A.T.M.

An automated teller machine (ATM) is a computerized telecommunications device that provides the customers of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public space without the need for a human clerk or bank teller. On most modern ATMs, the customer is identified by inserting a plastic ATM card with a magnetic stripe or a plastic smartcard with a chip, that contains a unique card number and some security information, such as an expiration date or CVC (CVV). Security is provided by the customer entering a personal identification number (PIN).

Using an ATM, customers can access their bank accounts in order to make cash withdrawals (or credit card cash advances) and check their account balances. Many ATMs also allow people to deposit cash or cheques, transfer money between their bank accounts, pay bills, or purchase goods and services.

ATMs are known by various casual terms including automated banking machine, cash machine, hole-in-the-wall, cashpoint or Bancomat (in Europe and Russia). The occasionally-used term ATM machine is an example of RAS syndrome.

History

An old Nixdorf ATMThe ATM was invented by Briton John Shepherd-Barron. The world's first ATM was installed in a branch of Barclays in Enfield, north London, in 1967. Reg Varney, from the television series On the Buses, was the first to withdraw cash. Inspiration had struck Mr Shepherd-Barron, now 82, while he was in the bath.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6230194.stm
A mechanical cash dispenser was developed and built by Luther George Simjian and installed 1939 in New York City by the City Bank of New York, but removed after 6 months due to the lack of customer acceptance.[1]

Thereafter, the history of ATMs paused for over 25 years, until De La Rue developed the first electronic ATM, which was installed first in Enfield Town in North London[2] on 27 June 1967 by Barclays Bank.[3]. This instance of the invention is credited to John Shepherd-Barron, although various other engineers were awarded patents for related technologies at the time.[4] Shepherd-Barron was awarded an OBE in the 2005 New Year's Honours List.[5] The first person to use the machine was Reg Varney of "On the Buses" fame, a British Television programme from the 1960s.[6] The first ATMs accepted only a single-use token or voucher, which was retained by the machine. These worked on various principles including radiation and low-coercivity magnetism that was wiped by the card reader to make fraud more difficult.[4] The idea of a PIN stored on the card was developed by the British engineer John Rose in 1965.[4]

ATMs first came into wide UK use in 1973; the IBM 2984 was designed at the request of Lloyds Bank. The 2984 CIT (Cash Issuing Terminal) was the first true Cashpoint, similar in function to today's machines; Cashpoint is still a registered trademark of Lloyds TSB in the U.K. All were online and issued a variable amount which was immediately deducted from the account. A small number of 2984s were supplied to a USA bank. Notable historical models of ATMs include the IBM 3624 and 473x series, Diebold 10xx and TABS 9000 series, and NCR 5xxx series

LOCATION


ATMs are placed not only near or inside the premises of banks, but also in locations such as shopping centers/malls, airports, grocery stores, petrol/gas stations, restaurants, or any place large numbers of people may gather. These represent two types of ATM installations: on and off premise. On premise ATMs are typically more advanced, multi-function machines that complement an actual bank branch's capabilities and thus more expensive. Off premise machines are deployed by financial institutions and also ISOs (or Independent Sales Organizations) where there is usually just a straight need for cash, so they typically are the cheaper mono-function devices. In Canada, when an ATM is not operated by a financial institution it is known as a "White Label ATM".

HARDWEAR

In North America, banks often have drive-through lanes providing access to ATMs.

An ATM is typically made up of the following devices:

*CPU (to control the user interface and transaction devices)
*Magnetic and/or Chip card reader (to identify the customer)
*PIN Pad (similar in layout to a Touch tone or Calculator keypad), often manufactured as part of a secure enclosure.
*Secure cryptoprocessor, generally within a secure enclosure.
*Display (used by the customer for performing the transaction)
*Function key buttons (usually close to the display) or a Touchscreen (used to select the various aspects of the transaction)
*Record Printer (to provide the customer with a record of their transaction)
*Vault (to store the parts of the machinery requiring restricted access)
*Housing (for aesthetics and to attach signage to)
*Recently, due to heavier computing demands and the falling price of computer-like architectures, ATMs have moved away from custom hardware architectures using microcontrollers and/or application-specific integrated circuits to adopting a hardware architecture that is very similar to a personal computer. Many ATMs are now able to use operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Linux. Although it is undoubtedly cheaper to use commercial off-the-shelf hardware, it does make ATMs vulnerable to the same sort of problems exhibited by conventional computers