The familiar "hole-in-the-wall" ATM has a bright future, linked to smartcard networks. The cash dispensing automated teller machine is such a familiar product that customers do not see it as a piece of high technology. The slow response to account enquiries on a Friday lunchtime, when many banks' central computers are inundated with signals, is the only time these customers are exposed to the scale and complexity of retail banking infrastructures.

Large international networks of ATMs are now in place, allowing cash card holders to draw directly from accounts almost anywhere.

Electronic cash in the shape of smartcards is moving out of a prolonged experimental phase. Direct debit cards draw money straight from bank accounts in tens of thousands of retail outlets. On the surface, it would appear that the ATM has reached its peak. But in fact it is enjoying a new lease of life. NCR is a US corporation that owes its name to the cash register and today operates across the IT and services industry. But hard cash is still a huge revenue generator. Despite its presence in sophisticated software and hardware NCR remains the world's biggest ATM manufacturer. In 1997 it sold more than 42,000 of these machines. This represents a four-fold increase in sales over five years, with NCR delivering 10,000 units in 1992.

NCR finds it is being called to install ATMs in US locations that are far removed from traditional bank branches, such as bowling alleys, bars and restaurants. The largest growth generator for NCR ATM sales is the convenience store, typically a small operation selling a range of produce attached to a petrol station.

The economics of ATM ownership is changing, with US national ATM networks operated by Visa and Mastercard removing a previous objection to surcharges on ATM transactions. This means that an ATM operator can use surcharges of between $1 and $2 per transaction to justify the presence of an ATM in an obscure location. Suddenly, the ATM that is visited by a few hundred customers per month becomes an asset.

The new wave of ATM sites are beginning to dispense items other than cash. Wells Fargo Bank in the US sells postage stamps from 3,500 ATMs.

In Toronto, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is linking ATMs to cinema chains via the Internet and printing-off movie tickets.

NCR supplies 80 per cent of Britain's ATMs. A Harris Research survey commissioned by NCR found 72 per cent of the 1,000 interviewees wanted services such as cinema, sports and airline tickets from their ATM network.

Bank cards containing embedded computer chips that can be recharged with data have been marketed relentlessly over the past five years. But with operations such as Visa rolling out these smartcards on a global basis, the electronic alternative to folding banknotes may finally be gaining ground. However, the owners of these smartcards still need to load cash onto the card. This guarantees the ATM a bright future.

The latest generation of ATMs are being designed in conjunction with smartcard networks. These machines will contain slots for inserting smartcards from different financial groups. NCR's current ATM product line is entirely smartcard-compatible.

The utility of the ATM means technology is constantly adapting to exploit its ease of use. The basic ATM idea that began life in the 1960s has survived 30 years of change in surrounding technologies and is being relaunched for the next century.