This Week’s Product Pick

CRS, Inc. (St. Paul, MN) has released the SNBC BTP-M280B Impact POS printer with a buy three-get one free reseller promotion. The BTP-M280B targets the needs of hospitality and retail POS, for both PC-based POS or ECR systems, and with pricing set well below competitors, according to the company. Key features include: simple drop-and-print paper loading, selectable full/partial cut auto-cutter, and two-color printing at speeds of up to 4.7 lines per second. Available interfaces include the standard on-board USB interface, parallel, serial, Ethernet, and wireless Wi-Fi. As with all SNBC printers, everything—including cables, ribbon, power supply, and documentation—comes in the box without additional charges. In addition, the BTP-M280B is already certified with many popular POS software applications and private label and OEM programs are available. “The BTP-M280B joins the family of extraordinary value POS and kiosk printers built by Shandong New Beiyang Information Technology Co. (SNBC) of Weihai, China, and distributed exclusively by CRS, Inc. in the Americas,” said Bruce Mann, VP of Marketing at CRS. For more information, click here.

SNBC BTP-M280B POS Printer from CRS, Inc.

Worth Your While

VARTECH 2008
BlueStar
September 15-17
Orlando

Poll-A-Rama III
Tri-Technical Systems
September 30-October 1
Dubuque, IA

EPC Connection
EPCglobal North America
October 14-16
Chicago

Self-Service Expo
KioskCom
October 15-16
New York

Impact Now
ScanSource
November 10-11
Orlando

NRF Annual Convention & Expo
National Retail Federation
January 11-14, 2009
New York

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Week of August 25

Week of August 18

Week of August 11

INTEGRATION

Retail Anywhere’s Paper Cut

Retail Anywhere (Atascadero, CA) has expanded its POS solution with electronic signature capture capability through integration with Ingenico’s i6580 payment processing terminal with color touchscreen. Retail Anywhere, which targets mid-sized retailers, recently rolled out more than 200 Ingenico i6580’s to three unnamed retail clients. As benefits of electronic signature capture and automated receipt retrieval, the two parties point to faster customer service, reduced costs by eliminating paper handling, and decreased employee fraud. In addition, the solution carries Payment Card Industry Pin Encryption Device (PCI PED) approval.

“We are excited to partner with Ingenico and provide our customers with an enhanced payment solution,” commented Branden Jenkins, CEO of Retail Anywhere. “Small to mid-sized retailers are achieving positive results and lowering costs with the integrated customer display and going paperless for signature-based transactions.”

“Ingenico is pleased that a major player in the POS integration field would develop an interface for our solutions,” added Lisa Shipley, SVP, Sales & Marketing, Ingenico North America (Alpharetta, GA). “This allows merchants served by Retail Anywhere to utilize the most widely deployed and robust transaction terminals in the market, the Ingenico i6580 and i6780.”

Talking to the PDA for WMS

Aldata Solutions (Atlanta) has achieved Symbol Plus validation from Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility Business (Holtsville, NY) for its GOLD Vocal software solution. Through Motorola’s Solution Validation Program, the Aldata GOLD Vocal solution has been tested and co-validated on Motorola’s WT4090, MC3090, and MC9090 devices, ensuring system interoperability for customers.

“Motorola’s validation of Aldata GOLD Vocal demonstrates the strength and capabilities of our product to complete a rigorous testing program successfully,” said Jean-Francois Le Garrec, Product Director at Aldata Solution. “Our customers and partners will view this as another example of our commitment to enable the PDA to become the universal terminal for multi-modal voice solutions for warehouse operations.”

GOLD Vocal is the Aldata application module dedicated to support order preparation and inventory management for warehouses. The PDA extension enhances the potential for new business processes based on multi-modal applications integrating voice and other data collection methods, including keyboard, barcode reading, and RFID, according to the developer. Aldata also offers its GOLD Mobile PDA solution for in-store operations.

Code Corner

Solidcore Systems (Cupertino, CA) announced POS Check and Control for distributed POS systems and kiosks. The solution is based on Solidcore’s “runtime control” technology that is designed to solve the rigors of POS security, malware protection, and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance with minimal system and operational overhead. Runtime control ensures only pre-authorized software and code can run on POS systems while securely allowing software updates from trusted sources, such as those generated by retail coupon engines. The technology also prevents disk tampering, and provides advanced memory protection to authorized software to defend against buffer overflow vulnerability attacks and “zero-day” exploits. It allows an administrator to perform routine maintenance but prevents any tampering with the set of software authorized to execute on the POS device. Once secure, POS Check and Control reports on POS system changes in real-time for continuous PCI DSS compliance verification. Finally, Solidcore supports most popular POS platforms, including those running Microsoft Windows Embedded Point of Service (WEPOS) and XP Embedded. “With both margin pressure and the number of publicized and unpublicized data breaches on the rise, retailers cannot afford to cobble together combinations of audit, anti-virus, and list-based security tools on their critical POS systems,” advised Anne Bonaparte, President/CEO at Solidcore. “POS Check and Control goes beyond the security flavor-of-the-week by giving retailers the power to ensure their POS systems remain secure and only change when the merchant wants them to.”

[Editor’s Note: Elsewhere, Google has released its Chrome Web browser, which takes direct aim at Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and sharpens the growing rivalry between the two behemoths. Please read all about it in the general press.]

ALLIANCES

Shift4, ProfitPoint to Drive Gift Cards

ProfitPoint, Inc. (Clifton Heights, PA), which provides stored value card services, and Shift4 Corporation (Las Vegas), the supplier of payment processing services, have joined forces to offer merchants high-speed gift card processing. The interface allows Shift4’s Dollars On The Net customers to process ProfitPoint and Datamark gift cards directly through their POS or PMS (Property Management System) quickly, accurately, and securely, according to the two parties. Founded in 2003, ProfitPoint serves more than 20,000 merchant locations in the U.S., with in excess of 10 million stored value transactions on its gift and loyalty card platform.

“We’re delighted to build a strategic relationship with a premier provider of stored value products and services,” offered Dave Oder, President/CEO at Shift4 Corporation. “ProfitPoint provides Shift4 with the ability to meet customer demand and put forth a great value-added offering that can increase revenue and brand loyalty with a robust, enterprise-wide solution.”

Earlier this summer, in news our readers might have missed, Retail Pro (La Jolla, CA), one of the leading POS software providers to specialty retail, entered into an official business and development partnership with Shift4. As part of that agreement, Shift4’s Dollars On The Net became the preferred gateway solution for users of Retail Pro Version 9, the developer’s retail store management system.

Pitney Bowes Prescribed for Kiosk Service

Pitney Bowes (Stamford, CT) will provide nationwide, on-site maintenance services and support for Asteres (San Diego), the industry’s leading provider of automated prescription pick-up kiosks. Through the agreement, Pitney Bowes will act as an independent service provider to Asteres for its ScriptCenter kiosks, which are placed in retail, healthcare, and military pharmacy settings. The contract will be fulfilled through Pitney Bowes Multi-Vendor Services, which in recent years has entered the support business for a wide range of product technologies.

The automated prescription pick-up kiosks, which work like an ATM, allow consumers to pick-up and pay for their prescriptions when pharmacies are closed or without waiting in line when pharmacies are open. This enables retailers to extend prescription pick-up hours without adding staff and to alleviate long lines at the pharmacy counter. Presumably, shy customers would prefer them, too. Indeed, research shows that 70% of pharmacy customers would prefer to pick up and drop off their prescriptions at unattended kiosks.

“It’s all about customer service,” noted Linda Pinney, Founder and Chief Business Officer for Asteres, “and the Pitney Bowes team consistently delivers rapid response and results. Our collaboration with Pitney Bowes provides flexible and comprehensive service options to our retail, healthcare, and military customers paired with an overall commitment to excellence.”

ScriptCenter Pops Out Your Pills

Key Advertiser Links

Be sure to visit these vendors for the latest in channel products and offers for resellers.

POS & Auto ID Distribution
BlueStar
Ingram Micro
ScanSource

POS & Peripherals
Bematech
Logic Controls
pcCashdrawer
POS-X

Data Collection Terminals
CipherLab
Datalogic Mobile
Honeywell Imaging and Mobility
Janam Technologies

ECRs / Touchscreens / Printers/
Parts and Supplies
CRS, Inc.

Receipt Printers
Citizen Systems America
Star Micronics

Retail Software
InfoTouch
Toshiba TEC

Screen Protection
3M Optical Products

Thermal Printers
Seiko Instruments USA

Touchscreens
FireBox Displays

HELLO GOODBYE

Confrey Joins Logic Controls

Logic Controls (New Hyde Park, NY) has added industry veteran Jack Confrey as its Director of Sales and Marketing. Jack will lead the sales team of Logic Controls as well as develop and manage marketing activities, including the company’s Website, customer outreach and support, public relations, and trade shows.

“Jack will be an enormous asset to Logic Controls due to his long association with, and key relationships within, the retail and QSR markets,” stated Jackson Lum, President/CEO of Logic Controls, which was recently acquired by Bematech. “We are particularly pleased that his engineering and high-tech expertise will aid Logic Controls in communicating the customer value of our technologically advanced and broad product line.”

Confrey has served the POS industry for over two decades, having been VP and GM of Epson America OEM, EVP of Citizen, and VP of Sales and Marketing for Axiohm. Most recently, he worked at M-S Cash Drawer.

Jack Confrey, Director of Sales and Marketing, Logic Controls

Avnet Crowns Miller VP of New Unit

Avnet Technology Solutions (Tempe, AZ) has named Gavin Miller as VP and GM of Technology Infrastructure Solutions for Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. In this role, he will be responsible for the sales and marketing of software, hardware, and services from a broad array of suppliers, including those with solutions for storage, data management, networking, security, enterprise mobility, and unified communications. This newly formed group combines Avnet’s Enterprise Software and Storage business with the Technology and Market Solutions business.

Miller reports to Jeff Bawol, who was appointed President of Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas in May. Miller joined Avnet in 2004 as the GM for the Avnet Technology Solutions Canadian team, where he successfully delivered annual double-digit sales growth. Before joining Avnet, Miller spent 11 years with solution providers MITI Information Technology and Xwave, which merged in 2000.

“Gavin’s experience as an IT solutions provider has helped him keep the customer’s perspective at the forefront, and his most recent position at Avnet has given him a solid track record of dealing with multiple suppliers,” said Bawol. “That broad range of experience will be well utilized in his new role. We continue to see strong demand for technology solutions that optimize or expand existing IT infrastructures, and Gavin has the skills and the team to capture these growth opportunities.”

Gavin Miller, VP and GM of Avnet Technology Infrastructure Solutions

Channel Factoid

92% of North American logistics companies point to process automation between customers, carriers, and distributors as critical for doing business in today’s environment. 23% of companies identify manual exceptions as one lingering barrier to achieving this goal, and track-and-trace applications were named by 53% as the primary cause for manual exceptions. Further, infrastructure and application imcompatibility continues to plague logistics providers. 57% of companies identified incompatible systems as their biggest challenge surrounding the exchange of information with customers, carriers, and distribution partners. Overall, 45% of these companies reported integration of separate systems was their “greatest pain.” Taken from Hubspan’s Market Insight Study.

GOVERNMENT & REGULATION

FTC Plans Event on RFID

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will hold a workshop on Tuesday, September 23 to explore emerging applications of RFID technology, including item-level tagging and contactless payment devices, and their implications for consumer protection policy. This event, titled “Transatlantic RFID Workshop on Consumer Privacy and Data Security,” is free and open to the public, with no pre-registration necessary. It will take place at the FTC Conference Center in Washington, DC. A live Webcast will be available on the day of the event, also.

The workshop will bring together industry representatives, government officials, and consumer advocates from the U.S. and Europe as part of the Transatlantic Symposium on the Societal Benefits of RFID, which is being sponsored by the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue, the European-American Business Council, and EPCGlobl, with the support of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission.

Following the FTC workshop on September 23, the U.S. Department of Commerce, in cooperation with the European Commission, will host its “match making” event for U.S. and European companies, with the goal of exploring new transatlantic RFID partnerships and technical exchanges. Also, the FTC will accept written comments on the subject of RFID security and privacy concerns up until October 23. See “Conferences & Workshops” at www.ftc.gov.

Help AIM Connect the Dots

AIM Global (Warrendale, PA) has put the “International Symbology Specification—DotCode,” developed by its Technical Symbology Committee, up for 30-day public review. That public review process ends on September 30, so hurry if you’re interested. The document can be downloaded from the AIM Global Website. It’s free for AIM members; others pay the fee.

DotCode really uses dots, as the name implies. This variable-size, variable-shape matrix symbology was specifically designed for high-speed marking applications in which alignment or connection of individual dots would be problematic. Because DotCode uses discrete printed elements with at least one nominal element space between them as a non-printed area, AIM said, it offers a practical method of providing unique item identification at full production line speeds. It incorporates features designed to facilitate both marking and reading.

According to AIM Global President Dan Mullen: “With increasing attention being placed on being able to uniquely identify items—from food items to pharmaceuticals to critical machine parts—DotCode is significant because it offers a real solution for applications where traditional barcode printing cannot provide mass serialization without slowing down the production or packaging process.”