NCR to Unveil Smarter ATMs

NCR Corp. today will introduce new automated teller machines that break down less often and alert bank employees when it’s time to refill them with cash or receipt paper.

NCR Chairman Gilbert Williamson said the ATMs are three times more reliable than existing models. Williamson said the Dayton, Ohio-based company has verified the results in tests with banks.

“We’ve engineered sensors into the system itself so that it is constantly checking its own state of health,” Williamson said.

NCR, which was bought by American Telephone and Telegraph Co. earlier this year, is the world’s leading seller of ATMs. In second place is Interbold, a joint venture of International Business Machines Corp. and Diebold Inc.

NCR said the heart of its new ATMs is a 386SX microprocessor from Intel Corp., which is one of the most popular “brains” for personal computers.

Using its sensors and the microprocessor, the ATMs can notify a central computer “that it’s going to have a problem or that it has had a problem,” Williamson said in a telephone interview.

The microprocessor also allows the ATMs to provide more advanced functions, such as ordering checkbooks for customers, he said.