MARIETA, Ga. – Alliance Services, one of the largest regional ATM service companies in the U.S., is eager for the final passage of the Check Truncation Act that will move many of the routine elements of check processing from hard copy to electronic image. "From our perspective, with the technological advantage we already have, we will be pleased to see the act pass and get on with it," said Michael Eisenhauer, executive vice president of the firm that says it specializes in offering its clients technological solutions to common ATM services. It is a market dominated, Eisenhauer said, with organizations that only service ATMs as a sidelight of their overall cash transportation or other line of business, or don't have the resources and scope that Alliance offers. "We are about servicing ATMs," said company CEO Larry Bolterstein. Alliance calls itself a regional firm, but admits that its customers can be found across what is really two regions, from Southern New Jersey to Western Texas, with a concentration in the mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states. The firm can service clients in such a wide area in part because of its reliance on technology to make the business of making sure an ATM stays up and running and with cash on hand faster and more efficient. That's why the firm is looking forward to the passage of the Check Truncation Act, Eisenhauer explained; it offers more speed and efficiency. The firm can already, through a secure Web site, let its customers know how much of their money is on hand with the firm, how much is deployed in ATMs and what the status of the ATM is at any given time. The firm can balance the ATMs cash and transactions for each day and have the data on hand for the credit union to see online by 10:00 AM the next day, as opposed to hours later for systems that rely on faxes or other forms of communication. But it is deposited checks – which the firm already opens, records, batches and transports to the financial institution – where the firm expects to really outshine the slower ATM servicing methods. Under the Check Truncation Act, company executives explained, they will be able to electronically process deposited checks, with the added ability to perform the check validation tasks that frequently take days now. Alliance also provides the basic machine maintenance for its customers, making sure that adequate supplies of receipt paper, envelopes and other supplies are on hand at the ATM. The company does not provide any maintenance that would require replacement of parts, the firm said, but will handle machine problems like jams, etc., the executives said. The company already works with more than 60 credit unions, many of which it inherited when it merged with Automated Technical Services, Inc., a firm based in Columbia, Maryland, which had its credit union clients through a relationship with Encore, a credit union-owned financial services cooperative headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia. [email protected]