VP3300 Transition to New NFC Kernels

ID TECH has recently received multiple inquiries regarding the life span of VP3300. We would like to assure our customers that VP3300 is not going End of Life. The miscommunication most likely was raised by expiring LOAs of VP3300. There is certainly a life span when it comes to EMV certifications. Let us explain below so that our customers can be clear how to proceed in their specific situation. 

I noticed your some of your LOAs have expired or expiring, will you be renewing those? 
No, we will not be able to renew existing LOA. EMV standards have changed significantly since VP3300 was released and therefore won't allow us to "renew" the LOA. ID TECH has to modify VP3300 firmware and hardware in order to adopt to the new EMV standard. 

What does it mean for me as a customer? Can I still go through L3 certifications with VP3300? 

Yes, you can still start L3 certification with VP3300 as long as it's still within the grace period. Our recommendation is to start L3 certification as soon as you can before the grace periods ends. 

What do you mean by "grace period"? 

Card brands allow 1-year grace period upon original LOA expiration date for merchants to START their L3 certification. Even though some of VP3300's LOAs have expired or are expiring, customer can still start their L3 certificaiton. Please see VP3300 LOA expiration dates and their respective valid grace periods. 

For example:

If you are looking to start L3 certification on Discover card, the latest you can start is before Feb-7th-2020 when Discover's 1-year grace period expires. 

Certification (EMV 2.3.1)

Brand

File/Link

Expiration

Customer can START L3 before:

L1 Contact

EMV Co - All BrandsVP3300_L1_IDTE_13386_04Nov15 - Contact L1 LoA.pdf2019-Oct-062020-Oct-05
L2 ContactEMV Co - All Brands/wiki/spaces/PMH/pages/714526452022-Nov-062023-Nov-05

L1 - Contactless

EMV Co - All Brands

2019-Sep-24

2020-Sep-23

L2 - Contactless

Amex2020-Oct-122021-Oct-11
L2 - ContactlessDiscover2019-Feb-82020-Feb-7
L2 - ContactlessMastercard2019-Mar-42020-Mar-3
L2 - ContactlessVisa2020-Mar-182021-Mar-17
TQM - ContactlessMastercard2020-Feb-13Can be renewed upon expiration


What if I can't start L3 certification before the grace period ends? What options do I have? 

ID TECH is in the process of developing and applying for a new set of LOA that adhere to EMV 2.6. Once we receive all the LOAs for this version, customers will be able to start L3 certification with the new sets of LOA. 

When will these new LOAs be available?

Certification (EMV 2.6)

Brand

File/Link (or expected completion timeframe)

Expiration

L1 Contact

EMV Co - All BrandsQ4-2019
L2 ContactEMV Co - All Brands/wiki/spaces/PMH/pages/714526452022-Nov-06

L1 - Contactless

EMV Co - All Brands

2022-Nov-8

L2 - Contactless

Amex

Q1-2020


L2 - ContactlessDiscover

Q1-2020


L2 - ContactlessMastercard

Q4-2019


L2 - ContactlessVisa

Q1-2020


L2 - ContactlessInteracQ1-2020
TQM - ContactlessMastercard

Q1-2020


For example:

If a customer has built VP3300 into their POS but will not be able to start L3 certification before grace period, they can wait until ID TECH to obtain a new set of L2 LOA (EMV 2.6). Once new LOAs are available, customers can upgrade their existing units to the latest firmware and leverage the new set of LOAs to start L3 certification. 

In order to differentiate hardware with EMV 2.3.1 standard and hardware with EMV 2.6 standard, ID TECH will be assigning new hardware part numbers for VP3300 with EMV 2.6. New part numbers will be announced later once LOAs become available. 


We fully understand the inconvenience that this change has brought to you. ID TECH is committed to provide the most options in order to minimize the impact to our customers. If you don't think your question has been answered here, please contact your ID TECH Sales Manager and we will do our best to help with your transition.