Making Card-Present Payments Across Multiple Geographies Easier With Unified Cloud Integration (UCI) | Global Payments
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| Global Payments’ new Unified Cloud Integration (UCI) lets developers add in-person payment processing through a single API to simplify card-present payments for ISVs and SMBs. UCI is a cloud-native solution that works across multiple countries and device types with no device-specific SDKs, local integrations, or regional certifications to get in the way. Learn more about it here. |
Card present payments have always been a particular challenge for developers. After all, smooth integrations aren't just about capturing a card swipe or tap. They require finding your way through a maze of terminal types, region-specific certifications, and fragmented APIs. For independent software vendors (ISVs) and small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs), these hurdles often mean delayed launches, ballooning costs, and missed opportunities.
As software vendors and merchants continue shifting to cloud-native infrastructures, the need for scalable, simple, and globally consistent payment solutions has never been greater. Now they are – with Global Payments’ new Unified Cloud Integration (UCI).
UCI delivers a modern, streamlined way for ISVs and SMBs to support card-present payments without the traditional technical overhead. Since it’s really all about making it easier for developers to build card-present payment systems, let’s start with the common challenges they face when presented with that task.
Imagine you’ve built a successful e-commerce platform and now want to enable in-person payments for pop-up events, physical stores, or hybrid retail.
Suddenly, you’re knee-deep in:
Even for established ISVs, this complexity presents a barrier to scaling globally. For niche software developers – think dental practice management or boutique wine shop POS – the cost and effort can be prohibitive. As an ISV, your job is to integrate payment processing functionality into existing software applications, not become an expert in the intricate workings of payments infrastructure.
Global Payments is doubling down on its efforts to support developers in the SMB and ISV spaces. And UCI is part of that effort. We come from a history of serving ISVs, and the product we built at EVO Payments was designed exactly for that. After EVO’s acquisition by Global Payments, UCI was the only card-present solution we retained – because it offered unmatched value.
But Global Payments didn’t just keep UCI alive – we invested in rebuilding it from the ground up, making it more scalable, secure, and globally accessible. Why? Because we recognize that ISVs and SMBs, the lifeblood of commerce, are too often underserved by “enterprise-first” payment solutions.
UCI's value lies in its flexibility and reach. It allows an integrator working in the U.S. to easily and repeatably support card-present terminals in other countries – like Mexico or Ireland – without changing their integration or pursuing new certifications. It’s truly “one integration, one cloud.”
Unified Cloud Integration is a cloud-based platform that enables card-present transactions through a unified, RESTful API. Unlike legacy solutions, UCI doesn't require developers to install device-specific SDKs or manage complex local integrations.
Think of a legacy cash register connected directly to a PIN pad – that’s a fixed, local connection. But with UCI, you can have a tablet, a web app, or even an old-school cash register system communicating with modern, PCI-compliant terminals via the cloud.
By offloading the complexity of card-present payment logic to the cloud, UCI lets ISVs focus on their core business logic – whether that’s running a POS for a local shop or managing appointments for a professional office.
With as few as five lines of code, developers can implement sales, refunds, voids, and more. No deep payments expertise required.
If you’ve built for e-commerce, you’ll find the integration model familiar: Send a request from your app or backend, and the payment terminal – already loaded with PCI-compliant software – handles the rest.
Because UCI isn’t just another API. It’s a single integration point that works across multiple countries, terminal types, and payment methods. That means:
Use the same interface in any supported region without touching your codebase or enduring another round of compliance headaches. Scaling into new markets is now far easier because it’s about business relationships at that point.
We built UCI with a simple philosophy: Developers should not have to care about payments. You need to focus on your core business, and payments should “just work.”
Today’s ISVs are moving to the cloud – and they expect their payment solutions to follow. UCI makes that possible by eliminating the headaches of version management, OS-specific SDKs, and scattered documentation. It’s not just about making it simple, it’s about aligning with how software is actually being built and deployed today – as SaaS, browser-based platforms. UCI fits right in.
Under the hood, UCI leverages Global Payments’ GP API as its front-end, hosted on Google Cloud, with secure back-channel connectivity via Amazon Web Services (AWS). This infrastructure supports both RESTful API calls and persistent connections to physical devices using IoT and SSL technologies.
Transactions flow through GP API to UCI, over to AWS, and then down to the payment terminal, and the results flow back the same way. We even support different callback mechanisms depending on the integrator’s architecture. This architecture ensures UCI is secure, highly available, and scalable — ready to support the high-volume demands of global businesses.
Early on, we realized our documentation was scattered across multiple portals and repositories. Now, we've started consolidating all API documentation, sample code, and integration guides, currently spread across platforms like Portico and other portals, into one GitHub repository.
This work isn’t just about convenience — it’s about reducing friction and making it as easy as possible for you to find what you need, when you need it. We've also learned the value of transparency. In the past, we might have waited for a feature-complete, “perfect” product before sharing anything with the developer community.
Now, we’re taking a page from successful platform companies: sharing our roadmap, being honest about what’s available today and what’s coming next, and inviting feedback early and often. With this approach, we’re working to build trust and prioritize the features and fixes that matter most to you.
One of UCI’s early adopters was a developer who built highly specialized retail software for boutique wine shops. He had zero interest in becoming a payments expert. With UCI, he integrated card present payments in a matter of hours, not weeks. He didn’t have to worry about which terminal was in use or whether the shop was in California or Cork. It just worked.
UCI also enables businesses with legacy hardware (old cash registers) to coexist with modern Android payment devices, allowing for gradual transitions and mixed environments without complex integration work. We also know that ISVs that find success in e-commerce often face a steep learning curve when moving to in-person payments. UCI lowers this barrier by allowing them to use familiar integration patterns, avoiding the need for deep payments industry knowledge.
UCI is still evolving with several major enhancements planned throughout the next year. Right now, our top priorities are:
We’re staying laser-focused on small merchants and ease of use. That means saying no to overly complex features and instead doubling down on what delivers real value — a consistent, simple payment experience.
UCI is more than just another integration platform — it’s the foundation of Global Payments’ strategy to empower ISVs and SMBs in a cloud-first world. With one integration, developers can unlock a global network of payment terminals, while avoiding regional certification headaches or platform-specific SDKs.
As Global Payments continues investing in UCI’s scalability and simplicity, it’s setting a new standard for how modern card-present payments should work — fast, flexible, and friction-free.
Global Payments is committed to making card-present integration as simple, scalable, and future-proof as possible. We’re actively listening to developers, embracing transparency, and focusing relentlessly on the user experience. Our goal is to make payments integration fade into the background so you can focus on building the features your users love.
Join us on this journey and stay tuned as we move toward our full rollout of UCI in the US and beyond. Visit our Global Developer Page to take a closer look at the integration and reach out to your Global Payments Partner account manager for more.
UCI is currently only available outside the US.