Open Payment Initiative
Open Payment Initiative, abbreviated O.P.I.
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Interface
The specification of this interface, international and cross-industry issues were at the forefront. Today the OPI interface forms a de facto standard European format, which spreads from Germany to trade and petroleum projects in Europe.
Basis for the specifications and reference installations, first published in 2003 were the POS EPS specifications developed for the retail fueling industry of IFSF (International Forecourt Standards Forum ) that have been extended to commercial aspects. For the first time so that was possible in European funds projects on the uniform OPI Interface to integrate different EFT / POS solutions.
Versions
Technical Solution
The implementation of O.P.I. Interface is operating system independent. It is an XML-based interface. Communication is via TCP / IP. XML messages are exchanged on the two channels (ports). ( 1 port: Card Request / Response Card, 2 Port: Device Request / Response Device ).
By the use of O.P.I. Interface is achieved that in the integration of peripheral devices to the box office of the payment solution will be made available, such as POS printers for the payment document printing, ads for messages to the cashier or the cardholder, magnetic card reader.
By such a decoupling is for the user on the one hand and the cash register and payment solution providers on the other hand increases the flexibility in international integration, solution-and industry-specific terms and achieved investment security.
International installations
The O.P.I. Interface has been used since 2003 by various software and EFT / POS solution providers in many projects in the countries of Germany, France, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, the UK and Denmark.