Atlanta-based NCR, which makes ATMs and checkout systems, on Monday announced a deal to buy a Pennsylvania company that processes payments.

NCR said it will buy JetPay for $184 million through existing cash and credit lines, and the deal has been approved by the boards of both companies. NCR said it will add JetPay’s cloud-based payments technology into its checkout systems.

NCR has spent years evolving its business from making hardware to providing software and services. Adding payment processing to its checkout systems and travel kiosks is another step in that evolution.

Payments are a critical and often overlooked part of the global economy. Georgia is the payments capital of the U.S., processing some 70 percent of all debit, credit and gift card transactions in the nation each year, according to the American Transaction Processors Coalition.

JetPay is the first payment processor NCR has acquired in its history, a spokesman said, though the company has partnerships with similar companies.

Typically, merchants rely on separate companies to manage their checkout systems from the ones that process transactions with checks, debit and credit cards.

“Enabling payments as part of our transactions is part of our long-term strategy to create integrated value for our clients,” NCR President and CEO Michael D. Hayford said in a news release.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory approvals.

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