Asked why his independent sales organization, AmericaOne Merchant Services, is based in Sunnyvale, California, Co-founder and President/CEO David McMackin says, “I’m a California boy. What can I say?”

Other than that, there aren’t many benefits to being based in the nation’s most populous state. “It’s expensive here, and there aren’t any legal or tax benefits that I can think of. I might be able to make 20 percent more money somewhere else, but what it really comes down to for me is that California is home.”

Ask the same question of other ISO owners and you’re sure to hear any number of answers—though it’s probably safe to assume many share McMackin’s “home sweet home” mentality. For example, Sam Caine, president of Frisco, Texas-based Card Payment Services Inc., the boutique ISO he founded 1999, worked for several other firms, including Peachtree Bankcard, PMT Services, and NOVA Corp. (after the Atlanta-based processor acquired PMT Services in 1998).

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As editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, Chris Anderson stands on top of one of the most influential voices in business and technology trends. So in October 2004, when he wrote an article on an emerging business trend he called the long tail, ears perked up. His book, The Long Tail, was published two years later.

The “long tail” is epitomized in companies like Amazon.com, the trailblazer, and drives all kinds of markets. “The era of one-size-fits-all is ending, and in its place is something new, a market of multitudes,” Anderson says.

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With the 2008 election looming, Congress has largely finished work for the year and for the current term. And with one major exception, federal legislators spent most of their efforts laying the groundwork on payments industry legislation for the next Congress, which convenes in early 2009.

The big exception, of course, was inclusion of the IRS merchant reporting requirement in legislation shoring up the housing and mortgage industries, which passed both houses in late 2007 and was signed into law July 30. The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), along with many other industry groups like the American Banking Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, vigorously opposed the reporting requirement and succeeded in making some changes, despite the huge election-year momentum in favor of the housing bailout legislation.

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In the relentless campaign to secure sensitive cardholder data, industry players face a series of deadlines that affect not only merchants, but also ISOs, processors, and acquiring banks. This month, the first updated PCI standards since 2006 will be released, along with a deadline for bringing merchants new to accepting cards into compliance. PCI data security compliance is “a marathon, not a sprint,” insists Martha A. Rhine, director of international association compliance at Global Payments Inc. in Atlanta.

“And the end comes on July 1, 2010.” That’s when all merchants must be PCI Data Security standard (PCI DSS) compliant or use PABP/PA DSS-compliant POS system. This month, all newly boarded merchants will have to meet that same

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