This Week’s Product Pick

Partner Tech (Irvine, CA) uncorked Biz Genie, its one-stop POS solution for the SMB retail market. Biz Genie combines Partner Tech’s solid-state, fan-free, touchscreen POS terminal and preconfigured, loaded Linux POS software. The compact, modular terminal includes an integrated 40-column thermal receipt printer, three-track magnetic-stripe card reader, and 2x20 customer-facing VFD display. Biz Genie software delivers many of the same features found in larger, more expensive solutions, according to the company. Fully customizable menu screens provide: eight menu levels; 100 buttons; 65,000 PLU’s; 9999 departments; 9999 sub-departments; and preconfigured product categories. Built-in reporting capabilities are extensive and include hourly/daily sales reports; department, sub-department, group, and/or PLU reports; and electronic journal and user-defined tables. Remote Genie, an optional module, allows for direct access and control of any terminal through an Internet connection. “One of the most attractive features of Biz Genie is that there are absolutely no annual fees or required support contracts at this time,” said Keith Schroer,  VP of Sales and Marketing at Partner Tech. “However, there are multiple options for on-site hardware and software support through our business partners.” The bundled MSRP for Biz Genie, including terminal, scanner, cash drawer, and Biz Genie POS software, is under $2,500.

Biz Genie POS Solution from Partner Tech

Worth Your While

Midwest Partner Event
Datalogic Mobile
March 12
St. Louis/Kansas City Area

AIM Technology Leadership Summit
Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility
April 20-22
Chicago

Put RFID 2 WRK
RFID Journal Live
April 27-29
Orlando

KioskCom
(Self-Service Expo & Digital Signage Show)
JD Events
May 6-7
Las Vegas

5th Annual Partner Invitational
Ingram Micro Data Capture/POS Division
May 12-14
Phoenix

NRA Show
National Restaurant Association
May 16-19
Chicago

NACStech
National Association of Convenience Stores
May 18-20
Grapevine, TX

RetailNow 2009
Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA)
July 11-16
Las Vegas

ALLIANCES

East Bay POS Spots Video Surveillance

East Bay Point of Sale (Oakland, CA) has added video surveillance to its product line by joining the channel program of Envysion Inc. (Louisville, CO). Through the new agreement, East Bay POS will offer sales, implementation, and support services for the full suite of Envysion solutions, including its Managed Video-as-a-Service (MVaaS) platform bringing the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model to the video surveillance market. One of the largest retail system integrators in the Bay Area, East Bay POS joins fellow Aloha-Radiant dealer, PCS (Durango, CO) in Envysion’s program.

“Our clients count on us to customize an end-to-end solution enabling them to maintain a high level of customer and employee satisfaction,” explained Dan Alipaz, President of East Bay POS. “We chose to partner with Envysion due to its managed video platform and POS integration, which are leading the industry in next-generation capabilities.”

Founded in 2006, Envysion recently introduced several enhancements to its MVaaS platform, including IP and megapixel camera support and enterprise usage statistics delivered in real time. Taking the cue from social networking, it also launched “MyGroups,” which allows customers to share video from any location within the enterprise by creating user groups and inviting colleagues to view and comment on specific video clips in the database.

“Envysion continues to develop new features that help improve profitability for our customers, many of whom are faced with fewer people and resources to span a larger number of locations,” observed Matt Steinfort, President/CEO. “At a time when many leading video providers are pulling back and cutting development budgets, Envysion continues to distance itself from the competition by providing a service with strong ROI that does not require a significant capital or IT investment.”

Envysion Watches Cashier Transaction

Doctor Will See You Now, PPI

Payment Processing, Inc. (Newark, CA) has entered the medical market through its partnership with Easy Business Software (Land O’ Lakes, FL) to provide integrated payment processing for physician offices using medical management business applications. Specifically, PPI’s PayMover technology will support X-Link Card Processing as part of the X-Link Solutions Network from Easy Business. X-Link serves as middleware for practice management and clinical systems and has become something of an industry standard, with over two-thirds of installations in the one-to-three physician market.

Testified Chuck Riegel, PPI’s EVP, Software Products and Partnerships: “Most medical offices use stand-alone terminals in conjunction with the business applications used to manage their operation. PPI’s partnership with Easy Business Software provides integrated payment processing within these systems, significantly improving productivity and reducing errors associated with revenue reconciliation.”

“We’re pleased to partner with PPI,” added Gary Gorsline, President of Easy Business Software, which markets through resellers. “Integrated payment processing is a valuable feature to physicians struggling to simplify office management. PPI PayMover strengthens X-Link as a robust solution for our customers.”

Join the Party at No Charge

Subscribe Today! Email:

Do you need to reach the POS & Auto ID resellers who really drive business—in the most targeted editorial environment, and on the most cost-effective basis?

E-mail Michael Kachmar for advertising information,
or call 973-270-3284

Did you miss one of our issues and suddenly realize your competitors know more than you do?

Hurry ! Use the links below to catch up :

Week of February 9

Week of February 2

Week of January 26

INTEGRATION

Datacap Deepens Functionality

Datacap Systems (Chalfont, PA) has announced several updates to its integrated payment product line. FSA/HSA (Flexible Spending Account/Health Savings Account) transaction support has been added to Global Pay host-based TwinTran and IPTran as well as to Sterling Payments, TSYS/Vital, and Global Pay NETePay server software versions. This is important to ECR/POS providers in light of looming Internal Revenue Service regulations requiring pharmacies accepting FSA/HSA payments to have their POS compliant with an IIAS (Inventory Information Approval System) by July 1, 2009. The new capabilities add to Datacap’s ongoing efforts in FSA/HSA.

Datacap also announced that RBS WorldPay host-based AutoLoad versions of its TwinTran and IPTran have been certified and are now available. Credit, debit, and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) are supported. With RBS WorldPay’s strong base and aggression expansion into retail, grocery, and quick-service restaurants (QSR), this new interface is especially timely, according to Datacap, the long-time supplier of integrated payment solutions to POS OEMs, payment processors, and the channel.

In an interview with RRN.Com, Justin Zeigler, Datacap’s Marketing Director, emphasized the growing interest in rental arrangements in the payments arena. “A lot of dealers are struggling to sell equipment in this current economic climate,” Zeigler said. “It might be time for them to take advantage of rental programs such as ours. There’s no up-front cost for customers for the appliance, and dealers get their share of recurring revenue. We keep expanding those offerings because we think that’s where the business is headed.”

Retalix Reselling Solidcore Security

Retalix now resells POS Check and Control software from Solidcore Systems (Cupertino, CA), following the integration of the security and compliance solution into its Retalix StorePoint and StoreLine POS products. The strategic resale agreement extends Solidcore’s existing relationship with Retalix, one of the most prominent global providers of software solutions for food retailers and their distributors.

Solidcore POS Check and Control combines dynamic white-listing, file integrity monitoring, malware protection, and configuration assessment capabilities to help retailers meet Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) requirements.  The software ensures only pre-authorized applications and code can run on POS systems, and unlike other white-listing approaches, accommodates authorized updates without relying on access to centralized inventory—making it ideal for retail store environments, said the developer.  In addition, continuous file integrity monitoring eliminates the need for repeat system scans, allowing retailers to meet PCI audit requirements without impacting POS system performance.

“PCI compliance is a significant issue for our industry and the expanded partnership with Solidcore provides Retalix customers with protection against threats and malware that other solutions cannot prevent,” stated Ray Carlin, EVP at Retalix (Dallas). “Now, Retalix can offer our users the leading security system and Solidcore’s outstanding approach to PCI, fully integrated, tested, and proven.”

Code Corner

Fluensee (Englewood, CO) released AssetTrack 4.0 with enhanced features such as on-demand, real-time asset inventory and integration to Google Maps that extends visibility beyond the enterprise. Built upon patent-pending location technology, AssetTrack 4.0 is browser-based and provides users with an integrated, single platform to better locate, monitor, and manage all types of critical enterprise assets across multiple locations in various cities. With the new Google Maps functionality, users can find the exact location of their moving assets, according to the developer. Through technologies such as RFID, barcoding, sensors, and GPS, customers receive data about the particular asset and AssetTrack 4.0 provides its detailed map location. The application also lists any alerts (such as when as asset is tampered with, exceeds certain temperatures, begins to move, or moves when it is not expected to move), and lets the user know about asset status and condition. Since asset data stored in AssetTrack 4.0 can be accessed from any Web browser, users can also quickly compare the inventory at their location against inventory at remote locations, so they can manage multiple sites quickly and easily. In addition, Version 4.0 allows customers to perform physical inventory, audits, and asset searches in the field. All of Fluensee’s solutions are available as hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or through the standard software licensing model for customers who want to host the solution themselves. Fluensee also distributes through BlueStar. “Based upon experience we have gained from successful customer implementations in data centers, brewing, manufacturing, and transportation, we have built new tools that extend real-time visibility of enterprise assets beyond client facilities to their mobile fleets as well,” reported Tim Harvie, President/CEO of Fluensee. “In today’s economic climate, organizations must do more with the assets they already have.”

ENVIRONMENTS/PLATFORMS

IEEE Approval for RuBee

Given the fragmentation in the RFID industry—due to the inability of any single technical scheme to satisfy the needs of the diversity of applications—many observers have high hopes for RuBee, the long-wavelength, peer-to-peer packet-based, magnetic transceiver protocol developed by Visible Assets (Stratham, NH).  Now RuBee has flown further forward with the IEEE’s approval of the new wireless standard, IEEE 1902.1, “Standard for Long Wavelength Wireless Network Protocol,” which validates and builds upon RuBee specifications for harsh environments.  RuBee operates at wavelengths below 450 kHz with an area range of 10 to 50 feet and can support networks of many thousands of low-powered tags holding data such as waybill details, inventory levels, and product pedigrees.

“Establishing RuBee as an IEEE standard will offer a range of benefits to the healthcare industry, government law enforcement agencies, livestock industry, retailers, and industrial manufacturers,” offered John Stevens, CEO and Chairman of Visible Assets and Chair of the IEEE 1902.1 Working Group. “RuBee tags are ideal in situations where bandwidth is not an issue, but where low cost, high tag count, long battery life, and use in harsh environments, such as near steel and water, are critical performance criteria.”

IEEE 1902.1 offers “real-time, tag searchable” protocol using IP-like addresses and subnet addresses linked to asset taxonomies, or predetermined classifications, that run at speeds of 300 to 9,600 Baud. RuBee Visibility Networks are managed by low-cost Ethernet-based routers. Each RuBee tag, if properly enabled, can be discovered and monitored over the Internet using popular search engines such as Google or through Visible Assets’ “.tag” Tag Name Server.

RuBee Tag from Visible Assets, Shown Without Casing

IBM Software Seeds Cloud Computing

IBM has announced it will deliver its software via cloud computing with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc.  The new “pay-as-you-go” model provides AWS clients with access to development and production cases of IBM DB2, Informix Dynamic Server, WebSphere Portal, Lotus Web Content Management, WebSphere sMash and Novell’s SUSE Linux O/S software in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) environment. Effective immediately, IBM will supply new Amazon Machine Images (AMI’s) at no charge for development and test purposes, enabling software developers to build pre-production applications. Over time, the portfolio also will be extended to include service management capabilities from IBM Tivoli software for Amazon EC2.

The IBM software images for full production running in Amazon EC2 will be launched in beta in the coming months, said IBM, with pricing to be announced. All developers and customers will have the operational capability to run development and production cases of IBM software for an hourly price. Additionally, customers will be able to run their already-purchased IBM software on Amazon EC2.

“IBM is offering yet another way for our partners and customers to build solutions that can help them meet their business goals,” declared Dave Mitchell, Director of Strategy and Emerging Business, IBM Software Group (Armonk, NY). “This relationship with Amazon Web Services provides our customers with a new way to use IBM software and broadens our distribution channels.”

[Editor’s Note: IBM also has collaborated with eFuture to deliver China’s first Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution for the retail distribution industry. The deployment serves the Beijing Wangfujing Department Store Group, one of China’s largest retailers.]

Key Advertiser Links

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

POS & Auto ID Distribution
BlueStar
M-S Cash Drawer

POS & Peripherals
pcCashdrawer
Pioneer POS
POS-X

Barcode Printers
Datamax

Cash Drawers
MMF Cash Drawer

Data Collection Terminals
CipherLab
Datalogic Mobile
Janam Technologies
Motorola

Integrated Payment Solutions
Datacap Systems

Mobile Printing
O'Neil Product Development

Payment Processing
Precidia

Receipt Printers
Star Micronics

Retail Software
InfoTouch
Toshiba TEC

Screen Protection
3M Optical Filters

Thermal Printers
Seiko Instruments USA

HELLO GOODBYE

Hanson Shines Brightly at Star

Star Micronics America (Edison, NJ) has promoted Michael Hanson to VP. Hanson has been elevated to this position after serving as Star’s VP of Sales & Marketing for the past six years. In his new role as VP, he will be responsible for the strategic direction and management of the printer and audio component business units of Star Micronics America and will report directly to President Takayuki Aoki.

“Star Micronics America and our parent company, Star Micronics Co. Ltd., are pleased to appoint Michael Hanson to the position of Vice President,” Aoki commented. “In his time as Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Michael’s leadership has contributed to the company’s double-digit growth, establishing Star Micronics as the second largest printer manufacturer in the world. Through many years of industry experience, Michael has become a recognized industry resource and we look forward to his and Star’s continued success under his vision and leadership in this new position.”

Hanson has been with Star Micronics for over 14 years. He first joined Star as an Application Sales Engineer and quickly rose to the positions of Product Manager, Systems Sales Director, and VP of Sales & Marketing. He will be based out of Star’s Las Vegas, Nevada office.

Michael Hanson, VP, Star Micronics America

Ecrio Calls Upon New CEO

Ecrio Inc. (Cupertino, CA), one of the pioneers in next-generation communication and commerce services for mobile phones, has appointed Randy Granovetter as the company’s new CEO. Current CEO and Founder Nagesh Challa remains part of the Ecrio executive team and continues as Chairman of the Board and Chief Strategy Officer.

Granovetter previously served as GM of Innovations at Microsoft’s IdeAgency, the software giant’s internal idea incubation and venture capital program. Before joining Microsoft, Granovetter led companies such as Jabra, Blyth Software, and Digital Orchid. As VP at Qualcomm, she championed the company’s enterprise applications and services for the wireless Internet.

“I was introduced to Ecrio during my tenure at Microsoft,” Granovetter related, “and was impressed by the company’s strategic position, blending both mobile communications and commerce. I see Ecrio as the ‘Federal Express’ of mobile services: the only company capable of building end-to-end solutions, tracking data for operators and consumer product companies from person-to-person interactions through redemption at the point of sale. I inherit its talented mobile communications and e-commerce team and, with their help, look forward to fulfilling this vision.” Ecrio’s strategic relationships with NTT DoCoMo and Visa should help Granovetter in her efforts.

Randy Granovetter, CEO, Ecrio

Channel Factoid

Motorola AirDefense’s Wireless Security Survey monitored 8,000 Access Points (AP’s) in retail and discovered that 32% were unencrypted and another 25% were still using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), the weakest protocol for wireless data encryption, which can be cracked in minutes. 12% of all AP’s monitored were using WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access), while another 27% employed WPA-PSK (Pre-Shared Key). Barely 7% of retailers were using WPA2, the strongest Wi-Fi security protocol. In addition, 22% of these AP’s were misconfigured and 66% leaked unencrypted or encrypted data—additional factors in security breaches. Finally, many networks continue to use default configurations and Service Set Identification (SSID) such as “Retail Wireless,” “Cash Register,” “POS Wi-Fi,” “Store#1234” or “Default.” In total, 44% of the wireless devices used by retailers—such as laptops, mobile computers, and barcode scanners—could be compromised. This compares to 85% in last year’s survey, so some progress has been made.

[Editor’s Note: PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) Version 1.2 prohibits new WEP deployments in the Cardholder Data Environment (CDE) beyond March 31, 2009 and requires the elimination of WEP from the CDE beyond June 30, 2010.]

INSTALLATIONS

CipherLab Cracks Nut Market

CipherLab (Plano, TX) has been picked by NutSoftware (Merced, CA), an ISV that does exactly what its name suggests, as its partner in the creation of an integrated data capture solution aimed at solving the unique problems of the U.S. nut industry. Known as NutWare, the solution pairs NutSoftware’s application with the CipherLab 8500 Industrial Mobile Computer, which features up to 160% more work per battery charge than similar products on the market, according to the manufacturer, and provides both RFID and barcode reading capability.

NutSoftware initially designed NutWare as an inventory system that could also calculate grower payments, traditionally an operational problem within the industry.  When one of its customers sought to extend functionality into the manufacturing process, NutSoftware selected CipherLab as its hardware provider for hand scanner integration. The NutSoftware/CipherLab product has been fielded by some of the largest nut handlers in the U.S. for warehousing, processing, and shipping—or from soup to nuts.

“We needed a product that was affordable and that could withstand the harsh conditions of a processing plant or warehouse,” reported Frank Ramos, Senior Developer, NutSoftware. “But most importantly, we needed a reliable solution that could keep it simple. We liked the CipherLab 8500’s sturdy pistol grip and the fact that it is so user-friendly. And because it is extremely durable, there are very few maintenance problems in the field.”

NutWare Addresses Unique Problems of Vertical Niche

Mail Call for Epson

Canada Post has come calling on Epson America (Long Beach, CA) for 7,000 of its Epson TM-T88IV thermal POS printers with high-speed USB.  The roll-out in postal centers across Canada began in July 2008 and is expected to continue through 2010. The product is being distributed through BlueStar Canada (Montreal).

“Epson’s TM-T88 Series continues to be the printer of choice for the largest installations throughout Canada,” said Phillip Asfour, Epson Business Development Manager for BlueStar Canada. “It delivers solid reliability, ease of integration, and the Epson name, making it the hands-down best choice.”

With more than 4.5 million units shipped to date, the TM-T88 Series is Epson’s best-selling thermal POS printer. Features include fast, uniform print speed, reliability, spill resistance, easy drop-in paper loading, and seamless integration and connectivity, according to the manufacturer. The TM-T88IV features the same small footprint as the TM-T88III and can be placed either on the countertop or wall using an optional wall-hanging bracket.