The customer is a leading Indian electronics contract manufacturing and designing company specializing in innovative payment soundboxes, consumer electronics, and IoT. One of its projects was to develop a visa contactless kernel for its payment soundbox, which enables contactless transactions via NFC.

The customer wanted a Visa Level 2 Contactless Kernel to be integrated with their payment soundbox and needed help getting it certified by Visa.

What did we do?

As an EMV Level 2 kernel expert, we customized and developed our Level 2 kernel framework, Rigel, to integrate Visa's contactless kernel as per Visa Contactless Payment Specification (VCPS) in the soundbox.

We made sure that the kernel occupies only less footprint without affecting the functionality of the kernel, as we are talking about deploying it on a sound box.

We built the L3 test harness application to simulate the device for debugging the Visa Level 2 kernel application we developed. It ensured proper integration into the payment system and met Visa contactless transactions' functional and performance requirements.

We then handled the entire certification process with the payment scheme by giving clarity both to the certification lab and the customer from start to finish. We completed the certification in the first iteration itself.

What challenges did we address during this project?

1. We performed hundreds of tests to ensure the kernel meets the functional and performance requirements of the Visa contactless transaction.
2. We debugged all errors and issues during the testing and certification process.
3. Integrating a full-fledged Visa kernel onto a small device like the soundbox can be tricky. We optimized the kernel's footprint without compromising functionality.
4. We handled all the communication with the certification labs to resolve disputes or misinterpretations during the kernel evaluation. We ensured the customer received the VCPS certification in the first iteration itself.
5. Obtaining the necessary certifications and approvals from Visa and other regulatory bodies can be complex and time-consuming. The customer needs to navigate these requirements efficiently.

We did not stop here. We organized a two-day EMV Level 2 kernel development workshop for the customer to help them gain insights into EMV and Visa specification and certification.

Benefits for the customer

This leading electronics company can now provide its innovative sound box to its customers with Visa contactless certification, which is also Level 3 certification-ready. It shortened their go-to-market timeframes.

The training workshop also gave them a deeper technical understanding of the contactless EMV level 2 kernel, scheme-specific testing, and certification requirements.