What is a Smartlink interface?
The Smartlink interface creates a connection between your till system and an Elavon owned, Ingenico Point of Sale card terminal. Smartlink devices combine all the benefits of a standalone payment terminal, along with extra functionality all integrated with your ePOS.
How long does development and accreditation take?
We always aim to make the development and accreditation phase as quick as possible, however it is difficult to give an accurate length of time, as each development may require some degree of customisation or functionality specific to your needs.
Who supports my development and accreditation?
Your till provider will need to carry out the development work required, with the full support of Elavon’s Smartlink Team all along the way. Once development is completed, our Smartlink Team will provide the developers with a test script, specific to the functionality they’ve developed to handle. On the successful completion of this test script, the development will be accredited and integration of till with your card terminal can now proceed, again with the full support of Elavon.
What are the integration options?
There are two Smartlink integration options available:
Smartlink Lite – With a Smartlink Lite development, only the Sale is handled from your ePOS, all other transaction types, reporting, merchant and customer copy printing of receipts etc. are handled from the card machine, as though it were still in standalone mode. As only 1 transaction type needs to be supported from the ePOS this is generally a very quick and easy development to complete and accredit.
Smartlink Pro – With a Smartlink Pro development, some, or all, of the transaction types, reporting etc. can be handled from the ePOS, depending on your requirements. Printing of merchant and customer copy receipts, reports etc. can also be handled on the ePOS, or can remain on the card machine. A Smartlink Pro development can take longer to complete depending on the functionality you want supported from the ePOS.
What operating systems are supported?
Elavon will provide your developers with a DLL library for Linux (Fedora and Ubuntu), and Windows Operating Systems. However any operating system, Android, iOS, etc. can be supported using a TLV development, which removes the need for the DLL library that we provide. Your developer may also choose to complete a TLV development on a Linux or Windows OS too.
What help is available?
Your developers can request our Smartlink Developer Pack from Elavon for review. This pack contains all documentation needed to complete a development. It also contains our Smartlink simulator and DLL library for Linux and Windows development. Our Smartlink Team are available to answer any questions your developers may have while reviewing the pack.
Following review, if development is proceeding, Elavon will provide your team with a test device and test cards, along with full support and advice throughout the development phase. We will then provide a test script on completion of development to accredit the solution.
Your Account Manager will keep you updated on the progress along the way and Elavon’s Smartlink Team can also provide an overview of integration to your staff if needed.
How is PCI compliance reduced?
Any business accepting credit or debit card payments is required to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). We aim to support our customers all along the way with achieving and maintaining PCI DSS compliance if they integrate a card machine to their till system.
No sensitive card data is passed from the card machine to your ePOS/till system, so compliance is easier. Should you wish to store tokenised card data however, then tokenisation can also be supported by your Smartlink development.
Point to Point Encryption (P2PE) is also supported by Smartlink, removing your network from the scope of PCI Compliance.
Additionally, your card machine automatically updates when new software and firmware versions are available, ensuring it’s fully compliant with latest mandates.
