[WHITEPAPER] '4G LTE and PCI-COMPLIANCE, What Every Retailer Should Know' by Digi International

Whether it’s speed, efficiency, cost-effectiveness or quality, in the thin-margin world of retailing, it’s essential to capitalize on every possible advantage to achieve and preserve profitability. In addition, businesses are at serious risk if they fail to implement rigorous security frameworks that also comply with stringent industry and regulatory standards. However, these regulations are saddling retailers with additional processes, cycles and costs that are hampering the retailer’s mission. Nowhere is this truer than with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS, or more frequently, simply PCI).

PCI is an industry standard that defines how retailers and other participants in the payment lifecycle must securely handle branded credit cards from major card issuers, such as MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover and others. The objective is to increase control and limit visibility of cardholder data to reduce fraud. That’s an essential mandate for retailers – if only because consumers trust that every purchase and every transaction they make takes place on a foundation of privacy, safety and security.

The balance of this Digi International paper will provide background about LTE and some insights about how it can be utilized by M2M devices now and in the future.

From POS terminals and kiosks to ATMs and other connected devices, retailers are increasingly
looking at the benefits of new 4G LTE networks, but need to ensure they transmit card data in
ways that ensure PCI compliance.

The Advantages of 4G LTE

The first generation of mobile technology developed from analog (1G) in 1981 to digital (2G) in1992. By 2001, 3G multimedia support, spread spectrum transmission emerged and grew until the advent of 4G, which is an all-Internet Protocol (IP) packet-switched network that deliversmobile ultra-broadband (gigabit speed) access. With its greater speed and capacity, the 4G LTEwireless communications standard for voice and data continues to gain momentum in the U.S. and around the world. In the retail world, 4G LTE presents many attractive features that make it a compelling choice.

In this white paper, Digi examines the issues surrounding 4G LTE and PCI compliance:

• The Advantages of 4G LTE
• Mythbusting: Cellular Connectivity in Retail
• Avoiding Common Security Mistakes
• Designing 4G LTE Networks for PCI Compliance

To download the full white paper, click here.

For additional product information or technical support, contact Symmetry Electronics, an authorized distributor of industry leading wireless, audio/video and embedded chips, modules and dev/eval tools. www.symmetryelectroncis.com/contact-us or call (877) 466-9722.