Paragon Expands Middle East ATM and ePayment Testing Solutions with Certification of FASTest for SPAN

(Holly Springs, NC—September 28, 2011) Paragon Application Systems, together with its partner Vedas, is pleased to announce the certification by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) of Paragon’s function, regression and pre-certification testing solution FASTest™ for the Member Bank and EFTPOS interfaces. Vedas is a leading distributor of ePayment technologies and services in the Middle East and Gulf Region. Saudi Payment Network (SPAN) is the national ePayments switch of Saudi Arabia and is a subsidiary of SAMA, the central bank of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Paragon FASTest is an ePayment function and regression testing solution that enables organizations to confirm the reliability of their transaction processing. Paragon has developed FASTest simulators for over 100 financial message formats including NCR and Diebold protocol ATMs, APACS 30/40, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, BASE24, FIS, Knet, Benefit, Central Bank UAE and now SPAN. More than 490 financial institutions in 76 countries use Paragon FASTest simulators including ACI Worldwide, S1 and FIS.

In addition to FASTest, financial organizations in the Middle East benefit from Paragon solutions for ATM configuration management, stress testing, and settlement testing. Users edit and test ATM configurations from their desktop with ATMulator Plus™, stress test their payment systems with FASTress™, and test their settlement systems with FILEgen™. Customers using Paragon solutions in the Middle East include Emirates Bank/Network International, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Benefit/Bahrain and Knet/Kuwait.

“Using Paragon solutions, banks save time and money developing and testing ATM configurations, speed their certification time, improve function and regression testing, and determine their true transaction capacity," says Christine Rayes, Business Development Manager of Vedas. "Paragon solutions are proven in leading financial institutions in the Middle East and around the world. We are delighted to present Paragon solutions to member banks and POS vendors in the Middle East."

“We are pleased to have our very popular solutions now certified with SAMA”, says Douglas Daggett, Middle East Sales Director for Paragon. “Member banks and POS vendors can now benefit from the most comprehensive pre-certification solutions on the market, at the greatest return on investment.”

About Vedas

Vedas is a leading distributor of ePayment technologies and services in the Middle East and Gulf Region. Vedas offers services including project management, integration services, technical and business consulting and software implementation to banks, financial institutions, telecoms, and governments. With a team of highly experienced IT professionals and strategic alliances with world class solutions providers in the ePayment industry, Vedas is able to deliver turn-key ePayment solutions with superior service. Visit Vedas at www.vedas.ws.

About Paragon Application Systems

Paragon Application Systems is a leading global provider of ePayment simulation, configuration and testing software solutions to the financial industry. In business since 1994, more than 590 customers in 85 countries are benefiting from Paragon’s end-to-end ePayment testing solutions. Visit Paragon Application Systems at www.paragonedge.com or email info@paragonedge.com.