First Data: applying technology to help grow the business.

• Position: SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION - Interlink

Whether you're swiping a credit card at the grocery store, transacting at an ATM, shopping on the Internet, using a gift card or sending a money transfer payment to a loved one, First Data is probably involved in processing the transaction. As a leader in electronic commerce and payment services, First Data is represented in more than 4 million merchant locations. In addition, First Data has 233,000 Western Union Agent locations in 200 countries and territories and handled more than 36 billion transactions in 2004.

"We're the only company with that scope. There are other companies in the market place that do parts of what we do, but nobody else does it all," said Myron Beard, senior vice president merger integration.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

First Data implements technology to make people's lives easier by providing a convenient, quick and secure means of doing business. "Technology is the backbone of the company. We have world class technology and performance," said Beard.

First Data recently partnered with Interlink, a leader in technology services, to develop and implement a solution that would improve the integration of newly acquired companies.

"First Data had a strong merger-integration process in place, yet we wanted technology to facilitate and automate those processes and provide access to performance reporting and measurement," said Tom Thomas, director of projects and implementation for mergers and integration. "What really hit home with us was Interlink's willingness and ability to learn our process, understand our goals and work with us to tailor a project server solution to meet our specific needs."

Accounting for...