Our Product Pick

Star Micronics America (Edison, NJ) has expanded its SMD2 Cash Drawer Series with till configurations specifically designed to house Canadian currency, meaning wider bill width and more coin slots. All three cash drawer sizes are supported--SMD2-1214 at 11.8 in. x 13.8 in., SMD2-1317 at 13 in. x 16.9 in., and SMD2-1617 at 15.9 in. x 16.7 in. In black or white, the drawers feature durable all-steel construction, removable ABS plastic cash tills, media slots, and Kensington Lock. Significantly, they communicate via standard printer-driven interface (with included cable) or via Star's DK-AirCash wireless scheme for Bluetooth 2.1 (for Android and Windows), MFi-Certified Bluetooth (for Apple iOS), or Ethernet.

Canadian Tills for Star's Cash Drawers

COMPANY BUSINESS

Touch Embarks on Quest

Touch Dynamic (Irvington, NJ) has unveiled its Quest Tablet for POS, with purpose-built benefits in performance, functionality, and ruggedness. Powered by an Intel Quad-Core Bay Trail CPU at 1.8 GHz, Quest supports Windows 8.1 with Bing, Windows 8.1 Industry Retail, and Windows 8.1 Professional, with 2-GB RAM. It carries 7- or 10-inch true-flat, projected-capacitive touchscreen and weighs 1.5 lbs. or 2.1 lbs., respectively.

In keeping with its use in hospitality and retail, Quest offers magnetic-stripe reader, as well as optional two-dimensional scanner and EMV. Other features include 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth 4.0, five-megapixel camera, and internal NFC. Ruggedness has been addressed with an IP-54 rating for dust, dirt, and water jets and withstanding of multiple drops to concrete from 4 ft./1.2 m., and its rechargeable 4960-mAh Li-Ion battery provides up to eight hours shift time.

Quest ships with its basic charging dock. An optional premium charging dock includes key lock, multiple USB ports, Ethernet port, and nine-pin serial port. Additionally, this premium charging dock makes it possible to use the Quest for fixed-base POS. "Touch Dynamic is committed to designing innovative POS solutions," remarked Craig Paritz, Owner and President. "Quest is the latest evolution of our product line designed to meet the growing demand for tablet POS."

New Tablet for POS by Touch Dynamic

Apple Pay Comes to Micros

Merchant Link (Silver Spring, MD) has enabled Apple Pay for Micros. Testing has been completed on three platforms--Micros RES 3700, Simphony, and the 9700 POS--for use with major payment card processors in the U.S. Apple Pay contactless solutions use both VeriFone and ViVOtech hardware devices.

"Contactless payments are not new, however until the release of Apple Pay, we had not seen high demand for this," indicated Laura Kirby-Meck, EVP of Sales and Marketing at Merchant Link. "Most of our current contactless deployments are in ballparks and quick-service restaurants where speed is essential. Apple added extra layers of security with additional tokens and thumbprint verification, and their customers appear to be eager to enroll in the service."

"Many of our customers have been accepting contactless payments for awhile," added Geoff Krieg, VP of Strategic Alliances at Merchant Link. "The launch of Apple Pay has created new demand for contactless acceptance that ensures NFC's place in the mobile payments ecosystem. We are excited to support merchants that want to accept Apple Pay, and any VAR/POS partner that has certified to Merchant Link's contactless specifications will be able to process this new payment type."

Test and Certification by Merchant Link

Worth Your While

NRF's Big Show - Annual Conference
National Retail Federation
January 11-14
New York City

Inspire 2015
Retail Solutions Providers Association
January 25-28
Maui, Hawaii

TransAct 15
Electronic Transactions Association
March 31 - April 2
San Francisco

Retail Realm Technology Conference
"Microsoft for the Retail Sector"
April 25-27
Las Vegas

NRA Show 2015
National Restaurant Association
May 16-19
Chicago

ALL IN THE FAMILY

CipherLab Finds Its WEH

CipherLab USA (Plano, TX) has presented its new CP55 Series Mobile Computer with two O/S--Windows Embedded Compact 7.0 and, now, Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5.3. In order to meet end-user needs, CP55 features numerous methods of communication (3.75G, 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth Version 2.1+EDR, and GPS) as well as the range of reader technologies (linear imager, laser, long-range laser, two-dimensional imager, and HF RFID). Displays include VGA and QVGA, with keypads numeric or QWERTY.

Measuring 7.2 in. (L) x 3 in. (W) x 1.5 in. (D), and weighing 14 oz., CP55 has Texas Instruments OMAP 4 Dual-Core CPU at 1 GHz, 512-MB RAM, 4-GB Flash, and Micro SD Card Slot to 32 GB. A five-megapixel camera and 3.5-inch LCD transflective screen allows for easy proof-of-delivery and pick-up functions in sunlight, according to CipherLab USA. A rechargeable 3.7-Volt, 3300-mAh Li-Ion battery provides 10 working hours.

"We are really thrilled about the CP55 Windows Embedded Handheld Mobile Computer's value and benefits," observed Steven Liau, Chairman of CipherLab (Taipei, Taiwan). "The CP55 Series can include high-performance 3G connectivity with the updated operating system options to provide maximum worker efficiency." As ruggedness, CP55 holds an IP-65 rating for dust, dirt, and water jets, and withstands 5 ft./1.5 m multiple drops to concrete and 1,000 tumbles at 1.6 ft./0.5 m.

CipherLab's CP55 Mobile Computer

Impinj: xArray Technician

It's full production for the xArray RFID gateway from Impinj (Seattle, WA). This fixed infrastructure reader delivers always-on wide-area monitoring for the identification, location, and authenticity of tagged items when used in conjunction with the Impinj Platform. A single xArray can visualize up to 1,500 square feet (139 square meters) of floor space, according to Impinj, and multiple xArrays can cover zones of any size and shape.

Designed for mounting on the ceiling, xArray has dimensions of 18.4 in. (L) x 18.4 in. (W) x 3 in. (D) and weight of 17.8 lbs. It utilizes 52 dual-polarized antenna beams to read EPCglobal UHF RFID Class 1 Gen 2, and has location accuracy of 85% within 5 ft./1.5 m and 66% within 3.3 ft./1 m (both under ideal conditions). Installation is facilitated with Power-over-Ethernet (PoE).

"The xArray gateway will forever alter inventory visibility by replacing infrequent, manual inventory taking using handheld RFID readers or barcode scanners with always-on, real-time automated inventory," exclaimed Chris Diorio, Impinj's CEO. "It will relieve employees from the drudgery of inventory taking, dramatically improve inventory visibility, and provide heretofore unavailable information on each individual item." At present, three dozen partners of Impinj are deploying xArray, with solutions for retail, manufacturing, and healthcare.

A Gateway to "Always-On" Item Intelligence

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ALLIANCES

A Pair of ISVs Dish Up Epson

Epson America (Long Beach, CA) has received certification for its OmniLink TM-T88V-i smart printer from ToGo Technologies (Franklin, TN). With built-in processing, Epson's OmniLink TM-T88V-i serves as the two-way communication channel for ToGo's cloud-based platform for Mobile POS, dubbed OrderCloud. Interestingly, this bundled solution will come to market through one of the leading processors, Heartland Payment Systems (Princeton, NJ).

"Epson's OmniLink TM-T88V-i allows us to deploy mobile and online solutions quickly and effectively without the requirement for POS integration," testified Dan Simpson, CEO and Co-Founder of ToGo Technologies. "The intelligent technology Epson brings to the table allows for streamlined adoption of cloud-based applications by developers as well as restaurants. And while there is great value for merchants, the real winner is the restaurant consumer. Whether on the web, on Facebook, or on their smartphone, they are able to order anytime, from anywhere."

A second ISV also recently endorsed Epson America, in this case Toast (Cambridge, MA), an Android POS. Toast has chosen Epson's TM-T88V and TM-T20II Ethernet receipt printers and the TM-U220B Ethernet kitchen printer. "We really value our partnership with Toast," declared Tom Kettell, Senior Manager of North American Sales for Epson's Business Systems Division. "As an innovator in feature and function-rich tablet-based POS applications for the restaurant space, they are a great partner to better serve restaurants and make ordering and paying at the table a reality. When customers see their turn times improve, we all win."

Epson America's TM-T88V-i Smart Printer

TSYS Hooks Up

TSYS (Columbus, GA) has drawn in technology from linked2pay (Oxnard, CA) in order to offer its merchants and partners more ways to accept payments. With linked2pay, customers may pay online or by mobile phone with credit card or ACH "with equal ease." Additionally, merchants may accept other payment methods such as mobile, online forms, e-mail, virtual terminal, and shopping cart checkout.

A cloud-based system, linked2pay gives merchants access to its secure, single-point log-in with "feature-rich payment acceptance" that may be branded. Merchants also gain the convenience and efficiency of consolidated, customizable reporting. Moreover, software providers and resellers can leverage the linked2pay solution at no additional cost, according to the two parties.

"Large and small merchants across a variety of industries can deploy this payment option easily and quickly," reported Chris McNulty, Group Executive of Sales, Business Development, and Client Relations for TSYS Merchant Solutions. "By bringing credit cards and ACH together seamlessly, our merchants can lower costs and decrease the number of paper checks they accept." Linked2pay launched one of the first on-demand check processing platforms in 2002; its solution is PCI Compliant.

Chris McNulty, Group Executive of Sales, Business Development, and Client Relations, TSYS Merchant Solutions

Code Corner

NCR Corporation (Duluth, GA) has added bitcoin support to NCR Silver. It will be offered free to merchants. After registering with their bitcoin processor, merchants simply activate the bitcoin payment option in the back-office within NCR Silver. Consumers, meanwhile, pay using the mobile bitcoin wallet app from either the Apple App Store or Google Play. Bitcoin, of course, is the unregulated virtual currency with value determined by supply and demand. There were 1.2 million bitcoin wallets created by consumers in Q3 of 2014, according to industry experts, with 8 million total bitcoin wallets expected by the end of 2014. This announcement follows earlier integration of PayPal into NCR Silver. "Gone are the days when cash and cards were the only payment options available to customers shopping at small businesses," advised Reggie Kimble, Director of Small Business Development at NCR. Debuted in 2012, NCR Silver addresses small businesses such as specialty shops, cafes, and food trucks. It competes with Square Register, etc.

ENVIRONMENTS/PLATFORMS

Last Stop for Airclic . . . Descartes

Descartes Systems Group (Waterloo, ON, Canada) has snapped up Airclic, Inc. (Trevose, PA) for approximately $30 million. Airclic's cloud-based mobile solutions, under the family name of "Perform," help streamline and automate so-called "last mile" logistics, which reaches customers and has traditionally depended upon manual paper-based processes. Its proof-of-delivery solutions operate on the handheld device carried by the driver and address markets of third-party logistics, food and beverage, and retail and hospitality.

"Descartes and Airclic have several common customers who have achieved significant value by augmenting their route planning and optimization systems with comprehensive mobile data at the driver, vehicle, and stop level," related Edward Ryan, CEO of Descartes. "By integrating our businesses, we believe we can meet the growing demand for integrated routing and mobile fleet management solutions." Currently, Airclic runs on approximately 40,000 handheld devices, according to Descartes.

A long, strange trip for Airclic, which was founded to support the use of barcodes for information gathering and purchasing from print advertisements and posters in 2000, and overall raised some $350 million in venture funding. Early investors included Motorola, Symbol Technologies, and R.R. Donnelly & Sons, some readers of RRN.Com will recall. In 2010, following numerous changes in management, it merged with AirVersant (Owings Mills, MD), for combined revenues of $22 million. For its part, Descartes is one of the leaders in on-demand software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the area of logistics.

Edward Ryan, CEO, Descartes Systems Group

Aboard the DC-301

A secure router for retail environments has been introduced by Petrosoft (Pittsburgh, PA). Designated DC-301 (for "Direct Connection"), this new device allows encrypted data to be transferred between front- and back-end systems without exposure. All data from the shift report may be transferred in under 40 seconds, according to Petrosoft, "without need of the computer."

DC-301 carries the full suite of connection ports as well as back-up capability in case of malfunction in the POS. Administrative updates can be sent automatically from the back-office to the POS. A broadband network is recommended--cable or DSL--and the installation kit includes standard RS-232 cable and adapter for the POS.

DC-301 Router From Petrosoft Addresses POS Data Security

Key Advertiser Links

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

POS & Auto ID Distribution
Wasp Barcode Technologies

POS & Peripherals
Harbortouch
Hewlett-Packard
Pioneer POS
POS BANK USA
Posiflex
POS-X
PowaPOS
TEAMSable

POS Systems - Hospitality
PAR

Barcode & Transaction Printers
Brother Mobile
Citizen Systems America
CognitiveTPG
Intermec by Honeywell
Printronix
SATO America
Zebra Technologies

Cash Drawers
MMF POS

Data Collection
CipherLab
Code Corporation
Datalogic
Honeywell Scanning
Intermec by Honeywell
Trimble MCS

Integrated Payment Solutions
Datacap Systems
Discover
Merchant Warehouse
Mercury Payment Systems

Keyboards & Mobile POS
Cherry, ZF Electronics Corp

Receipt Printers
Bixolon America
Citizen Systems America
CognitiveTPG
Epson America
Star Micronics

Thermal Printers
Seiko Instruments USA

Touchscreens & Monitors
Elo TouchSystems

INSTALLATIONS

Another Slice for Paytronix

A further contract win for Paytronix Systems (Newton, MA), which will now supply its digital loyalty technology for Boston Pizza, one of the largest casual dining restaurant chains in Canada. Targeting the 40 million guests who visit its 350 restaurants each year, the Boston Pizza "MyBP" Program encompasses loyalty, gift, comp, and e-mail capabilities. As one would expect, it allows incorporation of mobile apps and social media.

As factors in its decision, Boston Pizza cited compatibility with both POSitouch POS (Warwick, RI) and the Onosys (Cleveland, OH) online ordering system. By capturing more data from consumers, it expects to personalize the guest experience and build relationship-based loyalty. A unique guest identifier for each transaction captures metrics on reach, spend, and value of each loyalty program member, for example.

"Paytronix is a big part of Boston Pizza's initiative to build and refocus its loyalty program around foodservice and the customer experience," confirmed Alexander Green, VP of Marketing for Boston Pizza. "With its proven POSitouch integration, and mobile and messaging capabilities, Paytronix helps us get a single view of the guest across all touch points and then link that to both online and in-restaurant transactions." In conjunction with MyBP, Boston Pizza also has launched its Mobile App, developed by Pivotal Labs (New York City).

Paytronix Provides Its Loyalty Program for Boston Pizza

Independence Day for Agilysys

Agilysys, Inc. (Alpharetta, GA) will provide its comprehensive software suite for store management to independent restaurant, The Cask & Barrel in Columbus, Ohio. Serving tapas and craft beer, The Cask & Barrel is scheduled to open in January. It will deploy mobile point-of-sale, inventory and procurement, and workforce management from Agilysys, which commonly announces contract wins for large customers such as casinos, hotels, and cruise ships.

For POS, InfoGenesis Flex from Agilysys will offer full functionality on Dell Venue Pro tablets and Wi-Fi. Managers also have access to all InfoGenesis tools to oversee things. Along with its core purchasing, inventory, recipe, forecasting, production, and sales analysis functions, Eatec from Agilysys offers modules for catering, cycle planning, retail management, nutrition, and allergens. Finally, the Workforce Management System, or WMx, includes customizable tools for performance-based scheduling, dynamic labor forecasting, embedded workflow for employee hiring, and employee self-service.

"Independent restaurants face intense competition, and there's not a lot of room for error," emphasized Michael Buckham-White, SVP of Sales and Marketing for Agilysys. "Yet, armed with the right technology, they can differentiate themselves from the competition and capitalize on revenue opportunities. Our leading-edge systems enable restaurants to reduce guest wait times, simplify processes, conserve resources, and manage staff. Best of all, these solutions help create lasting connections with guests that increase loyalty and encourage repeat business."

InfoGenesis Flex Runs With Dell Venue Pro Tablets

Channel Factoid

A new study puts the worldwide barcode printer market at $3.8 billion in 2020. As growth factors, Grand View Research identifies increased demand for mobile barcode printers and implementation of barcode wristbands for personal identification in hospitals and events. Industrial printers dominated the barcode printer market in 2013, accounting for over 60% of the overall revenue share. Thermal technology-based printers accounted for over 60% of the market share as compared to their non-thermal counterparts, primarily because of their reliability, high-speed, low noise, and provision for easy cleaning. And here, direct-thermal technology, with no need for disposal of used ink ribbons, should continue to show significant growth. As verticals, manufacturing led the market in 2013, accounting for over 35% of the overall revenue. Going forward, both retail and healthcare are expected to experience significant growth. As geography, North America dominated the market in 2013, accounting for over 40% of the overall revenue. In its summary, Grand View Research noted increasing consolidation of vendors, such as Honeywell's acquisition of Intermec and SATO's acquisition of Argox, as well as low margins due to the highly commoditized nature of this market.

HELLO GOODBYE

He Rolls Out the Kiosks

Meridian (Aberdeen, NC), one of the successful kiosk makers, has enlisted Uwe Hagedorn as its SVP of Manufacturing. Hagedorn brings more than two decades of relevant experience as Senior Manager of Worldwide Logistics for Jeppesen (part of Boeing), VP of Operations and Quality Assurance at Trident Marketing, and most recently, SVP of Operations at Hirease. At Meridian, he will lead manufacturing, logistics, engineering, and facility functions.

"I am very pleased to have Uwe join the Meridian team," remarked Chris Gilder, CEO of Meridian. "Our innovations and the increasing demand from our customers led us to look for someone who will fit in with our ethos of exceptional service and cutting-edge products. We were fortunate to find someone of Uwe's caliber. I'm confident that he will play a key role in providing and implementing high-quality solutions to help us accelerate improvements in our operational performance."

"I will focus on tactical and long-term strategic initiatives, such as inventory turn targets, capacity growth, demand for customer quality, and delivery requirements," shared Hagedorn. "All of these are identifiable with world-class manufacturing environments." As primary partners, Meridian lists Intel, HP, Microsoft, Nextep Systems, Elo, and Zebra.

Uwe Hagedorn, SVP of Manufacturing, Meridian

Thermal in Target at Toshiba

Toshiba America Business Solutions (Irvine, CA) has promoted Tom Walter to VP of Distribution and Aftermarket Sales. In his new position, Walter has been specifically tasked with enhancing the company's footprint within the thermal barcode printer segment and increasing toner sales by introducing more distribution partners and programs. Prior to joining Toshiba in 2005 as Director of Aftermarket Sales, Marketing, and Operations, Walter held management positions at Parts Now, Panasonic, and Canon USA.

Tom Walter, VP of Distribution and Aftermarket Sales, Toshiba America Business Solutions

Wavelink Goes Platinum

Wavelink, a wholly owned subsidiary of LANDesk Software (Salt Lake City, UT), has named Southwick Technologies (Clear Lake, IA) as one of its Platinum Resellers. Southwick sells replacement batteries, accessories, and depot repair services for portable RF equipment. Under this new agreement, it will market, install, and support popular software from Wavelink, including Avalanche for enterprise mobility management and Speakeasy for voice-driven functionality.

"By combining the capabilities of both companies into a singular offering, we can best address the needs of customers who want to make the most out of the equipment they already use," commented Kelly Ungs, Senior Director of Channels for Wavelink. "Ultimately, customers are going to see an increase in workflow productivity and will save valuable staff time." Some readers of RRN.Com will remember Ungs from his many years in Product Management and Software Strategies for Intermec (now part of Honeywell Scanning & Mobility).

Kelly Ungs, Senior Director of Channels, Wavelink