Escher Group and the Universal Postal Union create and distribute commemorative personalized postcards Post-Expo 2001
Boston, Mass., USA and Berne, Switzerland - October 9, 2001 - Escher Group Limited, a leading provider of peer-to-peer messaging and data management solutions, today announced the launch of StampStudio™, a uniquely different Personal Postage-to-Go™ product, built on Escher's portfolio of patented and patent pending technologies. The announcement was officially made at POST-EXPO, the world's largest international convention for postal technology and innovation, being held this year at the Palexpo Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.
As part of the product launch Escher Group and the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a specialized institution of the United Nations representing the postal services of its 189 member countries, will be giving visitors commemorative postcards, along with a Personal Postage-to-Go label that includes a photo of the sender. Postcards with the appropriate Postage-to-Go affixed will be accepted into the mail stream by Swiss Post and delivered anywhere in the world. In conjunction with the StampStudio launch Escher Group is offering StampStudio at a reduced price for postal authorities who wish to purchase the technology between now and October 31st, 2001.
"We are pleased to be partnering with the UPU to provide this unprecedented opportunity to Post-Expo attendees," a spokesperson for Escher Group said. "We believe that StampStudio will change people's perception of postage in many ways. Personalizing it makes it more interactive for the sender and the recipient."
StampStudio allows postal customers to create customized stamps for special occasions such as Weddings, Birthdays and Holiday Greetings right at the counter in just a few minutes. The convenience of this offering can also be extended beyond the retail counter to self-service kiosks allowing customers to have their photos taken on the spot.
StampStudio incorporates several sources of security. The product's flexibility allows each jurisdiction to choose the cost of the security technologies appropriately. Inexpensive measures can eliminate "nuisance counterfeiting." Beyond that, the system is designed so that there is no "business case" or economic motivation for organized counterfeiting.
A globally unique WebRiposte message identifier, plus a short, secret key-based digital "signature," will be uniquely encoded into each image using Escher's SpectraSeal™ symbology. The message identifier and signature, collocated with the image, is a very inexpensive but effective security measure. The signature renders forgery from scratch very difficult. And because each "stamp" is uniquely associated with a message number, the forensic and tracking possibilities are substantial.
"StampStudio shows that it is possible to make every stamp uniquely identifiable and trackable," commented a director of Escher Group. "While this has numerous security benefits, it also suggests new philatelic possibilities. Like limited edition lithographs, stamps with lower sequence numbers might be valued higher than later issued counterparts. But rocket science aside, I'm looking forward to sending mail from Switzerland with pictures of my daughter on it."
About Escher Group, Limited
Escher Group Limited is a leading provider of distributed transaction processing and data management solutions and services. The company offers a business-to-business XML-based transaction management environment, used in thousands of locations worldwide. Since its introduction in 1993, Riposte®, Escher's flagship messaging solution, has grown to become the market leader in post office counter automation.
Trademarks: WebRiposte and Riposte are trademarks or registered trademarks of Escher Group, Limited in the United States and/or other countries. All other product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.
Contact Information:
Escher Group Limited
information@eschergroup.com