Verband der ZVT-Host-Schnittstellen-Anwender e.V. (“ZVT-H”) manages and licenses the ZVT Host Interface Protocol, an interface between a PoS terminal and the host system of a PoS network operator.

The ZVT Host Interface Protocol formerly went under the name Poseidon® ZVT Protocol (Poseidon being a registered trademark of equensWorldline SE) and was issued by equensWorldline SE (formerly Worldline GmbH).

The protocol was outsourced to an independent association as the result of a package of commitments which Worldline offered the EU Competition Commission in the context of the merger with Equens and its subsidiary PaySquare. As the latter is a PoS network operator, it competes with other PoS network operators that use the ZVT Host Interface Protocol.

Martin Wolf