It began in October 2015:
After two years of intensive development work, the first cVEND plug payment terminals left our company. A true milestone in the history of FEIG and the starting signal for something very big. Today, ten years later, we are not only celebrating the anniversary of the cVEND plug, but also the growth of an entire product family that sets standards worldwide.
The development of the cVEND plug terminal is the beginning of a long-standing success story and describes the company’s entry into the payment market. Since then, FEIG has established itself as a leading global supplier of payment terminals for validators and ticket gates in public transport.
The idea
FEIG had long been known as a successful developer of high-quality RFID products, but the voices in the public transport market were getting louder. They needed something to be able to read not only closed-loop cards in validators, onboard computers or ticket gates, but also to process payments (open-loop). Of course, this product should also meet the strict PCI PTS security requirements.
FEIG accepted and mastered this challenge. The result is the cVEND plug terminal, which has become the technical basis for contactless payment in public transport. For the public transport sector, this has improved efficiency and flexibility enormously.
Today, millions of passengers worldwide benefit from the ability to easily hop on and off with their credit or debit card; without worrying about confusing tarriffs.
The first project
The first project took place across the Atlantic: The first 1,100 cVEND plug terminals were delivered to a system integrator in October 2015, who installed them in validators of a bus line in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. The system developed by the integrator automatically detects the cheapest fare and prevents double payments. Thanks to the cVEND plug terminal, you can pay with smart cards, mobile tickets or credit and debit cards.
What happened next for FEIG
For FEIG, a long and successful journey began to become a major player and developer of “Made in Germany” payment terminals for unattended machines and systems.
- cVEND plug – modularity for every installation situation: The original form factor was quickly supplemented by modular variants to serve a wide variety of installation situations and requirements. In the meantime, the cVEND plug has established itself as a reliable component for the public transport market.
- cVEND box – Perfect for vending applications: The cVEND box is also based on the cVEND plug, which was co-developed from the very beginning. This is also available today in a further developed form and is primarily used in parking and vending.
- cVEND PIN – Security with keyboard: Various markets also required a terminal for self-service applications. Here, FEIG opted for a combination of contactless payment with a robust stainless steel keyboard. This created the cVEND PIN terminal, which is now installed in a wide variety of machines. It also made the EV charging market more and more interesting for FEIG. The keyboard of the cVEND PIN allows users to make higher-priced payments and to let them choose between two different charging points, for example, directly on the keyboard and start a charging process.
- cVEND touch – Design meets function: The latest member of the cVEND product family is the cVEND touch terminal, which also has the advantages of a keyboard, but the PIN entry is flush with glass, which makes the terminal perfect for use in design-oriented and demanding applications.
What the future holds
Even after ten years, cVEND plug and its successors are not obsolete models – on the contrary: With the Gen II, our terminals meet the requirements of PCI 6.x and can be easily replaced thanks to consistent form factors.
Our new Payment Services (PayServ) enable remote maintenance, updates, central management and more. With the GatewaySolution, FEIG offers international scalability as a payment service provider without contract confusion.
Our promise remains: quality “Made in Germany”, future-proofing and cooperative partnership.
Happy Birthday cVEND – here’s to the next 10 years!
