This Week’s Product Pick
Honeywell Scanning and Mobility (Skaneateles Falls, NY) presented its 3820i Industrial Cordless Linear Imager for demanding industrial environments. Based on the proven 3800 product line, the 3820i features no moving parts, integrated Adaptus Imaging Technology 5.0, and an optimized blend of ergonomics and performance. This extremely durable “workhorse” scanner is ready to use indoors or outdoors in a range of temperatures and operating conditions where less rugged barcode scanners won’t survive, according to Honeywell. Wireless communication is handled by Bluetooth Version 2.0, allowing a maximum range of 33 feet between the scanner and base, and eliminating potentially dangerous cables. As many as seven scanners may connect to the base. To prevent loss of information and wasted time, this scanner can store up to 500 barcodes in memory for times when the unit is unable to transmit to the base. Once the connection comes up, the 3820i will transmit the stored data. “To achieve the highest ROI possible, industrial enterprises require scanning solutions that are built specifically to fit their work environments,” declared Melissa Fiutak, Manager of Product Marketing for Hand-Held Imagers at Honeywell Scanning and Mobility. “We’ve combined class-leading ergonomics and durability with innovative battery management and high-performance barcode scanning to deliver a solution that’s optimized for improving productivity in the harshest applications.”
Honeywell’s 3820i “Workhorse” Industrial Scanner
COMPANY BUSINESS
ScanSource Enrolls LXE LXE Inc. (Norcross, GA) has signed on with ScanSource (Greenville, SC) to distribute the entire LXE product line of rugged mobile computers throughout the U.S. and Canada. In making the announcement, ScanSource emphasized the benefits its resellers will receive from access to LXE’s rugged devices that operate in the cold chain, intermodal, and other demanding environments. Intermodal refers to freight transported in containers through multiple modes of transportation, for any readers unfamiliar with logistics. In the cold chain, things stay cold. “This agreement is a significant step in the development of our indirect business, which over recent years has grown to be more than half of our revenues,” commented Bill Roeder, SVP and GM of LXE, which also distributes through BlueStar. “We believe that our relationship with ScanSource will contribute to our continued success by strengthening our presence in the channel. LXE resellers will benefit from the value-added services that ScanSource delivers, ensuring unmatched support, first-rate logistical expertise, and high-quality complementary products.” According to Jeff Yelton, President, ScanSource POS and Barcoding, “LXE has been growing their support of channel partners, and by adding their broad line of rugged handheld, wearable and vehicle-mounted computers, it strengthens our commitment to providing industry-leading solutions to help our AIDC resellers succeed.” [Editor’s Note: Registration and travel deadlines are fast approaching for ScanSource’s IMPACT Now in Orlando on November 10-11. For more information, or to join up, click here.] Retail Pro Picks Star Printers Star Micronics (Edison, NJ) has been designated as “Preferred Retail Printer Platform” for customers and resellers of Retail Pro (La Jolla, CA), one of the global leaders in POS software solutions. As the “Preferred Printer Platform,” Star Micronics’ POS printers will be part of a best practices kit for existing and new Retail Pro resellers. Star manufactures and markets a full line of thermal, dot-matrix, and multi-function printers for the retail, hospitality, and banking industries. “Star is very pleased to be recognized by such a respected industry player as Retail Pro,” noted Christophe Naasz, Marketing Director, Star Micronics America, Inc. “We are very excited to be included in the ‘best practices kit’ and are looking forward to working with Retail Pro, its reseller channel, and its customers.” Mike Bishop, Director, Business Development of Retail Pro, added: “I’m pleased that we’ve selected Star Micronics as our preferred retail printer provider. Their innovative product line, high-performance print engines, and world-wide presence are all critical success factors for our global customer base, and I look forward to advancing our alliance in the coming year.”
An Appreciation of Depreciation A reminder for resellers might be in order, based on conversations we had at the recent BlueStar VARTECH Show in Orlando. As we enter Q4, it should not be forgotten that the U.S. Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in February, contained significant tax incentives for businesses to make capital investments this year. Several parties at VARTECH reported citing these provisions, which cover computer hardware and software as well as any other equipment, in discussions with their customers about the delivery and installation of new systems. Basically, the legislation helped businesses on two fronts. Companies received “bonus depreciation” of 50% on new equipment that would normally be depreciated over many years. In addition, the law boosted to $250,000 from $128,000 the limit on equipment expenses that small businesses can deduct from their annual income. As with anything related to tax law, the details are somewhat more complex, so resellers should research these provisions more thoroughly and consult their financial expert, but clearly the opportunity exists to educate end-users on the possible merits of increased spending in 2008. In addition, some vendors have responded with their own offerings tied to the government’s stimulus package. IBM, for example, has offered its clients the choice of reduced payment rates or free three-month payment deferrals on leases of IBM and non-IBM equipment installed by the end of 2008. In leasing arrangements, remember, the lessor traditionally holds title to the equipment and therefore largely reaps the benefits afforded under this law. So buying or leasing of new hardware and software are both covered, and your customers may have the ability to nearly double the amount they immediately write-off this year
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Worth Your While
EPC Connection
EPCglobal North America
October 14-16
Chicago
Self-Service Expo
KioskCom
October 15-16
New York
Retail Market Seminar
Ingram Micro Data Capture/POS Division
October 28
Santa Ana, CA
IMPACT Now
ScanSource
November 10-11
Orlando
NRF Annual Convention & Expo
National Retail Federation
January 11-14, 2009
New York
ProMat 2009
Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA)
January 12-15, 2009
Chicago
Inspire 2009
Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA)
January 18-21, 2009
Aruba Marriott Resort
ALL IN THE FAMILY
3M Keeps Your Mobile Screen Private
Rest easy, road warrior. 3M’s Optical Systems Division (St. Paul, MN) has introduced its 3M Mobile Privacy Film to protect on-screen information such as text messaging and e-mails on PDTs, PDAs, and mobile phones. The film employs Vikuiti microlouver technology—which functions like vertical blinds—darkening side views and leaving the screen visible only to the person using the device. (Everybody else sees black.) With its light matte front surface, the film also helps reduce glare and protects the screen from scratches and scrapes.
The film’s full-surface adhesive leaves no residual upon removal, according to 3M, thereby facilitating recommended replacement after six months. It comes in one size that can be custom-cut to fit the screen of any mobile device that measures up to 5 inches diagonally. All that’s need are sharp scissors and the cutting grid, which is included.
3M’s Mobile Privacy Film is thin enough to work on most resistive touchscreen displays and all stylus displays, and should adhere to both glass and plastic. Standard-size order is 500 kits when ordering direct from 3M. The product is also available through 3M Optical Systems Division’s distributors for smaller volumes, and larger custom-size orders are possible.
Mobile Privacy Film Stops Snooping
Datalogic Scanning Debuts Duo
Datalogic Scanning (Eugene, OR) announced two new handheld imagers: the Gryphon D432/D412 Plus general-purpose 2D imager and the PowerScan PD7100 industrial linear imager. The Gryphon 2D Plus reads most common 1D and 2D barcodes, as well as stacked or composite symbologies such as PDF-417, the emerging GS1 DataBar, and many Postal Codes. Features include 400-MHz processing, “five dot” laser aiming system, wider VGA sensor, and new camera for signature, image, and document capture. Datalogic’s Aladdin configuration software simplifies installation and maintenance, according to the company.
“With its great ergonomics and high-throughput, the Gryphon 2D Plus imager is an ideal solution for retail, healthcare, banking, postal, government, and light industrial environments,” observed Pietro Todescato, GM, Handheld Scanning Business Unit. “It incorporates unique features found only in Datalogic products.”
Datalogic’s PowerScan PD7100 is targeted at high-volume industrial applications at instinctive reading distances from contact to 9 feet. It features solid-state technology, reading speed of 390 scans per second, best-in-class depth-of-field and field-of-view performance, multi-interface architecture, and rugged plastic case with rubber overmold. Both the PowerScan PD7100 and Gryphon 2D include the company’s “green spot” technology for good-read feedback in noisy environments.
“The PowerScan PD7100 handheld imager is Datalogic Scanning’s updated industrial value line, built on the technological legacy of the PowerScan 7000 SRI rugged handheld reader,” remarked Nick Tabet, VP of Handheld Marketing. “Lightweight, ergonomic, and robust, this imager combines advanced optics with all the best features in one device.”
Gryphon 2D from Datalogic Scanning Finds the Spot
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INTEGRATION
“Let My POS Data Go!”
Matra Systems (Duluth, GA) released Freedom Solution Center, its enterprise software solution that collects and standardizes POS data in order to link the retailer’s POS system and enterprise applications. The solution delivers standardized, cleansed, aggregated POS data at near real-time speed to the retailer’s headquarters for use in applications such as data warehousing, loss prevention, customer relationship management (CRM), merchandise management, and refund management, according to the developer.
Freedom Solution Center is said to work with “virtually all” POS systems with scalability that allows it to support small, medium, and large enterprises. In addition, so-called Freedom Solution Points are available from Matra, covering areas such as returns management, stored value service, electronic signature capture, electronic journal, digital receipts, and customer loyalty. The solution is designed to help retailers extend the value of their current store infrastructure and gain new functionality without the large capital expense of replacing POS hardware and software.
“In today’s challenging economic climate, it’s more important than ever for retailers to make business decisions based on accurate, timely POS information,” maintained Mike Todd, CEO at Matra Systems. “Freedom Solution Center provides a cost-effective, secure, and highly reliable way for retailers to easily access and utilize transaction data to make those critical decisions.”
Tipping the Scales at Genesis
Genesis (Dearborn, MI), developer of GWARE software products for the grocery sector, has secured the U.S. distribution rights to Bizerba scales, and now supports all major branded scales used in perishable departments. That’s deli, meat, produce, seafood, bakery, and floral. Genesis also announced that all of its distribution, including Bizerba, will now run through BlueStar (Florence, KY).
“We now support TCP/IP-based communications to scale brands from Bizerba, Digi, Hobart, Ishida, Mettler Toledo, and Toshiba,” indicated Greg Nelson, VP/CTO and Co-Founder of Genesis. “Typically, the scales in the perishable area were an untouched market for VARs selling to grocers, but now that has changed, allowing the smaller VAR to compete with bigger VARs, as well as with direct sales from manufacturers.”
Genesis resells the Microsoft RMS (Retail Management System) POS solution, and also serves as Microsoft Certified Partner. The company participates in BlueStar’s Fusion program. Genesis GWARE modules are included in the BlueStar/Microsoft/Hewlett-Packard POS bundle addressing the small-to-midsized grocery market. GWARE, some readers may recall, was previously branded as Pathway PSC2000.
Code
Corner
Wavelink Corporation (Midvale, UT) created Wavelink Avalanche Site Edition (SE), which offers all the device management functionality of Wavelink Avalanche Mobility Center (MC) without the infrastructure management and distributed server components generally needed by larger enterprises. Avalanche SE provides broad support for devices from multiple vendors that include legacy DOS-based devices, ruggedized handhelds, wireless printers, barcode scanners, RFID readers, time clocks, and other embedded O/S devices. Features include: simple, out-of-the-box provisioning; central device management console; increased security capabilities in support of PCI DSS and Sarbanes-Oxley; and new wizard-based dynamic package builder. Customers who purchase Avalanche SE with maintenance will be able to upgrade to future versions of Avalanche MC at not cost as their enterprise needs grow. “The release of Wavelink Avalanche SE fills a void in the market for small to medium-sized companies who require a more complete solution than competing standalone device management solutions but don’t need the complexity of advanced infrastructure management,” said Peter Cannon, Wavelink Senior Product Manager. “Avalanche SE delivers a full-featured solution for centrally managing multiple types and brands of mobile devices that is unlike anything else on the market.”
ALLIANCES
Heartland Brings VeriFone to the Table
Heartland Payment Systems (Princeton, NJ), one of the payment processors most active in the POS reseller channel, has certified VeriFone’s On the Spot pay-at-the-table managed services solution. Heartland will now market this solution to restaurant customers in the U.S. under the Heartland Tableside brand name. Tableside utilizes the VeriFone Vx 670 handheld system with Wi-Fi and the managed services model that VeriFone developed, delivering many of the advantages of more expensive restaurant management systems, according to the two parties.
“VeriFone’s wireless payment and managed services solution is ideal for independent restaurants and small chains that want to provide diners with faster, more secure, card payment options,” commented Mike English, Heartland’s Executive Director of Product Development. “Heartland Tableside enhances our ability to provide restaurants with quick, dependable service and easy, cost-effective access to enhanced processing and reporting capabilities.”
The Vx 670 is designed to improve the customer experience by reducing the time and number of steps needed to complete the payment transaction while virtually eliminating the potential for card skimming or tip alteration. With Heartland Tableside, any of the multiple Vx 670 systems in a particular restaurant can initiate or complete the transaction. PCI DSS compliance is ensured by storing card transaction information on the secure remote IP gateway employed in the managed services model. Batch closing can be pre-programmed on the managed services gateway, which also provides reporting functions and transaction history.
TransAct Papers Things Over
TransAct Technologies (Hamden, CT), through its TransAct Services Group (TSG) Division, has entered into “Preferred Partner” status with NCR’s Systemedia Division (Dayton, OH). Under terms of the agreement, TSG will market and sell over 250 paper and linerless label products manufactured by NCR. This covers the full range of paper products for POS, credit card, kiosk, ATM, bank teller, and gaming applications. Concurrently, TSG’s Website for e-commerce will serve as NCR’s distribution point for addressing the SMB transaction supplies market.
“We are excited about expanding our current collaboration with NCR,” said Bart Shuldman, Chairman, President, and CEO of TransAct Technologies, which has de-emphasized its receipt printer efforts to concentrate on opportunities in gaming, lottery, and banking. “This partnership will assist us in attacking what we believe to be a $100 million market opportunity for TransAct by expanding the amount of products offered on our enhanced e-commerce Website.”
“Our successful collaboration thus far with TransAct made it an easy decision for Systemedia to enter into this preferred partnership agreement,” acknowledged Dan Bogan, SVP and GM, Systemedia Division for NCR. “Customer satisfaction with our integrated solutions has been tremendous, and we look forward to continuing this strong relationship with TransAct as we increase our market share in the small to medium-sized business supplies market.”
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
POS-X
Barcode Printers
Wasp Barcode Technologies
Data Collection Terminals
CipherLab
Datalogic
Mobile
Honeywell S&M
Honeywell S&M/Metrologic
ECRs / Touchscreens / Printers/
Parts and Supplies
CRS, Inc.
Receipt
Printers
Citizen Systems America
Star Micronics
Retail Software
InfoTouch
Logivision
Screen Protection
3M
Optical Products
Thermal Printers
Seiko Instruments USA
Touchscreens
FireBox Displays
STARTS & STOPS
Now Playing at Arrow ECS: Get Smart
Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions (Englewood, CO) launched the Smart System, its tool to help resellers monitor their customers’ service agreements for Hewlett-Packard solutions. Smart, which stands for Services Maintenance and Renewal Tool, provides the distributor’s HP-authorized resellers with comprehensive data on each customer’s current HP service agreements via the dedicated Website at Arrow ECS.
The tool features a variety of search capabilities to quickly and easily locate contracts, according to the distributor. Also, resellers can identify contracts that are within 30, 60, and 90 days of expiring and prepare renewal quotes directly from the Smart System. In addition, resellers can download contracts for active agreements to share with their customers. The program will help resellers avoid lapses in coverage for their customers while identifying additional revenue opportunities, according to Andy Bratton, VP of the Arrow ECS HP Group.
“The Smart System has already helped us realize additional business with our customers,” testified Pat O’Connor, Business Development Manager at Agilysys (Boca Raton, FL). “For instance, we completed a technology refresh for a customer after identifying an opportunity through the Smart System data to replace the customer’s older servers.”
Enterprise Mobility Rings Bell for AT&T
AT&T (Dallas) continued its push into line-of-business mobility targeted at vertical industries such as manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, transportation, and retail. So-called AT&T Mobile Enterprise Applications will offer hosted and managed mobile integration solutions and application consulting services for companies looking to arm their mobile employees in field service, sales force automation, and general IT support.
Customers can host their applications in an AT&T data center, providing on-demand access, or they can run their applications behind their own firewall at their premises, according to AT&T. The system is supported by the Antenna Mobility Platform developed by Antenna Software (Jersey City, NJ), one of the leading providers of mobile enterprise technologies. Antenna originally developed this solution to help AT&T mobilize its own field service and sales organizations. Antenna also serves as one of Oracle’s “Elite 8” top-tier partners. AT&T’s smart phones, naturally, can be used in conjunction with the three primary applications.
“One of the key challenges for global organizations is managing the complexity of mobilizing multiple applications to the many different and constantly evolving devices, with the added layer of dealing with multiple service providers to provide this capability,” warned Ron Spears, Group President, AT&T Global Business Services. “AT&T Mobile Enterprise Applications helps remove the complexity and provides the single point of contact to help deliver mobile applications to companies virtually anytime, anywhere, and regardless of device.”
Channel Factoid
Mobile PCs have moved into the majority, with 53% of computer-using adults in the U.S. utilizing either notebooks or tablet PCs. Apparently, corporate road warriors have been upstaged by busy consumers, since 44% of the mobile PCs used 40 or more hours per week are owned by households, 31% by large businesses, and 25% by small and medium businesses, education, and government. Interestingly, the busiest mobile PCs are not as mobile as might be expected—43% are used in only one location, 13% are used in two locations, and 44% are used in three or more locations. “Busy Mobiles Report” was compiled by MetaFacts, Inc.
HELLO GOODBYE
RSPA Names Education Coordinator
The Retail Solutions Providers Association (Charlotte, NC) has added Lauren Stark as its Education Coordinator. Stark has worked as an instructor at the college level, teaching corporate and continuing education for over 10 years. Prior to her teaching, she worked in the technology industry as a systems analyst and support supervisor.
“Providing relevant, industry-specific information on retail technology is the cornerstone of RSPA’s education initiative,” emphasized Joe Finizio, RSPA President/CEO. “We are excited to have a person with significant education experience in both the public and corporate sectors as our Education Coordinator. Lauren Stark’s experience will be put to good use as we take RSPA’s education program to the next level.”
RSPA also announced its Fall Semester of Education with a robust schedule of both on-site and online courses. For more information, go to www.GoRSPA.org.
BlueStar CFO Honored
Doug Bivins, CFO and VP of Finance at BlueStar (Florence, KY), has been presented with The Cincinnati Business Courier’s Greater Cincinnati Large Private Companies “CFO of the Year” Award. Winners were decided by a panel of judges that included deans of the business schools at Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati, Ali Malekzadeh and Will McIntosh, and the retired CFO at the Ohio Casualty Corp., Don McKee.
“Doug has proved to major suppliers, such as Motorola, that a fast-growing, privately held company could outpace our public competition,” stated Steve Cuntz, BlueStar’s President/CEO. “This was largely responsible for BlueStar earning Motorola’s ‘Distributor of the Year’ recognition.”
“This award was quite an honor that I was not expecting,” Bivins said. “There are many other people at BlueStar that deserve to have their names included on the award because they all play a role in the success of BlueStar each and every day.”
Doug Bivins, CFO & VP Finance, BlueStar
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