This Week’s Product Pick

Intermec (Everett, WA) has armed its 70 Series mobile computers with integrated RFID capability. Comprising the CK70, CN70, and CN70e, and built on one common platform, this trio features Windows Embedded O/S, Texas Instruments OMAP3 CPU at 1 GHz, 802.11a/b/g/n dual-band WLAN, and EA30 imaging engine. Now RFID has been added in the form of Intermec's IM11 embedded module, along with an internally housed antenna. This supplies passive UHF tag reading at medium to long ranges in support of inventory and asset tracking with no compromise of the device's form factor. Additionally, the 70 Series RFID is fully compatible with accessories such as the FlexDock system. "This new solution combines RFID reading with the already solid feature set of the industry-leading 70 Series platform to meet or exceed typical handheld RFID read range requirements in a design that is more compact and comfortable to use than existing solutions," remarked Earl Thompson, SVP of the Mobile Solutions Business Unit at Intermec.

Intermec's 70 Series Gets RFID

COMPANY BUSINESS

PAR: Ever Serving the Entry Level

A major supplier to the channel, ParTech (New Hartford, NY), has extended its line card with the PAR EverServ 500 POS terminal for space-constrained environments and entry-level customers. Offering compact design and value pricing, according to the vendor, EverServ 500 features Intel's Atom Dual Core CPU at 1.8 GHz, 2 GB DDR3, 320 GB SATA, and support for Windows Embedded POS Ready 7, Windows 7 Professional for Embedded Systems, and Windows 7 Professional. A full roster of ports are provided for peripherals, communications, and video, including 10/100/1000 Ethernet.

Measuring 13.4 in. (H) x 9.5 in. (W) x 8.2 in. (D), and weighing 12 lbs., EverServ 500 carries 15-inch five-wire resistive touchscreen, three-track magnetic-stripe reader, and 2x20 customer-facing display. A fanless design withstands harsh restaurant and retail applications, with shock-mounted hard disk, spill-resistant casework, and sealed touchscreen. Advanced settings such as auto stand-by mode dramatically reduce overall power consumption and simplified cable routing frees up counter space.

PAR EverServ 500 POS Terminal

AZT on the Prowl

AZT POS Corporation (Irvine, CA) has mounted an aggressive effort of late, culminating in the launch of the AZT Partner Program. Perhaps best known for supplying its POS for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 South African World Cup, AZT now looks to broaden its footprint in the U.S., RRN.Com was told by Keddy Chen, GM. RRN.Com readers may remember Chen from his time at GVision USA, seller of touchscreens in the channel.

Carrying the complete product line of POS terminals, receipt printers, mobile devices, and peripherals, "AZT wants to provide value, service, and innovative marketing to build long-lasting dealer partnerships," Chen stated. To that end, four levels of partnership have been created, based on quarterly purchase amounts: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Benefits start with monthly promotions and move up through volume discounts and rebates, lead referrals, premium prize drawings, sneak-peek product evaluations, and exposure on the AZT website.

Last summer, AZT rolled out its POS-8020 and POS-8080 terminals, with 15-inch LCD touchscreen, Windows 7, and Intel Atom Dual Core CPU at 1.8 GHz, which have been picked up by resellers such as POS Tech (Annandale, VA) and Western Business Systems (Chicago). "AZT's goal is to allow business owners to have the same equipment at 30% to 50% discount while not lowering performance and reliability," Chen said of the new POS-8000. Looking ahead, the vendor will promote its 10-inch Android tablet, offered in complete POS bundle, as well as $99 proprietary POS software packages for hospitality and retail.

Keddy Chen, GM, AZT POS Corporation

Worth Your While

Field Service USA 2013
Worldwide Business Research
April 22-25
Indian Wells, CA

ETA Annual Meeting & Expo
Electronic Transactions Association
April 30 - May 1
New Orleans

THE Tech EVENT
(Formerly NACStech, National Association of Convenience Stores)
May 6-10
Dallas

NRA Show
National Restaurant Association
May 18-21
Chicago

HITEC 2013
Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals
June 24-27
Minneapolis

Pack Expo 2013
Packaging Manufacturers Machinery Institute
September 23-25
Las Vegas

Parcel Forum 2013
Event Evolution Management
October 7-9
Chicago

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Denso "Charges" Ahead With BHT-1200

Denso ADC (Long Beach, CA) has unwrapped its new BHT-1200 Series of wireless barcode terminals. Advanced charge-coupled device (CCD) technology enables the BHT-1200 to read one and two-dimensional symbologies at 400 scans per second, and from as far away as 25 feet, according to the manufacturer. In addition, its built-in five-megapixel camera captures photos of defective or mislabeled products.

Ergonomic design has been emphasized in the BHT-1200, making the terminal suitable for long work shifts. A specially arranged keypad, including 12 function keys, allows the device to be operated with only one hand, for example. With weight of 12 oz., grip width the size of an average smartphone, at 2.25 inches, and overall length of 7 inches, the BHT-1200 features 3.5-inch HVGA color display, ARM Cortex-A8 CPU at 800 MHz, 512 MB DDR, 2 GB ROM, and Windows Embedded CE 6.0.

Wireless communications are supported by 802.11b/g/n, with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and WPA/WPA2 network security. In terms of ruggedness, BHT-1200 has been tested to resist damage after being dropped onto concrete 30 times from 5 feet. "The BHT-1200 Series terminals feature our latest advances in high-performance technology," stated Fran Labun, VP of Sales for Denso ADC. "They offer customers increased operator efficiency for even their most demanding applications."

Charge-Coupled Device Technology Drives New Barcode Terminal

Archelon's Extremely Excited

Archelon Enclosures (San Diego) has presented its Archelon XTR tablet stand, so named for "extreme security and performance." The most advanced product of its kind, reportedly, Archelon XTR offers sleek industrial design, lock and key detachable frame for mobility, and 180-degree complete flip so the iPad may be seen from either side of the counter. It shares the same viewing choices as its predecessor, Archelon EXO, such as portrait, landscape, side to side, and up and down. Further, since the base of the stand serves as its charging dock, no cables are exposed.

For mobility, in addition to the lock and key system, Archelon XTR offers accessories such as an ergonomic swivel hand grip or shoulder strap attached to the frame. Notably, it was designed with POS in mind, having modular adapters--from 30 pin to audio jack--to accommodate various magnetic-stripe readers. As target markets, the company lists retail, hospitality, healthcare, education, and interestingly, trade show displays.

"Archelon XTR offers users flexibility, mobility, and functionality," suggested Debi Besmer, Managing Partner of Archelon Enclosures. "We've taken the product's features to the extreme and believe it will be a game changer for tablet enclosures." At the recent NRF Show in New York City, Besmer told RRN.Com that Archelon's products would soon enter two-tier distribution in the POS & Auto ID channel.

Archelon XTR Tablet Enclosure

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ALLIANCES

A Payment Door for the Storefront

Merchant Warehouse (Boston) and PrestaShop (Miami) have joined forces to integrate payment processing more closely with e-commerce. Specifically, Merchant Warehouse's popular processing platform will now be included as one of the 300 native features offered in PrestaShop Version 1.5, allowing retailers to more easily handle electronic transactions through their associated online storefronts. One of the prominent e-commerce players, offering open code for its member community, PrestaShop currently powers more than 130,000 storefronts worldwide.

"This partnership gives our users the ability to take advantage of the incredible savings and reliability that Merchant Warehouse offers," declared Matt Serralta, COO at PrestaShop. By opening an account with Merchant Warehouse, customers can process all forms of online payments--including credit, debit, rewards, gift cards, and even checks--from any payment processing device with no hidden or additional charges. Most significantly, this eliminates gateway fees often levied by online payment schemes, as well as concerns over data security.

"Merchant Warehouse has been dedicated to delivering innovative payment processing solutions in the market for more than 15 years," recounted Jim Fink, VP of Merchant Warehouse. "Our work with PrestaShop is just the latest example of how the right payment solution can unlock significant opportunities for merchants to save money without sacrificing the security and reliability of the payment processing system." One of the most active merchant service providers in our channel, Merchant Warehouse has developed its Genius Customer Engagement Platform, which allows users to pick and choose among payment methods to offer at the POS, whether cards, NFC, QR Codes, or mobile wallets. Little or no integration is required on the back end and the merchant falls outside PA-DSS scope.

Merchant Warehouse Tied to PrestaShop

Prospecting for Silver at Elavon

NCR Corporation (Duluth, GA) has added Elavon (Atlanta) to its list of authorized resellers for its NCR Silver POS. Targeted at the SMB market, NCR Silver leverages Apple's iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch and draws upon cloud-based computing to address necessary business functions such as sales, inventory, marketing, and reporting. Now, under the new agreement, Elavon's payment processing and distribution channels will handle the product.

"Elavon will resell the entire NCR Silver equipment bundle that turns an iPad into POS," Chris Moreira, GM for NCR Silver and the Small and Medium Business Team, told RRN.Com. "This includes receipt printer, cash drawer, encrypted credit card reader, and iPad stand. Elavon can also sell these equipment items separately, for merchants who only need the card reader, for example. These are the same options we offer to POS VARs."

NCR Silver Hardware Bundle

[Editor's Note:  At press time, NCR announced that Silver POS will be deployed throughout 600 franchise locations for Cellairis, which markets mobile device accessories in Canada and the U.S. Installation began this month.]

Code Corner

Wavelink Corporation (South Jordan, UT) has released Wavelink Avalanche 5.4 in response to the bring-your-own-device, or BYOD, movement. From one console, and through an assortment of delivery mechanisms, Avalanche 5.4 simplifies enrollment, device configuration, and remote control management. Wavelink, now part of LANDesk Software, offers Avalanche 5.4 through on-premise installation, cloud-based SaaS (Avalanche On Demand), and hosted business model (Avalanche Managed Services). New capabilities include "optimized support" of the popular iOS and Android platforms as well as "forced application push" to deploy applications to the user's device on demand. These new features add to software and configuration management, mobile device security, remote help desk, location-based services, alerts and reports, and infrastructure oversight. Debuted at the recent ProMat Show in Las Vegas, Wavelink 5.4 allows IT managers across industries, including retail, to readily configure and manage the mix of consumer and ruggedized devices for mission-critical tasks such as inventory, POS, and field service. "With the latest upgrade to Avalanche, we wanted to empower our customers to choose the mobile devices that work best for them when performing tasks that drive revenue for their business," declared Mike Temple, Product Manager for LANDesk Software. "With many organizations now choosing consumer products as their devices of choice--frequently in conjunction with traditional ruggedized offerings--Avalanche 5.4 permits organizations to securely support their entire mobile workforce from its single console."

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

A Free Slice of Social Media

SpeedLine Solutions (Lynden, WA) will supply an integrated, free, social media dashboard for all customers of its restaurant POS. This new offer expands upon the relationship with eThor (Calgary, AB, Canada), first announced last year. It allows end-users in pizza and delivery, SpeedLine's primary focus, to schedule and respond to Facebook and Twitter promotions while furnishing basic analysis and reporting. An optional three-month trial period moves end-users to eThor's higher level of service, which adds text messaging and e-mail marketing; customer ordering through the web, mobile device, or social media; and advanced features for blogging and third-party menu broadcasting.

"Restaurant operators get bombarded with calls all the time from vendors offering to manage their Facebook or text message activities," indicated Jennifer Wiebe, Marketing Manager for SpeedLine. "With an e-Thor dashboard, SpeedLine POS users can easily manage all their online marketing themselves right now, free of charge. Users can sign up for the free dashboard on the SpeedLine website."

Elsewhere, SpeedLine announced that Skurla's POS Solutions (Anchorage, AK) has completed certification as an authorized reseller for SpeedLine POS. "SpeedLine was the clear choice for our entry into the growing takeout and delivery segment of the hospitality market," testified Lynn Skurla, GM. "We are excited to offer Alaska's pizzerias this new level of insight into their business performance with SpeedLine POS."

Media Dashboard Supplied by eThor

RITE Makes Might

Two well-known members of our community, Retail Information Technology Enterprises (Sartell, MN) and Retail Automation Systems (Dallas), have decided to merge their operations. Vested in Microsoft Dynamics, these two resellers will now function under the RITE banner, following the purchase of Retail Automation Systems. Going forward, products and services will be offered to fellow resellers as well as retailers, with expansion plans keeping both teams in place, RRN.Com was told.

RITE will provide and install Microsoft Dynamics RMS, RMS NextGen, and Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail, as well as predictive analytics from Retalon (Toronto). The firm will soon enjoy certification in Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail, while the AX Alliance run by Retail Realm (Sonoma, CA) further extends such disciplines overseas. Overall, RITE has developed three dozen RMS add-ons to maximize efficiency in various retail sectors.

"I can't think of a retail niche where RITE or Retail Automation hasn't earned excellent references and returning customers," relayed RITE CEO Rick Feuling. "Both are widely published in Microsoft case studies and now have installations in more than 40 states and 13 foreign countries." Brian Wannan, who founded Retail Automation Systems two decades ago, will serve as VP of Sales for RITE.

Buys Fellow POS VAR, Retail Automation Systems

[Editor's Note:  More consolidation in the POS channel, as Business Machines Company (Lansing, MI) completes its purchase of Sunrise Technology Systems (Louisville, KY). "Expanding into Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio has been on our road map for several years now and it's great to finally be here," commented Robert Bauer, President of Business Machines Company.]

Key Advertiser Links

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

POS & Auto ID Distribution
BlueStar
Metropolitan Sales
Wasp Barcode Technologies

POS & Peripherals
Harbortouch
J2 Retail Systems
Partner Tech
Pioneer POS
Posiflex
POS-X

POS Systems - Hospitality
PAR

POS Systems - Retail
LightSpeed Retail

Barcode & Transaction Printers
Zebra Technologies

Cash Drawers
MMF POS

Data Collection Terminals
CipherLab
Datalogic ADC
Janam Technologies
Trimble

Data Collection Software
Wavelink

Integrated Payment Solutions
Datacap Systems
Merchant Warehouse

Keyboards
Cherry, ZF Electronics Corp.

Receipt Printers
Bixolon America
Citizen Systems America
Epson America
Star Micronics

Scanners
Code Corporation
Honeywell

Thermal Printers
Seiko Instruments USA

Touchscreens & Monitors
Elo TouchSystems

INSTALLATIONS

GTS Changes Your Batteries

Global Technology Systems (Framingham, MA), exclusive supplier of Honeywell Batteries, has launched its "Battery Test & Replace" service for mobile devices. First performed through RGIS, LLC (Auburn Hills, MI), an independent field auditing and testing company, this new program determines the condition of each battery used in the workplace, and as necessary, removes and replaces those deficient. Benefits include increased worker productivity, lower hardware costs, and less disruption to business operations, according to the two parties.

GTS and RGIS recently conducted Battery Test & Replace for an unidentified large retailer in time for the holiday season. RGIS deployed over 500 independent auditors to almost 2,000 locations across the U.S. to examine batteries across the portfolio of mobile devices. In all, GTS and RGIS tested more than 130,000 batteries in less than 30 days, collected and reported 800,000 fields of data, and found that over 50% were no longer healthy. Some of these batteries were over five years old, although the retailer consistently invested in new batteries.

"Expanded use of mobile devices has also led to skyrocketing maintenance costs, employee dissatisfaction, and work stoppages--all related to uncontrolled batteries. But until now there has been no way to quickly and accurately test, remove, replace, and report on the status of thousands of batteries used in the mobile enterprise," asserted Michael Grosberg, COO of GTS. In conversation with RRN.Com, GTS confirmed that Battery Test & Replace holds promise for our channel, particularly in the case of large system integrators.

"Battery Test & Replace" Service Protects Mobile Devices

One Eye on Desert De Oro

Envysion (Louisville, CO) has been chosen as exclusive video surveillance provider by Desert De Oro Foods. A Yum! Brands franchise operating Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC, Desert De Oro will employ Envysion Insight across its 130 restaurants in Arizona, California, and Utah. It expects the new system to reduce risk, enhance loss prevention, and improve restaurant-level profitability by as much as 15%.

"We rely on the POS data and exception reports from our restaurants to run our business, but even with daily reports, our visibility was limited," explained Parrish Jackson, Director of IT for Desert De Oro. "With Envysion we now have the ability to see behind the numbers and understand what's happening at each of our locations. We evaluated other video providers, and no one else, including more expensive systems, could match Envysion in terms of providing an easy to use, streamlined, and secure video solution that would seamlessly integrate with our business data sets."

Envysion Video for Major Yum! Brands Franchise

Channel Factoid

Small business owners appear more optimistic as the new year begins. According to Wells Fargo/Gallup, the latest index of feelings in SMB improved 20 points to +9 in January 2013, as compared to -11 in November 2012. When looking ahead to this year, 57% of owners expect their company's financial situation to be "very good" or "somewhat good," up from 50% in Q4 2012. Increase in revenues was predicted by 43%, up from 37%. Almost half (49%) believe their cash flow will be "very good" or "somewhat good", compared to 44% for Q4. A mixed picture, however, arises with respect to jobs and hiring. A majority of business owners (71%) expect the number of jobs at their companies to stay the same over the next 12 months, and those willing to add jobs during the same period showed no growth at 17%. Among owners who hired new employees over the past 12 months, 35% added fewer employees than they needed, up from 29% in January 2012, but below the 42% of November 2010. In not hiring, small business owners cited the following factors: no need for additional employees at this time (81%); insufficient revenues and sales (74%); concern about the status of economy in the U.S. (66%); and worry over potential cost of healthcare (61%). "At a time when headlines report mixed economic news and uncertainty in Washington, our survey shows the volatility of business owner sentiment today," observed Doug Case, Small Business Segment Manager for Wells Fargo.

HELLO GOODBYE

Torch Passed at TSC

TSC Auto ID Technology Company (Taipei, Taiwan) has elevated Sam Wang to the position of President. He will replace Hank Wang, his uncle, who has retired. As many RRN.Com readers know, the printer manufacturer serves North America through TSC Auto ID Technology America (Pomona, CA), with Kevin Aie as CEO and David Lundeen as VP of Sales and Marketing.

"We thank Hank Wang for his many achievements. He was the driving force behind TSC's global expansion and was instrumental in helping us improve the quality and diversity of our product line," proclaimed Sam Wang. "As we work together during these challenging economic times, I am confident we can achieve our corporate goals while reinforcing TSC's position as one of the world's premier Auto ID companies."

Previously, Sam Wang served as TSC Corporate VP in charge of worldwide marketing, sales, and research and development. Prior to joining the family business, Wang worked at McKinsey & Company, Intel, and Cornerstone Research. He received his B.S. Degree from University of California-Berkeley and his MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management. His father, Arthur Wang, is Chairman of the Board for TSC.

Sam Wang, President, TSC Auto ID Technology Company

Labry's Hand on the Rudder

First Data Corporation (Atlanta) has tapped Ed Labry as Interim CEO while it conducts its formal selection process for the top spot. Earlier this month, the payment processor announced that Jon Judge planned to retire as CEO for health reasons. On his part, Labry has spent almost 30 years in the payments industry and most of that time at First Data or one of its subsidiaries, Concord EFS.

"As evidenced by appointing Ed Labry as President of our North American business in 2011, I have great confidence in his leadership of First Data," Judge stated. "Asking him to serve in this capacity makes perfect sense for continuity and stability. Ed's experience and knowledge of the company will maintain its position in the dynamic electronic payments industry. I will give Ed and the Board of Directors my continued support and assistance during this interim period."

Ed Labry, Interim CEO, First Data