This Week’s Product Pick

Motorola Solutions (Schaumburg, IL) presented its next-generation industrial-class fixed UHF RFID reader, dubbed FX9500, for tracking tagged cases, pallets, and items in manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, and retail receiving environments. Increased sensitivity of the FX9500 yields greater accuracy for reading challenging items with liquids or metal, longer ranges for applications such as yard management, and better throughput rates for high-volume and densely packed shipments, according to the manufacturer. FX9500 comes in four and eight-port models, with the latter covering more portals or dock doors with fewer readers. Further, the device allows for bi-static operation, where separate cables are used for antenna transmitting and receiving, for even higher RFID performance. Physical dimensions are 10.75 in. x 7.25 in. x 2.0 in. and 4.4 lbs., with an IP-53 rating. “Our new high-performance FX9500 reader will enable organizations to leverage the increased asset visibility and operational efficiencies of RFID across their supply chains,” commented Mike Poldino, GM, RFID, Motorola Solutions.

Motorola’s FX9500 RFID Reader

COMPANY BUSINESS

BlueStar Ready to “Serve”

BlueStar (Hebron, KY) has entered the server business through an agreement with HP (Palo Alto, CA), under which it will provide the ProLiant Series to its resellers. BlueStar now stocks ProLiant MicroServers, ML tower servers, and DL rack-mount servers as part of its move into the back-office, as well as the HP TouchPad and HP Slate, RRN.Com has learned. These products will be targeted at the POS community in particular, supplementing terminals from HP and other vendors in the distributor’s line-card.

“My job is to create the solution that helps POS customers, not move boxes,” RRN.Com was told by Steve Del Gardo, HP Server Sales Manager for BlueStar. “For warehousing the database, rather than use the POS as the server, why not use this back-office solution for critical information? We can configure it for our resellers and even create micro-server bundles for specific POS applications.” Del Gardo came to BlueStar in March from Emerge IT Solutions, which he describes as an HP server and storage consulting company.

“ProLiant MicroServer will be the catalyst because it’s really designed for SMB businesses with less than 10 employees or stores with five lanes,” Del Gardo continued. “It comes with Dual Core 1.3-GHz CPU, up to 8-GB memory, and SATA hard drives. You can add software and extra features if needed and for an extremely reasonable price--under $1,000--you have an advanced solution for data storage and back-up. With BlueStar’s expertise in selling POS devices, I feel confident that our team will become the leader in POS servers globally.”

ProLiant MicroServer Now Stocked by the POS & Auto ID Distributor

TSC’s Big Push

TSC Auto ID Technology America (Pomona, CA) has embarked upon an ambitious campaign to raise its profile, following several years of strong double-digit growth. This effort, put forth under the banner of “The Great Migration,” includes new product introductions, an emphasis on value-add and margins, and the recent hiring of Ron Brown as Director of Sales for the U.S. and Canada. Recently, RRN.Com spoke with David Lundeen, VP of Sales and Marketing, about the company’s offensive in the thermal printing wars.

TSC rolled out its TTP-268M six-inch series of industrial barcode printers with 203 and 300-dpi resolution in February, and now plans to show its upcoming ME-240 four-inch companion at BlueStar’s VARTECH Show on August 14-16 in Miami. “Our ME-240 delivers 6 inch/second print speed and has LCD and Ethernet as standard features,” Lundeen noted. “It’s aimed at the entry-level industrial space, at very competitive pricing.” TSC will follow the ME-240 with the introduction of two-inch and three-inch portable receipt printers around Q1 in 2012, fulfilling what Lundeen calls “an aggressive engineering schedule.”

Any discussion of thermal printers must address margins and the proliferation of discount sellers, and here Lundeen emphasized that TSC takes extra steps to ensure adequate return for its resellers, both through controlled distribution and full engineering support. “We have policies in place to add value,” said Lundeen. “For instance, the web-based box pushers purchase TSC products at lower discounts, which helps ensure that our value-added resellers keep their customers.” Overall, he describes “The Great Migration” as the move to profitability.

Finally, TSC has hired Ron Brown as its Director of Sales for the U.S. and Canada, based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, midway between TSC’s offices in California and Florida. Brown brings experience in the printer world from his time at Citizen Systems America, SATO, Xterprise, and Printronix. “His goal is to drive sales and take us from our current ranking as one of the top-ten suppliers to one of the top-tier suppliers of barcode printers in five years,” Lundeen stated.

Upcoming ME-240 Four-Inch Printer by TSC

Worth Your While

VARTECH 2011
BlueStar
August 15-17
Miami

AIM Expo
Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility
September 26-28
Las Vegas

NACS 2011
National Association of Convenience Stores
October 1-4
Chicago

Customer Engagement Technology World
JDEvents
November 9-10
New York

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Powering Up at Touch Dynamic

Touch Dynamic (Irvington, NJ) debuted its Performance All-In-One POS terminal, designed to offer superior computing power at extremely competitive pricing. This new device comes with 15-inch Elo touchscreen (resistive or projected capacitive), up to 8 GB of memory, printer power port, and an Intel chipset. Processor choices range from Pentium G540 at 2.5 GHz to Intel i7-2600 at 3.4 GHz.

Enhanced product features include an 180-W power supply, new cable management, and the ability to be configured with dual RAID rackable hard drives. Such rackable motherboard design allows for easy maintenance and servicing in the field, according to the vendor. O/S support covers Windows XP, POS Ready, POS Ready 2009, Windows 7, and Linux.

“The Performance All-In-One is a very exciting addition to our product line,” declared Craig Paritz, President of Touch Dynamic. “It has more memory and is more powerful than any other touch system we’ve introduced to the market. Just like Touch Dynamic's other systems, the Performance offers numerous add-on options, including an integrated magnetic-stripe reader, fingerprint biometrics, customer VFD display, rear LCD display, and integrated barcode scanner.”

Performance All-In-One POS Terminal

Wi-Fi Pollinated by XBee

Digi International (Minnetonka, MN) shipped XBee Wi-Fi, its embedded module that enables serial to Wi-Fi networking in the company’s popular XBee form factor. With its common footprint and application programming interface (API), this new subsystem allows customers to create a single-board design for wireless products that supports IEEE 802.15, ZigBee, ZigBee Smart Energy, 2.4 GHz, 900 and 868 MHz, Wi-Fi and proprietary DigiMesh protocols. XBee Wi-Fi development kits are available now for $149 from the manufacturer.

“XBee modules offer developers tremendous flexibility and are extremely simple to use,” commented Larry Kraft, SVP of Global Sales and Marketing at Digi International. “By adding this low-power Wi-Fi module to the XBee product family, we give customers the fastest and most flexible way to get Wi-Fi up and running on their systems. Digi International continues to make wireless machine-to-machine easy by developing reliable products and solutions to connect and securely manage local or remote electronic devices over the network or via the web.”

Targeted at energy management, wireless sensor networks, and intelligent asset management, the XBee Wi-Fi offers 802.11b/g/n networking and flexible SPI and UART serial interfaces. Because the module includes the 802.11b/g/n physical layer, baseband MAC and TCP/IP stack, developers can add Wi-Fi to their products simply by connecting to the XBee Wi-Fi’s serial port. Finally, XBee Wi-Fi gets fully tested at manufacture and comes with modular certification for the U.S, European Union, Canada, and additional countries, further reducing time to market, development expense, and design complexity. 802.11n provides up to 65 Mbps data rate.

XBee Wi-Fi Module by Digi

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PARTNER PROGRAMS

Come Play in the AO: Channel, Says AccuCode

Sometimes it seems as if everyone talks about the Software-as-a-Service model for POS, Auto ID, and Mobility, but nobody actually does anything about it. That’s clearly not the case with AccuCode (Centennial, CO), one of the largest North American VARs serving retail and the supply chain, which has embarked upon an ambitious plan to move its focus from the end-user to the reseller community. “AO: Channel” has been chosen as the title for this new North American Channel Partner Program, representing “AccuCode Object,” and it seeks to market an entire suite of SaaS-based solutions that will enrich resellers. AccuCode has prospered in our industry for 15 years, and AO: Channel builds upon its previous development efforts and customer success stories.

“We’ve created repeatable, scalable products that are designed to be sold hundreds of times per day, and not be an event each time,” Kevin Price, Founder and CEO of AccuCode, explained to RRN.Com. “Each will deliver recurring revenue for the reseller with very low barriers to adoption. This represents an enormous shift for us. We’re not looking to grow our VAR business, we’re looking to help other VARs grow their business.”

Six individual products have been offered: AO: Communications; AO: Compliance; AO: HaaS (Hardware-as-a-Service); AO: LifeCycle; AO: ProServ; and AO: Rapid Inventory. All open opportunities for RRN.Com readers, Price maintained, with payback of as much as 30% of the customer’s recurring revenue. Non-compete and non-disclosure conditions also have been set for these products to address reseller concerns.

Of perhaps the most immediate interest, AO: LifeCycle addresses “the daily care and feeding of the distributed device population,” according to Price. Designed to help VARs capture more service revenue, this SaaS offering encompasses multi-tenant help-desk, service automation tool, and physical repair depot in Louisville, Kentucky, co-located with Motorola Solutions. Likewise, AO: Rapid Inventory exploits QuickBooks Inventory Management to help VARs profit from small-scale warehouse deployments. “Our organization has spent years pioneering enterprise mobility, cloud computing, and the “as a Service” model, but we don’t have the sales footprint to fully recognize the value of what we have accomplished,” Price emphasized, adding, “We need channel partners.”

Kevin Price, CEO, AccuCode

Next for Mercury: Merchant Financing

Mercury Payment Systems (Durango, CO) launched its new in-house POS Financing Solutions plan for merchants at last week’s RSPA RetailNOW Convention in Orlando. Under terms of the program, Mercury pays the reseller on the merchant’s behalf, thereby helping to fund system purchases that otherwise would not close due to budgetary problems. Notably, resellers may choose two ways to get paid: either when they close the sale, or each month as recurring subscription-based revenue. For payment, Mercury collects an unspecified percentage from the merchant’s credit card sales.

“POS Financing Solutions helps everyone win because it keeps business running,” relayed Greg Castro, Director of Channel Development at Mercury Payment Systems. “Merchants get the equipment and services they need to operate and can pay as they go. Resellers get an innovative new tool that differentiates their business and helps them close deals and answer competitive threats.”

Mercury also announced its 2011 Top Partner Awards at RSPA. Given the payment processor’s channel-centric marketing strategy, winners may be of particular interest to RRN.Com readers. Top developers: Aldelo (Modesto, CA), ProSolutions Software (Sylmar, CA), CRS, Inc. (White Bear Lake, MN), and Atlantic Systems, Inc. (Farmingdale, NJ). Top Reseller: Cowans Restaurant Solutions (Salt Lake City, UT). New Merchant Volume: ECR Software Corporation (Boone, NC), MoleQ Inc. (Lyndhurst, NJ), Cash Register & POS Systems (Buford, GA), and Retail Point (Lakewood, NJ). New Processing Merchants: CRS Texas (Houston), Unitec Electronics (Elkridge, MD), and Visual Solutions (Grayslake, IL).

Greg Castro, Director of Channel Development, Mercury Payment Systems

Code Corner

One of the leading ISVs for retail and hospitality, pcAmerica (Pearl River, NY), has introduced Cash Register-Fuel Edition, its POS package with an integrated fuel pump software module. This new solution marries fuel-related activity, such as pre-pay and pay-at-the-pump, with the in-store POS system, thus allowing cashiers to process both fuel and non-fuel purchases from the same station within the convenience store. It integrates with most major pumps and card readers, according to the developer. Advanced features include purchase orders, automated stock replenishment, min/max levels, back orders, and direct store deliveries. Marketing tools offer automatic tracking and application of rewards--such as “buy 10 coffees and get one free”--frequent visitor discounts, and gas card promotions. Moreover, this bundled solution furnishes automated fuel-ordering capability, which schedules deliveries, as well as extensive reporting such as sales by shift, seasonal trends, and inventory management. Finally, an integrated digital signage capability enables retailers to display advertisement and promotion information on POS accessories such as pole displays, full-sized LCD screens, and PIN Pads. “Our customers and resellers have been asking for the fuel-related version of Cash Register Express, so we created this package, which meets and exceeds the features you’ll find in legacy gas station point-of-sale software,” said David Gosman, CEO of pcAmerica.

INTEGRATION

An Aggregate of QR Codes

Skycore LLC (Allston, MA) has added advanced reporting features for codeREARr, its enterprise barcode scanning platform. These enhancements allow merchants to scan, validate, and track promotional offers--both print and mobile--at their POS. Resulting transaction and customer data may be posted in real-time to back-end systems or stored on-device for uploading and export as needed, according to Skycore, which entered the mobile marketing and redemption arena in 2003.

With codeReadr’s app for Apple, Android, and Blackberry devices (which may be privately branded, incidentally), merchants validate offers by scanning one or two-dimensional barcodes (and soon NFC) or by manual entry. In addition to searching local or online databases, merchants may collect additional customer data by conducting multiple choice or short-form surveys following each scan. Transactional QR codes may be generated dynamically, or for export in bulk, through codeREADr or its application programming interface (API) for developers.

“With the proliferation of so many coupon, loyalty, and daily deal providers, merchants are faced with a confusing array of validation methods and can find it difficult to aggregate transaction data,” suggested Rich Eicher, CEO of Skycore. “Using codeREADr as the primary validation method is simple, inexpensive, and with our new reporting features, enables merchants to more easily analyze cross-campaign transaction data.”

Skycore’s Barcode Scanning Platform

Digital Dining Calls Security

Shift4 Corporation (Las Vegas) and Menusoft Systems (Springfield, VA) have joined forces to further remove cardholder data from the POS process. The two companies have worked together for several years and have released previous integrations between Shift4’s “Dollars on the Net” payment gateway and Digital Dining POS, but this version is the first to incorporate Shift4’s 4Go and True Tokenization technologies. “With this solution in place, restaurateurs can completely shield their POS application from the scope of PCI audits,” suggested Bob Lowe, VP of Business Development at Shift4.

This reduction in scope is possible because 4Go captures and replaces cardholder data (sometimes abbreviated as CHD) at the point of swipe, before it even enters the POS. Working in concert, True Tokenization generates unique, random, alphanumeric tokens for every transaction. Merchants can safely store and recall such tokens internally for up to 24 months.

“Providing simple, secure solutions to our merchants has always been our mission,” remarked Andre Nataf, Senior Business Development Manager at Menusoft. “We’re thrilled to be working with Shift4 to make our solution even more safe for end-users.” This integration, demonstrated at last week’s RetailNOW Convention in Orlando, will go to market through Digital Dining resellers.

v

POS Cardholder Data Completely Removed by Shift4

Key Advertiser Links

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

POS & Auto ID Distribution
BlueStar
ScanSource

POS & Peripherals
Casio America
Logic Controls
Pioneer POS
POS-X
Touch Dynamic

POS Software - Retail
Tri-Technical Systems

POS Software - Hospitality
Aldelo Systems

Barcode & Transaction Printers
CognitiveTPG
Datamax-O'Neil
TSC America
Zebra Technologies

Cash Drawers
APG Cash Drawer
MMF POS

Data Collection Terminals
CipherLab
Datalogic Mobile
Janam Technologies

Data Collection Software
Wavelink

Integrated Payment Solutions
Datacap Systems
Merchant Warehouse

Keyboards
Cherry, ZF Electronics Corp.

Mobile Marketing & Loyalty
Sundrop Mobile

Receipt Printers
Bixolon America
Citizen Systems America
Epson America
Star Micronics

INSTALLATIONS

Velti Takes the Subway

Velti (San Francisco), one of the major providers of mobile marketing and advertising technology, has been selected for deployment by the Subway restaurant chain. Subway’s campaign will launch in more than 24,000 stores in the U.S. this summer, with complete rollout planned for later in 2011 through 2012. By employing Velti worldwide, Subway becomes one of the first global franchise organizations to consolidate on an individual mobile marketing platform, according to the two parties.

Velti’s mGage scheme will be used to launch transactional mobile marketing programs that allow consumers to order meals from their smart-phones for pick up at the nearest Subway restaurant. In addition, an accompanying mobile app and website will allow them to access menus, nutritional information, and store locations. Velti mGage is offered as scalable and fully integrated Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and reaches more than 3.5 billion consumers, according to its developer. “Subway is poised to set the new standard in mobile marketing, implementing innovative global and local campaigns to drive in-store traffic, customer loyalty, and brand engagement,” cited Alex Moukas, CEO of Velti.

“We see enormous potential in our mobile campaigns and look forward to delivering more robust consumer experience with Velti,” indicated Joost Zimmerman, Director of Digital Marketing for Subway. “Our goal is to utilize mobile marketing as one highly personal and direct way to reach our customers and give them access to Subway at any time, wherever they may be.” Interestingly, by the end of 2010 Subway had surpassed McDonald’s as the world’s largest restaurant chain, with 33,749 sites worldwide, compared to 32,737.

A Single Mobile Marketing Platform for the World’s Largest Restaurant Chain

New Heights for Epicor’s Eagle

Epicor Software Corporation (Livermore, CA), which recently combined with Activant Solutions Inc., has been designated the exclusive technology vendor for Canada’s Modern Sales Co-Op (MSC), the 178-member distribution network serving the automotive, marine, industrial, and allied markets. Through this agreement, Epicor will assist MSC members in implementing the Epicor Eagle for the Aftermarket package. Epicor Eagle will provide members with real-time visibility into warehouse stocking levels, electronic placement of orders, access to updated pricing information, and simplified management of vendor part numbers, according to the two parties.

“Our members know and trust Epicor and recognize the company’s solutions as best-in-breed,” reported Perry Shareef, GM at MSC. “We view Epicor as our strategic partner that can help our entire organization, including each of our members, achieve very aggressive growth rates.” Not coincidentally, MSC also has invested in Epicor Vision for its headquarters to streamline operations and integrate its new warehouse management system (WMS) and member business platforms.

In addition, MSC will exclusively use Epicor’s PartExpert electronic catalog and Microsoft Windows-based LaserCat 3 electronic catalog interface “to help enhance speed, efficiency, and accuracy at the POS.” This decision to rely solely on e-catalog products from Epicor also gives MSC members and customers more consistent view of all parts, applications, and interchange information for improved service, according to Shareef. Back in April, RRN.Com readers may recall, private equity firm Apax Partners forked out $2 billion for Epicor and Activant and merged the two software vendors.

Canada’s Modern Sales Co-Op Deploys Eagle for the Aftermarket

Channel Factoid

A growing number of middle-class Americans are unhappy in their work and looking to make a change, according to the First Command Financial Behaviors Index. Recent findings of the monthly survey, conducted among households with annual incomes of at least $50,000, reveal that 24% of respondents are dissatisfied with their current job, up from 21% last year and 11% in 2009. This groundswell of unhappiness is also reflected in the rising number of people looking for new employment. Two out of five workers (39%) report that they are job hunting, up dramatically from 29% one year ago. Fully 60% of survey respondents say they have experienced at least one change in their employment situation due to the economy, up from 56% last year. Notably, the top three changes all involve pay: elimination of bonuses (20%), elimination of overtime (14%), and decrease in pay (14%). At the same time, middle-class employees say they are doing more to earn their pay, with 56% making at least one change in their behavior at work, such as: putting in extra hours (19%), trying to keep busy with work (17%), finding ways to trim costs or develop better operational procedures (15%), and learning new skills (15%). “This rising discontent in the middle-class workforce is clearly being fueled by continuing economic turmoil,” observed Scott Spiker, CEO of First Command Financial Services, Inc.

HELLO GOODBYE

DigiPoS on the Prowl

Following the recent news of Better Capital fund’s $34 million investment in DigiPoS Store Solutions, the U.K.-based retail IT provider has announced the naming of Fiona Timothy as Chairman of the Board. Timothy brings more than 25 years of management experience in the technology industry, and currently serves as CEO of the Calyx Group of Companies, Chairman of Cashfac, and Chairman of The Technology Leadership Group within the Prince’s Trust. She will work with the management team at DigiPoS to grow the business, both organically and through acquisition.

At the same time, Ian Patterson, Managing Director of EMEA, has been appointed as Group CEO. He will now be responsible for overseeing operations across all territories in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. Patterson has been with DigiPoS for 12 years and over that period has been instrumental in the growth of the business in the U.K. and internationally, according to the company. DigiPoS North America is headquartered in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, with additional offices in Philadelphia.

Commenting on the news, Patterson said: “We are delighted to welcome Fiona as our new chair; she brings invaluable experience and skill to the board. She has presided over two businesses of similar size which have experienced strong growth and made a number of successful acquisitions. Fiona’s industry experience spans the hardware and software worlds and this will be critical as we develop the DigiPoS business.”

“Better Capital’s backing represents an undeniably significant and positive step, and will enable the business to expand its group activities,” Patterson continued. “We look forward to growing our existing software, hardware, and services divisions, and also to pursuing an international acquisition trail to provide greater resources and structure across the business.”

Ian Patterson, Group CEO, DigiPoS Store Solutions

New Shepherd for Sybase 365

Sybase (Dublin, CA), an SAP company, has chosen John J. Sims as President of its mobile services business--Sybase 365. “We warmly welcome John to the Sybase family,” shared John Chen, Chairman and CEO of Sybase. “John brings his wealth of experience in the mobile market, and will focus on extending the global leadership of Sybase 365 in messaging and mobile commerce services.”

From 2001 to 2010, Sims served as CEO of 724 Solutions, which develops mobile broadband products for use by network operators. He also worked as Co-Founder, CEO, and President of mobile e-commerce provider, Tantau Software. Prior to Tantau, he held the office of COO at SCC Communications, one of the telecommunications support companies, as well as management positions at Tandem Computers and Burroughs Corporation.

“Sybase 365 has a unique opportunity to expand its share of the operator services and mobile commerce services markets, particularly in the rapidly growing areas of mobile banking, mobile payments, and IPX connectivity,” stated Sims. “It will be exciting and gratifying to shepherd Sybase 365 growth in such a vibrant market.”

John Sims, President, Sybase 365