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The Latest
Market Studies:

82% of consumers gave or received gift cards in the 2005 holiday season and two-thirds (66%) both gave and received them. (Accenture Survey)

U.S. gift cards sales are poised to exceed $80 billion in 2006 -- a more than 20% increase over their 2005 level. (TowerGroup market research)

In the 2005 holiday season more than two-thirds (75.5%) of consumers polled said that they plan on purchasing at least one gift card, and more than half (52.3%) of consumers would like to receive gift cards. (National Retail Federation survey)

More than nine out of ten (92%) of online shoppers believe that gift cards eliminate the risk involved with holiday gift giving. Also, four out of five agree that gift cards are great last minute gifts. (Shopzilla)

Restaurants and food service companies are catching on rapidly -- more than one in four gift cards (27%) sold last holiday season were be used at sit-down restaurants. Restaurant gift card sales are projected to hit $18 billion in 2006. (Deloitte & Touche)

STS and Precidia Deliver Innovative Multi-Application
Gift & Loyalty Card Solution to Merchants

POSLynx220 routes fast transactions to STS loyalty/gift card host

Ottawa, Canada, April 2, 2007 -- Precidia Technologies Inc., a global leader in the design and manufacture of Internet Protocol (IP) payment and networking devices, together with leading gift card and customer loyalty program provider Smart Transaction Systems (STS), announced today the Class B certification of Precidia's POSLynx220 payment router. This certification offers merchants a wider range of routing options for gift, loyalty, stored value and multi-application cards, as well as payments. The POSLynx220 delivers fast, secure and cost-effective routing of these transactions to their respective processors, using existing cash register systems or payment terminals.

The POSLynx220 can route transactions from any existing cash register, terminal, or other point-of-sale device, to the processor's host, speeding transactions, and eliminating the cost of dedicated dial lines. The return on investment is fast for organizations with multiple points of sale. The POSLynx220 can connect up to four dial terminals with one device, which allows merchants to eliminate phone lines.

With today's certification, the POSLynx220 can also route gift, loyalty and stored value card transactions from cash registers and dial terminals to the STS gateway. "The POSLynx220 has dramatically improved transaction processing speed and reliability for the clients that are using it. Gift cards only take 4-5 seconds to process and the customer does not have to sign a receipt, which keeps lines in multi-lane environments such as cafeterias moving fast," said Ray Clopton, President of STS.

STS is working with New Hampshire's premier destination for skiing and snowboarding, Pats Peak, to capitalize on the speed of transactions in food service areas with the Pats Peak Cafe Card and meal card for employees. The company plans to offer its customers a season pass with an innovative twist: the ability to load a cash value onto the season pass ID card redeemable for food or other items at the resort. This convenient solution has won rave reviews from Pats Peak's customers.

"Prior to getting the POSLynx220, our dial up terminals were slow and sometimes lost communications during a transaction. Now that is all only a memory; every transaction completes in seconds, the first time, every time. Working with STS and Precidia has allowed us to keep the lines moving during our busiest periods and improve customer loyalty," said Ben Albert, Director of Utilities at Pats Peak. "The convenience of putting money on our Cafe Card has made it a hit with parents. It's a worry-free way for them to give their kids lunch money. Card sales have been very strong," added Albert.

Precidia president Deepak Wanner says working with STS has exposed the POSLynx220 to a key market: "The POSLynx220 is ideal for applications like Pats Peak. Features like automatic dial back-up ensure 24/7 reliability and no downtime, important in high volume seasonal environments like ski hills," said Mr. Wanner. "We congratulate STS and Pats Peak on working together with us to bring this new capability to market," said Mr. Wanner.

About Smart Transactions
 Founded in 1998, Smart Transaction Systems provides card-based payment systems, customer loyalty and customer relationship management (CRM) programs to a wide variety of companies throughout the United States. For small to medium-sized businesses, Smart Transaction Systems provides hosted gift card and loyalty programs that are reliable, easy to use, and affordable. For larger organizations, the company provides powerful transaction processing systems that allow these organizations to bring gift, loyalty, and private label credit card programs in-house so they can gain maximum control of these programs. Smart Transaction Systems has operations in Boulder, Colorado, Lodi Wisconsin, St. Louis, Missouri and Oslo, Norway.

About Precidia Technologies
 Precidia Technologies is a global leader in the design and manufacture of IP access devices for a wide range of industries including retail payments and building automation. With customers in over 80 countries, Precidia's unique product line of wired and wireless access devices and NetVu network configuration management seamlessly migrates stand-alone dial and serial equipment onto more sophisticated IP networks. For more information, visit Precidia on the Web at http://www.precidia.com.


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