been dubbed, “The Year Smartphones Become Mobile Credit Card Terminals,” with MerchantWARE Mobile answering the call for mobile payment processing that is as safe and secure as paying at a non-mobile terminal–like a cash register. By combining simplicity with advanced functionality and security­, the free applications boast an easy setup process and only require a Merchant Warehouse merchant account.

The new applications are part of Merchant Warehouse’s on-going mobile strategy which is to understand the needs of the growing micro-business segment, provide superior customer support and deliver secure, scalable and the lowest cost mobile payment solutions for all devices. Businesses today save time and money with free applications, immediate payment approvals as well as the convenience of automatic email receipts. MerchantWARE® MobileTM applications are an ideal payment solution for any ‘on-the-go’ business that needs to accept credit card payments in real-time.

“We recognize that the mobile micro-business is growing and will be a driving force in our economy,” said Henry Helgeson, co-CEO of Merchant Warehouse. “Our goal is to be ready with affordable, secure mobile payment applications for all devices. The addition of the Android and Windows Mobile applications brings us closer to that goal. Because Merchant Warehouse is self-reliant and does not depend on third parties for our gateway or support services, we are able to readily address the needs of the business customer and deliver better support and innovative solutions with the most flexibility. Delivering scalable, affordable and secure mobile applications for all businesses just makes sense for Merchant Warehouse.”

As the technology emerges, evolves and gains traction in the market, MerchantWARE Mobile stays ahead of the pack, including secure compliant credit card processing applications and portable card readers used with the iPhone/iTouch, Blackberry, and now the Android and Windows Mobile to accommodate card swipes that allow merchants to avoid high-cost “card-not-present” fees. All credit card data (swiped or keyed) is securely transmitted and stored at Merchant Warehouse’s secure data vault, not the mobile device so merchants and customers have peace of mind knowing their card data is safe. For a list of additional MerchantWARE® MobileTM features, please visit: http://merchantwarehouse.com/merchantware_mobile

The free applications require a Merchant Warehouse merchant account and all mobile applications, except the iPhone/iTouch, use a Bluetooth enabled card reader while the iPhone/iTouch use an easy to manage cradled card reader. With the addition of Windows Mobile and Android to the offerings, merchants can take part in the growing trend toward mobile payment processing with the ease and peace of mind that comes from partnering with a recognized industry leader and innovator such as Merchant Warehouse.

About Merchant Warehouse

Since 1998, Merchant Warehouse has set the standard for credit card processing by guaranteeing competitive pricing in merchant accounts, software, equipment, and providing dedicated, high quality customer service. Over 80,000 merchants later, the company continues to lead the industry with groundbreaking technology initiatives: MerchantWARE®; BINsmart™; and MerchantWARE Mobile. Merchant Warehouse has been named the ETA 2009 ISO of the Year, Business Solutions’ Best Channel Vendor for 2009 & 2010 and is a two-time recipient of the Boston Business Journal Pacesetter Award. Merchant Warehouse co-CEO, Henry Helgeson, was also named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 for New England. The company is committed to community and charitable involvement. For more information, please visit http://merchantwarehouse.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MWarehouse.

About Xsilva

Xsilva Systems makes a comprehensive suite of retail tools under the LightSpeed brand that are tailored to the Mac platform and intended to help individual retailers and small retail chains grow and manage their businesses more effectively. LightSpeed makes managing a retail business as easy as click, drag and drop, and features a powerful front-counter point of sale solution. It also features extensive quoting, ordering and invoicing capabilities, label and barcode printing, reporting, inventory management, customer profiling and tracking, credit-card processing, gift cards, multi-store lookups and stock transfers. Add-on module LightSpeed Web Store allows retailers to generate and maintain a customizable PHP- and CSS-based e-commerce site from their LightSpeed database.

Contacts:

Marianne Rocco, Marketing Director

Merchant Warehouse

800.941.6557 x2051

mrocco@merchantwarehouse.com

Meghan Welborn / Michael Sullivan

PAN Communications

978.474.1900

merchant@pancomm.com

Mobile applications popular among private investigators, fitness experts, delivery personnel and trade show vendors where convenient and safe style of pay is a premium

BOSTON, MA — February 23, 2010 — Merchant Warehouse, a premier provider of merchant accounts and credit card processing solutions, today announced significant traction of its mobile payment processing applications, released for the iPhone, iPod Touch and Blackberry last Spring. Continued adoption of these applications and increase in their use has proved mobile processing is a very convenient means of conducting business while on the road for small and mid-sized businesses.

Since introduced last April, over 15,000 applications have been downloaded for the iPhone and Blackberry versions from Merchant Warehouse’s web site. April, the first month the application was available for the iPhone, was the most active month for downloads. On average Merchant Warehouse signs over 200 merchant accounts per month with their mobile applications. Each mobile application requires a Merchant Warehouse merchant account and can have an unlimited number of users on a single merchant account.

Brian Bucksell, who is president and founder of The Bucksell Group, a private investigative firm in Washington, D.C., has been using MerchantWARE Mobile’s Blackberry version for eight months. The ease of use and convenience of not having to carry around a bulky POS system is most beneficial.

“Before MerchantWARE Mobile I had a phone-line machine,” said Bucksell. “I was looking at wireless while carrying around another piece of equipment but wanted to eliminate all of that. After I found MerchantWARE for my Blackberry I was able to. It’s very convenient and user friendly.”

Because he is dealing with a lot of personal and highly sensitive information, Bucksell is thankful that he is able to take their payments whenever or wherever he has the opportunity to meet with these clients.

Brian Albrecht, owner of Fitness in Form, a private, personal training business in Virginia, finds the Blackberry version of the MerchantWARE mobile application also to be incredibly convenient.

“I like its portability. I can take it out of my pocket and run a credit card through it on the spot,” explained Albrecht, who meets clients at their home or their gym. “The cash is in my savings account within one to three days. It works for me as I’m on the go.”

“We continue to see an increase in downloads of MerchantWARE Mobile payment processing applications by those merchants who are often ‘on-the-go’,” said Henry Helgeson, co-CEO of Merchant Warehouse. “The continued success of these innovative applications is not a surprise to us. As an increasing number of the workforce goes mobile, these mobile payment applications meet their needs and enable them to conduct business anywhere, anytime.”

Albrecht’s Blackberry with the MerchantWARE Mobile application is synced with the MagTek Bluetooth credit card reader. The card reader encrypts all credit card data at the point of swipe before it is accessed by the mobile device, and the data is then securely transmitted and stored at the Merchant Warehouse gateway and data vault. Sensitive information is never stored on the mobile device itself, so merchants and customers have peace of mind knowing their card data information is safe.

With a growing need for convenient payment options, on-the-go businessman like Albrecht and Bucksell, can easily and securely accept credit cards wherever their business takes them. With MerchantWARE Mobile applications, businesses will save time and money with immediate payment approvals as well as the convenience of automatic email receipts. MerchantWARE Mobile is ideal for any ‘on-the-go’ business that needs to accept credit card payments securely, easily and in real-time. And, coming this March, Merchant Warehouse will release applications for Windows Mobile and Android.

About Merchant Warehouse

Since 1998, Merchant Warehouse has set the standard for credit card processing by guaranteeing competitive pricing in merchant accounts, software, equipment, and providing dedicated, high quality customer service. Over 80,000 merchants later, the company continues to lead the industry with groundbreaking technology initiatives: MerchantWARE®; BINsmart™; and MerchantWARE Mobile. Merchant Warehouse has been named the ETA 2009 ISO of the Year, Business Solutions’ Best Channel Vendor for 2009 & 2010 and is a two-time recipient of the Boston Business Journal Pacesetter Award. Merchant Warehouse co-CEO, Henry Helgeson, was also named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 for New England. The company is committed to community and charitable involvement. For more information, please visit http://merchantwarehouse.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MWarehouse.

About Xsilva

Xsilva Systems makes a comprehensive suite of retail tools under the LightSpeed brand that are tailored to the Mac platform and intended to help individual retailers and small retail chains grow and manage their businesses more effectively. LightSpeed makes managing a retail business as easy as click, drag and drop, and features a powerful front-counter point of sale solution. It also features extensive quoting, ordering and invoicing capabilities, label and barcode printing, reporting, inventory management, customer profiling and tracking, credit-card processing, gift cards, multi-store lookups and stock transfers. Add-on module LightSpeed Web Store allows retailers to generate and maintain a customizable PHP- and CSS-based e-commerce site from their LightSpeed database.

Contacts:

Marianne Rocco, Marketing Director

Merchant Warehouse

800.941.6557 x2051

mrocco@merchantwarehouse.com

Meghan Welborn / Michael Sullivan

PAN Communications

978.474.1900

merchant@pancomm.com