Paragon Application Systems' Dana Blegen Earns Certified Smart Card Industry Professional Certification

(Holly Springs, NC—November 24, 2009) Dana Blegen, Product Support Manager for Paragon Application Systems has earned the Certified Smart Card Industry Professional Certification (CSCIP) from the Smart Card Alliance, a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology. Blegen joins a select group of industry professionals who have demonstrated expertise in Smart Card technology.

As Product Support Manager for Paragon, Dana is responsible for supporting ePayment implementations in a wide variety of settings. With a decade of experience at Paragon, Dana has accumulated extensive knowledge of integrated chip cards (also known as smart cards) and the EMV financial message specifications for debit and credit chip-based cards. He has assisted many institutions worldwide to become EMV certified by a major international card organization, and recently assisted in an EMV implementation that supports pre-paid cards. Dana has a thorough understanding of EMV cryptogram generation, as well as standard message data encryption using both single and triple DES.

"The CSCIP certification gave me the opportunity to deepen my knowledge of EMV and Smart Card technology from card manufacturing to issuing—including identity, transportation, ePayments, NFC and encryption," says Dana. "I look forward to working with customers on their EMV smart card implementations for contact, contactless or near field communication (NFC). Smart Cards offer faster, more secure transactions for the customer; increased loyalty and throughput for the merchant; "top-of-wallet" card choice for the issuer; and the opportunity to penetrate cash dominant markets. "

"Migrating from magnetic stripe cards to EMV smart cards is a complex, challenging process for our customers," says Gary Kirk, President of Paragon. "Customers rely on Paragon's EMV expertise to aid them in planning and implementing EMV. That's why we are continually upgrading our knowledge of EMV, Smart Cards and ePayments. Dana's CSCIP certification further enhances the quality of the services that we can offer customers."

About Paragon Application Systems

Paragon Application Systems is a leading global provider of ePayment simulation, configuration and testing software solutions to the financial industry. More than 450 financial institutions in over 80 countries use Paragon tools to improve quality and reduce time-to-market. Paragon's broad customer base includes major interchanges, processors, leading software providers, banks and credit unions. Visit Paragon Application Systems at www.paragonedge.com or email info@paragonedge.com.