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Cypress tapped for Mobile POS by Ezetap

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Abhigna
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INDIA: Cypress Semiconductor Corp., a player in capacitive touch-sensing, announced that Ezetap, a provider of Mobile Point-of-Sale (MPOS) solutions, is using Cypress's CapSense Express controllers in what they call the 'world's first capacitive-touch-based PIN-pad' in its new MPOS device.

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The announcement adds that the CY8CMBR2016 matrix keypad solution provides the Ezetap MPOS device with a durable user interface, helping it to pass all of the stringent EMVCo and Payment Card Industry (PCI) global certifications required for PIN entry devices. Ezetap Chairman Sanjay Swamy is demonstrating the MPOS device at the Money2020 conference in Las Vegas from October 8-10, 2013.

Consumer electronics and home appliances have rapidly been transitioning from mechanical buttons to capacitive touch controls. However, the payments industry has been slow to move from traditional, expensive mechanical keypads-which are made secure through additional physical and logical barriers around the keypad-given the tight security required when customers enter their debit or credit card PIN.

The EMV and PCI certifications are extremely strict due to the need to protect customer PINs against a broad range of attacks, while ensuring compatibility across a range of payment cards. Devices must pass more than 5,000 protocol, firmware and security tests - typically taking about two years. With the reliable, easy-to-use CapSense Express Mechanical Button Replacement (MBR) solution, Ezetap was able to go from concept, to certification, to manufacturing in less than a year.

"We set out to design a groundbreaking MPOS device with a top-quality capacitive touch keypad, so we went to Cypress to leverage their industry-leading technology," said Bhaktha Keshavachar, Co-Founder and CTO of Ezetap. "The support we received from the Cypress team went a long way in helping us bring this exciting new product to market in breakthrough time. It has been introduced in India by Citibank, American Express and State Bank of India, and it will soon be deployed globally as well."

Dirk Franklin, business unit director for Cypress's CapSense solutions adds, "This design demonstrates the ability of our CapSense Express controllers to enable rapid replacement of mechanical buttons with sleek, reliable capacitive buttons. The solution delivers fast design cycles with a complete ecosystem: from design feasibility, to prototyping, to final design and then volume production."