The SmartVista Front-End component directly responsible for the interaction with POS terminals and the processing of POS transactions is the POS Interface. Both direct and dial-in connection methods are allowed.

The communication protocols supported by the SmartVista POS Interface include Х.25, TCP/IP and asynchronous link level protocols, such as Visa II, Hypercom, etc. All messages are logged.

Message Authentication Codes (MAC) are supported for the Visa II protocol to ensure the integrity of messages exchanged with POS terminals. This requires an HSM device.

POS devices can be connected either individually or through a POS concentrator to allow communication with multiple devices at the same location through a single link.

The Trickle Feed option is available allowing POS devices to authorise a transaction off-line when the transaction amount is below floor limit, accumulate such authorisation messages and send them to the host during the next communication session or in between current on-line messages. This capability is particularly important for EMV cards, where the percentage of off-line transactions is expected to be very high. The trickle feed mechanism also ensures prompt delivery of management and host synchronisation messages, so that they can be interleaved with current transaction processing messages while communication is available.