If money is the lifeblood of the US economy, are ATMs the pulse? PULSE thinks so. The company operates a network of more than 265,000 PULSE-branded ATMs and millions point-of-sale (POS) terminals in all 50 states. PULSE manages the network's electronic switching, but the terminals are installed and managed by the more than 4,500 banks, thrifts, and credit unions that participate in the network. The company also invests heavily in electronic funds transfer (EFT) research. PULSE is a business unit of Discover Financial Services, which acquired the company in early 2005.