Shift4
Encyclopedia
Shift4 Corporation is a provider of financial transaction
and payment processing services based in Las Vegas
, Nevada
. The company's core product is a merchant-centric Application Service Provider
(ASP)
banking and payment gateway
solution.
. Seeing that most of their early customers were Las Vegas megaresort
s, the Oder family relocated their company and incorporated as Shift4 in Las Vegas
, Nevada
in 1994.
For its first product offering, Shift4 took on the design concept of auditing credit card
transactions prior to their submission to a merchant bank
, and developed the Microsoft
DOS
application $$$ In the Bank (Dollars in the Bank). This software provided the ability to pre-authorize transactions, void transactions later if necessary and to send full data to banks during the authorization of credit cards. The auditing capabilities of this software appealed directly to "high ticket average" businesses, such as hotels and casinos, for its potential to lower the discount rate
of business transactions.
In 1998, Shift4 released $$$ In The Bank for Windows
. The intended use of this software was to fully integrate Point of Sale
software with credit card authorization software.
Shortly thereafter, Shift4 introduced Virtual Leased Line for traditional "card-present" brick and mortar businesses to process card-present credit card transactions over the Internet
, as opposed to telephone lines or leased line
s. The only use of the Internet
for processing credit cards before this offering was from website-based, card-not-present shopping cart
software. Neither version of $$$ In The Bank is still available, and as of the end of 2003 $$$ In The Bank for DOS was fully phased out of support.
In 2000, Shift4 developed what is now their core product, DOLLARS ON THE NET, a web-based payment gateway between a POS or property management system
and a bank or processor. This payment processing solution was developed using a Software as a service
model, and utilizes VPN technology to enable companies with an Internet connection to connect to the gateway. The gateway is used to obtain authorizations in real-time and conduct pre-settlement audits.
In recent years, Shift4 has been a proponent for removing cardholder data from payment systems by using a process called Tokenization
, a term the company coined in 2005. The company has been focusing their efforts on developing cardholder data (CHD) replacement technologies to remove that data from merchants' locations and computer systems. These technologies are slightly controversial, however, as their adoption would require a paradigm shift in the way people and organizations look at using and securing electronic payment transactions.
Financial transaction
A financial transaction is an event or condition under the contract between a buyer and a seller to exchange an asset for payment. It involves a change in the status of the finances of two or more businesses or individuals.-History:...
and payment processing services based in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. The company's core product is a merchant-centric Application Service Provider
Application service provider
An application service provider is a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network. Software offered using an ASP model is also sometimes called On-demand software or software as a service ....
(ASP)
Application service provider
An application service provider is a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network. Software offered using an ASP model is also sometimes called On-demand software or software as a service ....
banking and payment gateway
Payment gateway
A payment gateway is an e-commerce application service provider service that authorizes payments for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar. It is the equivalent of a physical point of sale terminal located in most retail outlets...
solution.
History
Shift4 started as a spinoff of an accounting software application firm for which Shift4 founders J. David Oder, Katherine A. Oder, Kevin Cronic, Steven Sommers, and J.D. Oder II worked in Irvine, CaliforniaIrvine, California
Irvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
. Seeing that most of their early customers were Las Vegas megaresort
Megaresort
A Megaresort is a type of destination resort which is of an exceptionally large size, sometimes featuringlarge-scale attractions . The hotels along the Las Vegas Strip are most typically thought of as megaresorts owing to their immense size and complexity...
s, the Oder family relocated their company and incorporated as Shift4 in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
in 1994.
For its first product offering, Shift4 took on the design concept of auditing credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
transactions prior to their submission to a merchant bank
Merchant bank
A merchant bank is a financial institution which provides capital to companies in the form of share ownership instead of loans. A merchant bank also provides advisory on corporate matters to the firms they lend to....
, and developed the Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
application $$$ In the Bank (Dollars in the Bank). This software provided the ability to pre-authorize transactions, void transactions later if necessary and to send full data to banks during the authorization of credit cards. The auditing capabilities of this software appealed directly to "high ticket average" businesses, such as hotels and casinos, for its potential to lower the discount rate
Discount rate
The discount rate can mean*an interest rate a central bank charges depository institutions that borrow reserves from it, for example for the use of the Federal Reserve's discount window....
of business transactions.
In 1998, Shift4 released $$$ In The Bank for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. The intended use of this software was to fully integrate Point of Sale
Point of sale
Point of sale or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs...
software with credit card authorization software.
Shortly thereafter, Shift4 introduced Virtual Leased Line for traditional "card-present" brick and mortar businesses to process card-present credit card transactions over the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, as opposed to telephone lines or leased line
Leased line
A leased line is a service contract between a provider and a customer, whereby the provider agrees to deliver a symmetric telecommunications line connecting two or more locations in exchange for a monthly rent . It is sometimes known as a 'Private Circuit' or 'Data Line' in the UK or as CDN in Italy...
s. The only use of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
for processing credit cards before this offering was from website-based, card-not-present shopping cart
Shopping cart
A shopping cart is a cart supplied by a shop, especially supermarkets, for use by customers inside the shop for transport of merchandise to the check-out counter during shopping...
software. Neither version of $$$ In The Bank is still available, and as of the end of 2003 $$$ In The Bank for DOS was fully phased out of support.
In 2000, Shift4 developed what is now their core product, DOLLARS ON THE NET, a web-based payment gateway between a POS or property management system
Property management system
Property management systems may be used in real estate, manufacturing, logistics, intellectual property, government or hospitality accommodation management. They are computerised systems that facilitate the management of properties, personal property, equipment, including maintenance, legalities...
and a bank or processor. This payment processing solution was developed using a Software as a service
Software as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
model, and utilizes VPN technology to enable companies with an Internet connection to connect to the gateway. The gateway is used to obtain authorizations in real-time and conduct pre-settlement audits.
In recent years, Shift4 has been a proponent for removing cardholder data from payment systems by using a process called Tokenization
Tokenization
Tokenization is the process of breaking a stream of text up into words, phrases, symbols, or other meaningful elements called tokens. The list of tokens becomes input for further processing such as parsing or text mining...
, a term the company coined in 2005. The company has been focusing their efforts on developing cardholder data (CHD) replacement technologies to remove that data from merchants' locations and computer systems. These technologies are slightly controversial, however, as their adoption would require a paradigm shift in the way people and organizations look at using and securing electronic payment transactions.
Origin of Company Name
Shift4 describes their company name in the following excerpt borrowed from their webpage: "To solve the Shift4 riddle, hold down your "SHIFT" key while pressing the "4" key. What do you see? A dollar sign.Reliability
In a 2004 article by Paul Demery published in Internet Retailer said:The only system downtime that occurred in 2004 was a pre-scheduled 3-hour window during which Shift4 brought live its new state-of-the-art data center. A second data center, with an even larger load capacity, will be brought online later this year, though no downtime will be associated with that go live date. Together, these two, completely redundant data centers will bring Shift4’s system availability close to its ultimate goal of five-nines (99.999% availability), or in layman's terms, less than five and a half minutes of downtime per year.