Verifone Thursday announced a partnership with Microsoft to provide comprehensive EMV-ready payments-as-a-service products certified for Microsoft Dynamics AX for retail and commerce products.

The companies said in a press release that the new service is built on Verifone's Secure Commerce Architecture, which connects payment terminals directly to the comany's payment gateway, preventing sensitive payment data from entering POS software. This is intended to enable merchants to update their devices to support PCI changes and card brand-specific EMV requirements without having to recertify each time software changes occur.

"Ongoing changes in standards and requirements have made managing payments increasingly more complex," said Ashvin Mathew, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics. "Partnering with Verifone — a longtime expert in solving merchants' payment challenges — will simplify this process and enable our users to focus on growing their businesses and improving the customer experience."