• Nick Crawford, Computer Consultants was asked to provide credit card processing facilities to Xerox Call Centre and Xerox WebMarket
• Decision made to write own system
• Incorporated ASTARA limited
• Discussions with Barclays Merchant Services (BMS) commenced offering BMS use of system

1998

• APACS 50 polling application completed
• BMS APACS30/ISDN type approval granted
• Hosting options investigated

1999

• Formed the Internet/Card Processing Division of Quiss Technology.
• Cap Gemini APACS 50 polling application type approval granted

2000

• APACS 27/29 bulk settlement file type approval granted by Barclays Merchant Services
• First multiple merchant (Re-seller) signed up
• First on-line merchant signed up
• Royal Bank of Scotland type approval granted– this gave Streamline approval when RBS bought NatWest later this year
• UPG’s Fraudstop introduced
• Investigations into linking to French acquirer – Cartes Bancaires

2001

• Streamline type approval officially granted
• Diners Club type approval granted
• American Express type approval granted
• HSBC type approval granted

2002

• UPG2.1 format type approval granted by Barclays Merchant Services

2003

• 64K leased-line to HSBC installed
• 64K leased-line to FDI installed
• UPG’s ToneClear developed

2005

• Qualys vulnerability scanner introduced into the UPG system
• Sophos anti-virus introduced into UPG system
• UPG goes live with Chip & PIN solution

2006

• Enterasys Dragon intrusion detection introduced into UPG system
• PCI:DSS compliance achieved via Ambiron Trustwave
• First PCI:DSS outsourcing customer signed

2007

• New premises for second site acquired in Bretby
• 3D-Secure introduced into the UPG system

2008

• Approval gained with Elavon Merchant Services