Star Network, one of the nation’s largest transaction-processing networks (and one which all ATM Network machines have access to), has rolled out a new service: allowing Star-branded prepaid cards to be “topped off” at an ATM.

While many of Star’s prepaid cards are payroll cards that are reloaded through direct deposit, the market for the new service, dubbed Star Reload, is the “spontaneous reload,” Saville says. That would include cash, miscellaneous checks consumers receive, and DDA account transfers. Most reloads at POS locations are likely to involve only cash. At ATMs, “the form of the deposit is up to the ATM deployer,” says Saville. Star Reload ATMs and other locations will have a special logo indicating the service is available.

A major target audience for this service are the “unbanked” — people without checking accounts. Without a bank account, everything from paychecks to cash payments can turn into a hassle. Cashing checks can often involve a large fee at a check-cashing business, and walking around with large amounts of cash causes its own problems.

Some unbanked workers are issued payroll cards, with the worker’s paycheck automatically added to the card’s balance through direct deposit. Star’s new service would let those workers take other payments they’ve received — cash, check, money order — to a nearby merchant and have the value of those payments added to the card. But it could be used by people without payroll cards as well — any Star-branded prepaid card would work.

For merchants, it’s a way to draw people into their stores and earn incremental revenue by charging a small fee for the reload service. On the other hand, in order to reach the core unbanked audience, their ATM will have to be capable of accepting deposits, not just dispensing cash. The service will let people electronically transfer funds from bank accounts to their prepaid card, but that market is probably pretty limited — people with bank accounts probably have debit cards, and little need to use a prepaid card.

A big factor in the success of the new service will be pricing, which Star has not yet disclosed.

When you want computers to talk to one another, they need a common language. That’s why there are lots of communication standards in the computing world — so that different devices can share information, rather than operate in isolation.

ATMs are no different. ATMs need to be able to communicate with the transaction-processing computers that actually verify funds and transfer them between bank accounts. The processing computers, in turn, need to be able to send information back to the ATM, either telling it to dispense the requested cash, or to display an explanation of why it can’t.

One of the most widespread communication standards for ATMs was developed by ATM maker Triton in the early 1990s, when the non-bank ATM industry was just getting started. Triton made it an “open” standard — meaning anyone could use it, for free. Smart move: It became so widely used that while competitors have developed their own communication standards, most machines have a “Triton mode” option in order to be compatible with processing networks that rely on the Triton standard.

But the Triton standard was developed when the Internet was an infant and computer technology barely envisioned some of the services and capabilities we take for granted now. So rather than continue tweaking the old standard, Triton has developed a new one, called Triton Dynamic Language (TDL), that supports new features and more flexible control of installed ATMs.

“TDL is a radical departure from Triton Standard; it is going to revolutionize the way off-premise ATMs operate,” said Bob Douglas, Triton Director of Engineering.

“With customers’ needs changing and the demands for more transaction types increasing, TDL will allow off-premise ATMs to better meet the needs of their customers,” continues Douglas.” Some of the possibilities with TDL include the ability to define screen, receipt and transaction flow based on a specific customer’s card and transaction information; to be able to configure changes to the ATM remotely through the host; and to create custom applications for the ATM without extensive development.”

It’s a radical departure in more ways than one. While Triton will continue to offer the old standard for free, it plans to license the new standard — meaning competing manufacturers will have to pay royalties to include the standard in their machines.

James Phillips, the director of North American sales for ATMGurus, a Triton company, says Triton’s decision to require a license for the standard falls in line with market changes and allows ATM manufacturers to purchase a license for the new standard, giving them access to future functionality that the current standard will not incorporate. The current standard will continue to exist as it is, but a licnese agreement will be required for the new standard.

“As the market has changed, Triton has decided to change how it allows others to use that protocol,” Phillips said. “Now, we are licensing the protocol to the competition.”

Now through the end of the year, Triton is notifying all ATM deployers who currently use the standard of the upcoming licensing change. Licenses for the protocol will be issued on a per-terminal basis.

“If you don’t want to upgrade, you don’t have to,” Phillips said. “You can continue to use the current standard as long as you want. But to take advantage of future features that are built into the new standard, you will have to have a license.”

In essence, Triton is trying to become the Microsoft of the ATM world — controlling the key software on all machines, rather than using its software merely to sell its own machines. It will be interesting to see how manufacturers respond. On the one hand, licensing a common standard may well be cheaper than developing and maintaining their own standards, and having a single common standard will make things more efficient on a network level. On the other hand, it means turning over a key part of your machine to a competitor, and relying on that competitor to keep the standard updated and relevant into the future. Never mind that Triton might be tempted to hike fees substantically if it’s successful in establishing its standard as the ATM equivalent of Windows.

Triton plans to roll out the new standard by January 1. It will probably take a year or more to fully gauge the success of its new strategy. In the meantime, other manufacturers have a lot to think about.